The Brethren Church

Dear Friends of Hope,

Our summer season is heating up (and we’re certainly not talking about the weather!). Summers are very busy times for us at Hope, and this one is no exception. We will be traveling to the States this summer for several weeks to visit churches, speak at the Brethren General Conference in Ashland (OH), and spend some much needed time with family and friends. Our speaking itinerary is shaping up nicely. You can access our summer schedule by going to our blog at http://hopeofireland.blogspot.com.

Even before we set foot on a jet bound for America, the month of June will be quite busy. Here are some of the plans that we are anticipating:

• 17-24 June, St. James (Maryland) Brethren Church mission team — They will be involved in a number of community projects, some youth work, and work projects. We will also be sharing with them our heart for ministry in Ireland and be discussing what evangelism looks like in the context of relationship. There are 12 members on the team.
• 28 June-6 July, youth team from the Goshen (Indiana) First Brethren Church — This trip is designated as a discipleship trip, and the members of this team will be discovering more about the plans and purposes of God for their lives. They will also be involved in a few local projects.

We have two youth weekends planned for Galway Christian Fellowship in the month of June. We are continuing to discuss with the Galway youth what the point of the Christian faith is, separating truth from myth. We will have other visitors from the Czech Republic, Canada, and the United States as well.

Our greatest challenge in June will be in saying farewell to Ben Purner who has served with us as an intern since June 2005. He has been such an integral part of the Hope team and our family for two years. Saying goodbye to our interns is always difficult, but this one will be especially challenging. He has, heart and soul, been a key part of who we are in Ireland. He will be missed not only by our fellowship and our team, but by our community, neighbors, and youth. Please pray for Ben as he makes his future plans and returns to New Jersey. Ben is being “replaced” by his younger brother Jonathan who will join us in September.

You can catch up on all that’s happening with Hope Community by checking out our website/blog on a regular basis. We update the blog a couple times each week, so the material you find there is always fresh. As for us personally, we are doing well. Our health has been good, and we continue to trust God for those things which are beyond our control. We are continuing to move ahead in our adoption plans as well. Brenda commits a lot of her personal time to completing the paperwork for the adoption.

As always, we appreciate those of you who “have our backs” in prayer. Here are a few items for your agenda of prayer for Hope:

• Pray for the transitions in our Internship (Hope Immersions). Our interns are an essential part of life and ministry in Ireland, and having the right interns is a core part of our life and work in Ireland.
• Pray for our little church as we continue to discover more and more the unique role of who God has called us to be as His in this community. Pray for Irish young people who we can raise up into leadership in the church.
• Pray for our on-going financial needs and our adoption process.

We love and appreciate you all. If we are anywhere near you this summer, we hope to be able to see you face to face. Until then, we remain yours and His.

Mark & Brenda Ray

Dear Friends of Hope,

Spring is in full bloom in Ireland, and it seems like there is a freshness of new ideas and hope coming with it. Our winter was tough. In many ways, it seems like our spirits were as damp and windblown as the violent winter we had experienced this year. We’ve weathered some storms, faced some challenges, and made some decisions – and the Father is faithful to continually hold hope before us.

We have experienced a busy spring so far, with much to come in the next few weeks. Here are just a few highlights:

• Brenda and I will be attending a weekend conference for Operation Christmas Child (the shoe box collection for needy children). This is a project that we helped coordinate here in Co. Roscommon last autumn. The project was received by the community with overwhelming enthusiasm, and we collected over 7,500 shoe boxes filled with gifts for needy children in Eastern Europe. Plans are already underway for this autumn.
• We are saying farewell to a new and faithful friend, Doug Gravatt. Doug is from Virginia, and he has been on assignment with his job near us since September. He has been an incredible source of encouragement and a good friend. He seems to be best known as someone who has appreciated and enjoyed every aspect of his time in Ireland and with us. We will miss him.
• Two of our interns will be returning to the states in middle May. Blair Butler and CJ Varela have been an integral part of our life and ministry over the course of this year. We, along with the youth in Galway where they served, will miss them greatly.
• Our last youth event with Plumbline will be held the first weekend of May. Our theme for Spring 2 is “Myth Busters”. We will take aim at several myths that pervade our Christian thought and search the scriptures to see what the Bible really has to say on the subject. Pray for us and this event. We have really valued our youth work in Ireland, and this event marks a change in new directions for us in Ireland.

In case you haven’t heard, our adoptions plans are underway. We have concluded the first steps in the process and are now proceeding towards official documentation and the home study. Please be praying for our future son and for us as we move forward.

Thank you for your continued faithful prayer and support. Many of you have been a tremendous blessing to us, and you are greatly appreciated. We are here because of your love and support, and that thought is never far from our minds.

Check out our blog at http://hopeofireland.blogspot.com for more information on what’s happening with us here.

Adding our love to His,

Mark & Brenda Ray

We have been very busy with visitors from the states and hosting two consecutive youth events in our home in the last week. These are some of the last youth events that we will be leading in Ireland, so they have been particularly special and enjoyable. We are grateful for the years of opportunities that we have had to be involved in mentoring and challenging our young people, and we are looking forward to the changes being implemented in our youth work. As mentioned in our previous update, we are moving away from typical youth programming with the aim of concentrating more on discipleship with the younger generations. We are trusting the Lord to open up these doors even as the door of youth programming is closing for us.

Our themes for our youth weekend events has been Risk Becoming: Moving from Existence to Life. We have been challenging the prevalence of no-risk, no-cost faith in a lot of Christian thinking and encouraging them to walk into the high call of God on their lives. We have enjoyed our time with them, and our conversations over the weekends have been fantastic.

Please continue to pray for the young people of Ireland! This week, more statistics have been released about the tragic death rates among young males in this country. Death seems to be all around us. Even this week, we have attended the funeral of a boy up the road who was killed when he fell into a tangle of ropes and died from strangulation. On the surface, it makes little sense to us that we should be taking a step back from youth work when the need is so great, but we believe this is the right decision. We want to increase the influence by focusing much of our efforts and attention on raising up many others who will be able to approach this generation with the hope found in Christ. By ourselves, there is little we can do — releasing others enlarges the scope of hope.

While starting a church for people who share our love for God and heart for others is important to us, our first love is still raising up and releasing people into the purpose of God for their lives. Helping people experience God’s love and grace and releasing them to participate in God’s heart for humanity is important to us…and that’s why we give so much time and effort into growing these people. Our internship and discipleship will continue to play a very important role in our lives in Ireland. In fact, we think it’s crucial for this country.

Please check out our blog at http://hopeofireland.blogspot.com to keep updated on what’s happening with our church. We have also put together another blog for those wanting information on our internship. That blog can be found at http://hopeinterns.blogspot.com.

Thank you for your continued prayers. Brenda and I are doing well.

Adding our love to His,
Mark & Brenda Ray