January Howells Update
2024 was quite the dichotomy of two halves.
Our time in the states and our return to Ireland in August. I won’t dwell too long on the first. But I believe one of the areas that stood out to me was the way we do ministry in Ireland crossed over perfectly to our time in the States. I can think of multiple interactions with folks that may have seemed insignificant to me yet became a significant point of contact for us to spend time seeing God in their life. We have said time and time again that what we do in Ireland is perfectly aligned to do in the States as well.
What will 2025 look like
I laughed at first at the thought of figuring this out. Even the plans I had for the end of 2024 got changed and morphed into something that I hadn’t even expected. Good things and powerful ministry things, but not what I was planning. But let’s try and give a possible projection of what the next 12 months will look like in a few key areas.
Our first goal is to begin a young adult discipleship group. We have had a young couple ask us to disciple them. To look at life’s questions and see how God’s words of truth can apply and help them process through them. In the course of talking with them and planning what this will look like, we started talking about some of the other former youth kids, all in their mid to late 20’s now, who don’t have a spiritual home anymore.
A second goal is to develop more of a spiritual online presence. This will allow me to have a place to direct some of my acting or other acquaintances to if they have further questions. It would be used as one of the tools to keep the conversation going.
And lastly, I am still mulling the idea of having the first gathering of the Muppets. (Men Under Pressure Pretending Everything’s Together) This came out of several meetings when I got back last October and November. The number of men I talked with who themselves or had friends who were struggling in so many areas of life but felt they had nowhere to turn. I have talked about this idea to several of them and there is definite interest. The breakdown is that although this is a great idea, what kind of gathering would be a safe place for this kind of support and vulnerability to occur?
A few prayer requests
Health. We have been battling a lot of nasty colds, flu’s, back pain, and exhaustion. Please pray for full health to return and strength to do what God has been calling us to do.
David’s Masters Class. I begin my Masters in Transformational Leadership on Monday. The first class is Church and Mission. One of the textbooks is entitled, “The Rise and Fall of Christian Ireland.” I feel this will be extremely beneficial as I adapt the way we do ministry to an Irish culture. Please pray for my organization and time management.
For the sake of missionary privacy, we do not post the full letter online. If you would like to read the full letter that was provided to the Mission & Outreach Committee, please email us at office@sherwoodfriends.church.
