What is it that brings familiar faces back to OM in Ireland for short-term outreaches? Is it the hospitality and community at Lacken House, the evangelism training, or the rush of speaking gospel truth into people’s lives? For David (Netherlands), Kitt (UK) and Liam (Ireland), it is all this, and more.
Kitt had been “looking for years for a missionary organisation working in the south of Ireland, as I had a burden to share the gospel with the Irish. I heard about OM and eventually found the short-term outreaches on their website.”
OM’s best known annual short-term outreaches in Ireland, St. Patrick’s Challenge (in March, for one week) and Impact Ireland (in July, for two weeks), hold the same purpose. It’s all about sharing the gospel with people who do not know Jesus and allowing it to impact in their lives.
Beginning with thought-provoking, creative and interactive training, these exciting outreaches involve Christians from around the world, working together with Irish churches to share the message of the gospel and demonstrate the love of Jesus in action.
“The first time I came to Ireland was for St. Patrick’s Challenge in March 2015,” David remembered. “To this day, I’ve been to Ireland nine times. Three of those outreaches were the Christmas show tour, which is about five to six weeks long.”
Kitt remembered her first St. Patrick’s Challenge as well. “I was praying for people on the street for specific prayer requests they had—this can communicate a living relationship with Jesus and stir up a hunger in the person you are praying with. I’ve done four St. Patrick’s Challenges and one Impact Ireland, in addition to independent visits.”
“I loved Impact Ireland, which was my first mission trip,” Liam — who’s also participated in two St. Patrick’s Challenges — explained. “I loved the chance to do public ministry, working with a new church, and new people. The teaching at Lacken House was really good, and the fellowship and bonding were amazing.”
“We should take part in short-term outreaches because they help us grow in Christ, in love for our fellow Christians, and in zeal for the unsaved,” Kitt said. “I realised that the skills I learned in Ireland can be put to use in my local church. We don’t get much evangelism training in the churches. It was great to meet so many Christians who are intent on sharing the gospel.”
“It’s important to go where the Lord wants us to go,” David shared. “I don’t think everyone is called to be a full-time missionary in another country. However, I do believe in short-term outreaches! If we read the book of Acts, we find people on the way meeting other people; then things happened, and lives were changed.”
Ireland needs the gospel. A majority 98.5 per cent of the population have yet to be redeemed from spiritual darkness. Short-term participants like David, Kitt and Liam return to the Emerald Isle to continue to be trained and plant gospel seeds in hearts around the country.
