Disciples across the world (Wednesday Morning)

The world has changed and so has mission. In this seminar, we will look at some of the changes affecting mission today, and examine our role in getting our own congregations excited about mission. We will share our own experiences with ‘missionaries’ and teams, and ask how we can make mission a more integral part of our church life. We will look at how we can better support the missionaries we already know of, and how we can better use short-term mission trips to enrich the lives of those who go on them and those who don’t, not to mention those who host them. We will think about the increasing number of people from other faiths who now live on our doorstep, and on how we can engage with them. Stephen McIlwaine is married to Roz and they have three teenage children. Stephen and family spent two years at All Nations Christian College, followed by 13 years living and working in Jordan as partners with Interserve. In Jordan, Stephen worked mostly in secular development work, while Roz worked firstly with refugees and then as a school teacher. They returned in 2012 and are still getting used to life in Ireland. Stephen is an elder in Fitzroy Presbyterian Church, Belfast, and works as an environmental advisor to projects in developing countries.