New Life City Church "crosses the wall" in Belfast to reach the Falls Road community with the love of Jesus
"We know we have laid a firm foundation and that we now have something to build on in the coming months...."
(Belfast, Northern Ireland)—Last Sunday, New Life City Church in Belfast closed their Sunday night service at its Shankill Road location and moved it to the Beechmount Leisure Centre on the Falls Road. "More than 100 people gathered from both sides of the wall," says Pastor Jack McKee.
"Several people were complete strangers to us. Two people made a commitment to Christ, while others came forward for prayer at the end of the service. Others spoke to us afterwards and told us they appreciated us coming across the wall and that they would be coming across to New Life," he writes in an e-mail to friends and supporters of his ministry.
This is the first of many similar outreaches, McKee said.
"We know we have laid a firm foundation and that we now have something to build on in the coming months. Not only will we repeat this on the first Sunday of each month, but on Tuesday, September 18 we will host a concert in Beechmount LC with Annie Meadows from Las Vegas, besides doing a weekly Deeper Life in Jesus class for new Christians in a rented facility within the Falls community. We are also planning to run a midweek service in rented accommodation within the Falls community while we await work being carried out on our new building."
According to its ministry website, New Life City Church is uniquely situated at the edge of a growing and developing downtown Belfast. It is also situated at the lower end of the infamous Shankill and Falls communities of West Belfast.
Pastor Jack McKee says: "These inner-city communities have experienced more of their fair share of Northern Ireland's 'Troubles', but often at each other's hands, as these communities have been deeply and violently divided for many years, which is symbolized by the existence of a concrete dividing wall that keeps the communities apart."
New Life City Church is actively and effectively working on both sides of the dividing wall, uniting people by personal faith in Jesus Christ, McKee says.
He comments: "The first time that anyone was called a Christian was in Antioch. Luke writes in the book of Acts 11:26), 'The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.'
"We might not be Antioch. However, at New Life City Church, we try not to use the terms Catholic and Protestant, but we seek rather to refer to everyone equally as a Christian on the basis of personal faith in and commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ."
McKee said the church "deeply appreciates your prayers; your words of encouragement and your support."
