Living in Northern Ireland      How to pray

 

LIVING IN NORTHERN IRELAND

The island of Ireland is a divided place. The six northern counties which constitute Northern Ireland are a part of the United Kingdom in much the same way as Hawaii is a part of the United States. The twenty-six southern counties which constitute the Republic of Ireland are a single country, with the same nation-state status as England or Germany or Canada. Northern Ireland is a deeply divided society. There are two main parties to the conflict: unionists, who want Northern Ireland to remain governed by the British Parliament in London, and nationalists, who want Northern Ireland to be united with the Republic of Ireland, and governed by the Irish Parliament in Dublin. For historical reasons which are too complicated to go into here, the political conflict has appropriated religion as a boundary marker. Hence unionists tend to be Protestants, and nationalists tend to be Catholics.

There is a long history of violent struggle between both traditions in Northern Ireland. This has most recently manifested itself in the terrorist/British military 'war' fought on both sides of the community since the late 1960's. In a community of only 1.5 million people, nearly 4000 have been killed, and countless others aimed or otherwise scarred in this conflict. The past five years have seen the development of a peace process, which led to an inter-community political agreement on Good Friday 1998. This received saturation coverage by the international media and was heralded as a breakthrough likely to end the 800 year old conflict. The agreement, however, has not yet been implemented.

Peace has not yet been established. While mainstream Protestant/Loyalist and Catholic/Republican paramilitary groups maintain cease-fires, some dissident terrorist organisations are still active, as you will know from the tragedy of the bomb in Omagh which killed more people than any other single atrocity in the past 30 years. There are other obstacles to the integration of Northern Irish society. One such obstacle is the fact that many politically-moderate young people prefer to emigrate than spend their adult lives in such a divided society. This leaves a vacuum which is too often filled by political/religious fundamentalism, thus perpetuating the deep community divisions.

Many Christians in Northern Ireland have become involved in reconciliation and peacebuilding work. Groups such as the Evangelical Contribution on Northern Ireland, the Corrymeela Community, Jubilee Gatherings/The Alternative  and the Rostrevor Renewal Centre seek to educate the community in conflict awareness, transformation, and resolution. Christian Fellowship Church considers reconciliation work to be a key part of its ministry, and its Reconciliation Team has developed strategies to this end. A monthly event, called the ‘Bridges Forum’ gives people the opportunity to meet and question politicians and other influential public figures; joint prayer and worship initiatives with charismatic Catholic groups have taken place; and there is an ongoing effort to build relationships across the community. The Reconciliation Team is led by Dr John Kyle.

SUGGESTIONS FOR PRAYER

It is vital that Christians in Northern Ireland play their part in the peace process.This is often difficult, and sometimes even dangerous. The Church throughout Northern Ireland sometimes seems so divided that we don’t even know where to start! We need the support of our fellow Christians around the world, in prayer and action, to help consolidate the peace.

Please pray that we will be enabled to take our responsibility as peacemakers seriously, and that we will have the courage and wisdom to do so as opportunities arise.

Pray for our safety as we seek to build bridges in a society where attempts at reconciliation have sometimes been met with violence.

Pray for our young people who all too often decide to emigrate and miss the opportunity to be a positive influence in our society.

Pray for our political leaders that they will have the foresight to take appropriate leaps of faith and trust, as they seek to leave the past behind, and build a new future.

You can also help us by encouraging your friends to become better informed about Northern Ireland - media reports by nature are often brief generalisations, and sometimes this has meant that the world receives a distorted view of our ‘Troubles’.

You can be better informed by staying in touch with some people who actually live here, or looking at the following websites and recommended reading.

For further information on the Reconciliation Team contact Dr John Kyle.