If You Host It, They Will Come

As a fan of baseball, I am reminded of a line from the baseball movie Field of Dreams. The line heard over and over in the movie was, “If you build it, they will come.” This week we are serving at a church in Dundonald (basically an eastern suburb of Belfast). The main ministries we are involved with are 5 nights of youth ministry and 2 different kids clubs.

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The mindset here is similar to that of the quote from Field of Dreams. If we host it, they will come. We are expecting around 20-30 teens in the evenings and between the two kids’ clubs, we anticipate around 200 kids. Parents here love free childcare and sign their children up for free activities hosted by the churches. The exciting thing is that about 75% of the kids that come to our kids’ clubs and youth nights are from homes that are not involved in any church. This creates an amazing opportunity
to build friendships through our programming and then have the chance to present the Gospel. Both of the kids’ club end with families coming to the last day of programming. They get to hear about what their kids have been learning, and they will hear the Gospel too. Our prayer is that they will see the hope found in Jesus and get connected to the church.

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This ministry has a lasting impact. Each year that we have been here, we see many familiar faces. The students from the teen nights are hearing the truth of scripture and keep coming back. One young girl met our Royal Servants team of students in 2022 and makes sure to come back each year. She is near her final year of high school, and she is by far the oldest here. The great thing is that even though her friends will not join her at a “church” event, she faithfully comes because of the love of Jesus that she experiences through our teams.

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So, is it worth it? Absolutely it is worth it, so we will continue to host these activities because they continue to come and hear the good news of Jesus. If we host it, they will come.

By Scott Anderson
Ireland Trip Leader

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