From the slums of India to the backstreets of Belfast - poverty can take many a prisoner and yet it’s not an unbeatable enemy. That’s the message that the head of a key Indian urban poor development project brought to Northern Ireland this week.

“Sometimes it’s easier to travel to the other side of the world than to go to the other end of the street.” I was just back from a mission trip to Asia at the time and the idea behind the phrase really challenged me – how prepared was I to get my hands dirty in the land that I lived, the place that God has chosen to set me?

The kids gather on the starting line, parents lean forward ready to cheer them on, the starter’s gun slices the air …and they’re off.  There they go, galloping up the school sports field…except that is for one child back on the starting line.  He stands watching, waiting until the winner breaks through the tape and [...]

So many of our children have a very negative picture of a Mum and there are many scars there. They need to know that they are loved and cared for, that they are precious. Having a positive mother figure helps them move in their relationships with others…

Father Paul Symonds was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours List for his tireless community work.  We have been chatting to him to find out how an English priest has ended up becoming such a key figure amid changing times in Ballymena…
Words seemed only capable of falling to the ground, but gestures [...]

“Look at the beautiful little daughter God has given us.”  Such words come easily to most dads as they look into the face of a newborn child for the first time.  But Eileen McClenaghan could find no echo to her husband’s words, she was struggling to accept the news that their daughter had down syndrome.
“I [...]

Imagine Jesus imagining. Imagine Jesus imagining the Church. What did He see? Imagine His dream of a uniting, loving, Jesus-like force in a world mutilated by sin.