Looking beyond our limitations: Opening our doors to the people on the outside

Ballinderry Moravian Church is a small church, tucked down at the end of a road that leads nowhere really, except through Lower Ballinderry. People drive through Ballinderry, occasionally, but even that traffic is limited because of the highway that runs past Upper Ballinderry, which lies a few miles up the road in the other direction. It has a convenience store and a coal yard, a petrol station and an antique store and a large Church of Ireland church with its impressive, large stone bell tower perched high on the hill overlooking all of the surrounding lands. But that is the bustling metropolis of Upper Ballinderry, a little over two miles up the road.

Lower Ballinderry is a completely different creature. The church and the village have a step-out-of-time feel to it, almost like the last hints of the ancient past hold on still, obscuring the harsh busyness of modern life, like a low-lying fog rests soft against the fields, making little grey mounds out of the sheep that dot the landscape, seen, yet hidden; clear, yet obscured.

The church is a lovely, charming little Moravian Church with its manse attached to one end of the worship space, and on the other, an entrance gate where the girls school used to stand. On either side of the building is a generous garden, with our very own 'God's Acre' and playing field, an old stone shed used for storage, and a new plastic shed that now the Scouts use to store their equipment.

So lies Lower Ballinderry where no shops intrude, no commerce blemishes, no industry blights the gentle quiet of rural Ulster countryside. This is not to say that all things are peaceful and pleasant here, for no country village would be complete without its share of drama, and that we have in plenty.

Feelings run deep here, as deep as memory, and as wide as Lough Neagh, close upon whose shores Ballinderry is built. There are generations of families who live here still, holding onto the land year upon year, but these ancient folk slowly, grudgingly make room for the new ones who trickle in a few here a few there. One development made decades ago, stood alone for many years before the next one came into being. Over the last few years these intrusions upon the solitude of the locals have come more and more frequently, for Ballinderry has changed its location, as the years have gone by. Rather, its location has changed in the minds of people. As Belfast fills up its allotment of houses and people are more willing to drive longer distances to work, accepting the cost of a longer drive as being a good bargain for the chance to have a quiet life in the country.

Ballinderry Church has been a small country church right from its founding by John Cennick in 1751. It is not a large cathedral. It doesn't even have a hall. It's a small country church, built for a small country village, and it has gotten on well over the years being just that, adapting to the changing times as necessity required. When the church partially burned down in the mid-19th century, we lost the girl's school, and part of the sanctuary, when it was rebuilt, it was done up in good Victorian fashion, dark wood paneling and pews nailed into the floor and hooked into the wall with a high pulpit at one end.

The lack of outbuildings or even a modern toilet has been a concern for the congregation over the years, and this lack has limited what was seen as possible for the congregation to do.

There are many ways of being Church together, worship is just one small fragment of what it means to be Christians together. What we do in worship has to have some real connection with the world around us or it becomes mere superstition and show. Genuine Christian worship is always connected with 'sending out' a purpose and a calling by God to replicate the truth of our experience of worship in the world around us. Jesus' love comes to life in our work together as the Kingdom of God comes to life in our hearts.

When I was sent to Ballinderry the limitations of space had confined the work of the church, and it chafed at the congregation. The congregation had a heart to engage with the ever-changing needs of the community outside of the doors, and together we worked out creative ways to move beyond the limitations of our physical space and do the work that their worship was calling them to.

Once we had established a time of worship where I could be at both Cliftonville and Ballinderry every Sunday, since my call as minister is only half-time in each, and the rest of the internal aspects of being church together got sorted out, there was a sense that God was calling us to do more, to take what God had given us and share it with those who needed that love who didn't even know it.

We began by starting something simple, the church, time immemorial, had a Spring sale/fair for the community. We expanded on what was already done outside in the Spring, and we brought it inside, pews or no pews, at Christmas time. We threw tabletops over the backs of the pews and had the stall holders stand or sit behind their tables on the pews and the people went up the central aisle.

