Jacob on the Lisburn GO Team

Jacob just got back from his first official GO Team to Northern Ireland. GO Teams are the short term mission teams of the Irish and Scottish RP Churches. Jacob was on the Lisburn GO Team. We caught up with him a few hours after his plane landed back in Scotland to ask him these questions about his experience.

How many were on the team?
Six, including me.

What kind of things did you do on the Team?
We helped with the church’s Holiday Bible Club which ran Monday-Wednesday evenings. There were 35 children on Monday, 42 on Tuesday, and 44 on Wednesday. Some were from a church background, some from a Roman Catholic background, and some with no Christian background. The Holiday Bible Club had games, Psalms, memory verse, craft, talk, and a quiz, and the team helped with the games and singing. There was also a parent’s night with 15-20 parents who came where the children sang, there was an overview of the talks, and they recited the memory verse.

We handed out leaflets advertising a public meeting on grief. 50 people from the Lisburn RPC came to this meeting, 20 from other churches, and 10-15 from the community.

We visited a nursing home where we sang Psalms and Gareth Orr did a talk on David showing mercy to Saul, and God showing mercy to his enemies.

Did you have a Team devotional time or anything like that?
Every morning of that week there was a congregational Bible study on Pilgrim’s Progress with a time of prayer.

What was your favourite thing you did, and what was the hardest thing you did?
My favourite was handing out leaflets. A lot of people were out in their gardens, and you had some good conversations. People weren’t afraid to ask questions about the church.

It was hard visiting the nursing home. You needed to speak clearly and slowly, but there was also a sense of reality, that the people there are not well, and you definitely felt that.

Did you enjoy this GO Team?
It was really good – good fun and a special blessing. You can’t ask for more.