How to (not) kill your congregation
Having experienced ministry in both Belfast and Sydney, Dublin is possibly the most challenging and least familiar environment so far! While working in Northern Ireland, in the 'bible belt' often comes with difficulties around moving on from long established (and sometimes unhelpful) traditions and breaking through the complacency of institutionalised religion, Dublin is significantly more secular.
You can't necessarily rely on the same degree of shared bible knowledge amongst non-Christians, and you certainly can't assume words like 'love' and 'grace' mean the same thing between you and your hearers.
That said, I quite enjoy the shift, even though I love and admire many churches in the north! Ministry with ICM is so immanently practical and honest because it has to be. Failure to balance the unchanging truth of God's word with the ever-changing cultural expressions which communicate those truths will spell trouble very quickly.
Without the cultural norm of generational influx into the local church, complacent attitudes like "well we've always done it this way" will quickly kill your congregation. I've so far found that this challenge brings with it a wonderful freedom, however. We are free to try new things for the Gospel because there is less nostalgia and force of habit tying us to the old; we are equally free to laugh at the failure of some of those new things and let them go when our imperfect efforts miss the mark. Because of this, ministry in Dublin feels a little more visceral and raw to me. There is a messiness in the increasingly post-Christian culture which affords a degree of honesty and openness which I find refreshing (and undoubtedly will find frustrating at times too!).
As I settle into this new ministry context along with Amy (wife) and Kenzie (daughter), we'd love prayer for growing friendships both inside and outside the church. If there's one golden rule i've observed so far, it's that relationship and connection is everything.
Wisdom is also in desperate need as I learn to check my own experiences and assumptions about what effective ministry and the work of the Lord ought to look like.
Finally, pray for us as a family. Ministry begins at home, and Amy and I want to raise our little girl to know and love Jesus as she sees us walking with God and inviting her to join in. We're so thankful for the opportunities at Immanuel for little ones to be in the middle of our church and community groups. Getting instructed in the ways of the faith from their earliest days is so precious and we don't take it for granted!