Urban Impact Christian Ministries
ROCK STREET CHAPLAINS Prayer Letter – Christmas 2022 Dear Praying Friends, We trust this letter finds you well and looking forward to Christmas as we reflect on the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. TEAM UPDATES This year ROCK Street Chaplains have with God’s help been able to have a full outreach at the weekends in Dundee, Lurgan and Newcastle, as well as a new team in Ballymoney this month and opportunities to consider starting new outreaches in the city of Belfast too. Below are a few reports from our thee main teams: Lurgan The team in Lurgan has had some new team members and they have been a blessing, like Newcastle there has been a number of fights on the streets near the hot drinks table, thankfully these have calmed down over the past few months. Lots of gospel tracts have been given out and the team have had many opportunities to share the Gospel. Please remember one of the Lurgan team members, Mrs Heather Osborne, who has been unable to work with the team over the last few months due to ill health. Please pray for heather and her family in these days. Newcastle This outreach has grown very well post-lockdown – an answer to prayer. We are having some very good conversations with people at the hot drinks table. Similar to Lurgan, there have been lots of confrontations on the streets as young people are consuming too much alcohol. This is a concern for all involved in the night-time economy. Over the past few weeks, we have had a lot of opportunities to chat about the Lord to people who come to our table on a regular basis. At Halloween we set up a hot drinks table during the firework display in the town and where able to give out some children’s literature supplied by CEF. Also we have been doing some tract distribution in the town and have been able to leave a John’s gospel in many homes. Please pray that the gospel will be read and that many will come to the Lord. Dundee The small team in Dundee continue to work every weekend. We have had great chats about the Lord with door staff and students. We thank the Lord for all the meaningful chats we have had with people, the openness and friendliness we experience, and for continued opportunities to share the Gospel. We also thank Him for our protection and safety. The need for gospel knowledge in Dundee is immense. We are in desperate need for new team members, so please pray that new people will join the team in the coming season. Pray that we’d be able to refresh connections with the Christian Unions. Next year we plan to start an evening Street Chaplains team in the Fintry area of the city. This will be an evening outreach mainly to young people in the area following recent rioting. I will be going over to do training in January. Christmas outreach This time of the year gives us great opportunities to reach people in different ways. In Newcastle, we hope to hold our open-air carol services outside the Elim charity shop and in a nursing home again. Please pray that God will speak to all who pass by, and that God will use the leaflets that will be given out. We also hope to give out boxes of sweets to the local businesses. Boxing Day and News Year’s Eve will be busy nights for us in Newcastle New role for Calvin In November, Calvin Burns (our son) joined out ministry on a full-time basis. Calvin has been a volunteer for Street Chaplains for 10 years working in Dundee and also in Northern Ireland. During Calvin's time in Dundee he was in charge of the Street Chaplains Homeless team working with the homeless and people with drug addictions in the city. Calvin has studied in Austria and has worked with Dublin City Mission and has just graduated from a two year bible college course at the Faith Mission Bible College in Edinburgh. He believes God has led him to work with Urban Impact Christian Ministries to continue to work as a Street Chaplain, working mainly during the day in the towns of Northern Ireland. We would like to welcome him to the team and ask you to pray for him as he settles into this new role of ministry. If you would like to support Calvin, you can do this by getting in touch with us or click donate on our website and follow the giving options. Please state in the reference: ‘support for Calvin Burns’. ‘Reaching Out to make Christ Known’ Our main aim in reaching out at night to nightclubbers and bar staff is to tell them the wonderful truth that Jesus Christ is the only way to have your sins forgiven and be right with God. Thankfully many do listen to the gospel on the streets, and they have many questions. Can we ask you to pray that God will reveal Himself to them and that in the days ahead we will have the joy of leading many to the saviour? Time is short and the days are evil, but Jesus saves. As we look forward to 2023, we trust that many will come to the Lord. Please pray for the teams in Dundee, Lurgan, and Newcastle, as well as developing Street Chaplains outreaches in other places, such as Ballymoney. Please pray for plans for the summer of 2023, that if it is God’s will, we will be able to be involved again in the Festivals in Scotland and events here in NI. Thank you for praying for us and also supporting us financially, may God richly bless you this Christmas and also in 2023. Yours in Christ Andy & Marina Burns Comments are closed.
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