Trustee Annual Report ( YE 11/11/2023)
Much like last year we are pleased to report that the work of In Christ I Live is impacting many lives in many different ways.
Our main focus has and will continue to be the preaching of the Gospel through the various means available to us. Joyfully and thankfully, we have had the tremendous privilege of being used of The Lord Jesus Christ to win many souls for Him. These opportunities have been diverse in terms of locations and circumstances and apart from in a church building, could be on someone’s doorstep (during door-to-door evangelism), in openair witness, in a walk through town, at the beach, in a nursing home, in a restaurant or simply on a casual outing with friends. We are finding people open for hope and help. This has also given us tremendous opportunities to pray for people and we have witnessed great and timely answers to prayer.
We continue to mentor younger and older Christians in God’s Word mainly through home meetings but would also use the unit in Wright’s Arcade for bible study and prayer. The end view is of empowerment for all to function fully in their God appointed calling through the knowledge and understanding of who they are in Christ and this coupled with the authority He has given us in His Name. Again, we are attesting to amazing growth in grace and knowledge in the people we are working with seeing them develop into anointed preachers, worship leaders, prayer group leaders, homestudy group facilitators and many other capacities.
One of our biggest challenges is to do our utmost to impact our immediate neighbourhoods. We have been accomplishing this through children’s ministry which can take the form of bible study, outings, days at home teaching skills like cookery, painting or gardening etc. We would also transport children to and from Sunday School when the church has no bus or car available for this. Where possible we endeavour to engage with parents and all other adults too particularly those living alone. For a brief time we had the use of a local community hall to do this successfully in one particular geographical area. However, this was short lived due to the state of the building which required substantial repair and was deemed unsafe especially for children.
We have counselled many families during the past year as difficulties have become insurmountable for many of them. This applies particularly to those with special needs children at home who are in the unfortunate position of being on a lengthy waiting list for local council or NHS support services and those coping with addicted family members suffering drugs and/or alcohol abuse. This has led to requests for advocacy on a number of occasions either in written form or simply advice. This advocacy has not been limited to one particular area of need. There are many. By God’s grace amongst those people who agree with, and pray for the ministry, we have great help and guidance from qualified, reliable sources.
Although the biggest percentage of our work is conducted in Northern Ireland, through our testimonies and network of contacts, we have been requested to encourage and counsel people by telephone or by text messaging, in other parts of the world. Pain and heartaches respect neither borders nor cultures but equally the power of God is unfettered and unlimited.
To conclude, our ministry is fulfilling its original mission and we wish to thank everyone who is, and has been, associated with any aspect of the work for their valuable time and input. Our prayer for the future is that we can bring ‘more help’ on board in the form of more trustees and volunteers in various geographical areas who can replicate what we have been achieving (and more) in the past number of years by God’s amazing grace.