It worked! People came, people loved having a local sale at Christmas time. It has become an important fixture in the annual calendar of the local community. As we continued to look for ways to express our faith within our community, we started a knit and natter group, a coffee morning group, a book club, and a movie night. We even began a once-a-month youth club with games, snacks, and conversation. Then COVID came and all of these things came to a halt, except, the committee and the congregation and I were not satisfied with that happening so, respecting the regulations and safe space protocols, began to think of ways of caring for the community through these hard times of isolation, Christmas baskets for the elderly, wood for those who needed heat, drive-in outdoor movie nights, and constant informal connection with as many people in the community as we could reach kept the church open, the community engaged, and the worship life rich, meaningful, and connected to Christ's call.

As restrictions lifted, we continued to engage with God's call to reach beyond our limitations to creatively engage with the community. Some of the programs started up as of old, some were left behind, and some new opportunities began to flourish. We were contacted by a para-church organisation who wanted to use our grounds to host a summer youth program, we agreed as long as we could be a part of it. We were delighted to be able to welcome in many young people from the community, most of whom we did not know. Some of the youth leaders from that summer program were so inspired by the work that was happening at Ballinderry that they volunteered to run a regular youth program for us.

Out of that work came other opportunities of outreach and community connections. People began to feel welcome in the church, seeing Christian love flourishing through the welcome and caring hospitality of our church community. All this time doing so much in a small church filled with pews, looking beyond our limitations to respond to the call God has placed on us, inviting us to find new ways of coming to life through faith and dedication and love.

In 2023, after speaking with a resident of Ballinderry, I was encouraged to contact the Scouts to see if it might be possible to start a group at Ballinderry. The obvious problem was that we had no space inside, on the other hand, we have wonderful grounds outside. The representative from the Scouts came, recognised the limitations of the space, and decided that where there are good hearts and good will it was worth trying regardless. So, with far too few volunteers signed up to run it, and no children in the church signed up for it, we decided to have an open day to see if there was any interest locally. When I arrived early for the open day, I was confused by the line of parents and children I saw standing in the rain, waiting for the church to open. The reality of what was happening took quite a few minutes to sink in as we opened up the church, and the people started pouring in. We had over a hundred people there that night and over 50 children signed up and over 10 adults volunteered to be Scout Leaders.

The group has continued to grow over the course of the year. The need for the church as more than a worship space finally overcame the hesitance of the church to change the interior. It is a beautiful church, it is beautiful with the pews in place, and it is beautiful now that they are moved. The Committee had been wrestling with this decision for many years, knowing that change was necessary, yet holding on to what they loved. When the church realised that what they loved about the church was not the pews, not how pretty it was, not the nostalgia, but Jesus and the family he has given to them in each other, and the work God has given them for the community; then the whole church realised that the pews had to move to make way for what truly mattered. The Congregational Council was called, the Church agreed, the pews were moved, the floor was fitted with new carpet, and practical, comfortable, stackable chairs were purchased. Ballinderry can now worship God in many ways with a great deal more freedom. We can worship God on Sundays with prayers and songs and sermons. We can worship God on Tuesdays when we gather around the table with strangers and friends. We can worship God through offering a space for children to safely gather and experience important mentorship and community through the work of the Scouts. We can worship God in more ways than we have yet imagined in this space, and as we follow the call, God will lead us beyond the limitations we still have as we continue this journey of faithful exploration.

This process has not been easy. Change is never easy and change for change's sake is never good. Letting space limit our imaginations and the calling of God is never good. Following, step by faithful step, where God leads us is very good indeed.

This journey has taken courage, resilience, time, energy, passion, love and true dedication to Jesus, the calling God has put on our hearts, and the dedication we have to one another and our church. This journey is not yet over and never will be while there is one soul at Ballinderry Moravian Church, willing to open their hearts to God's call to: 'love your neighbor as yourself.' (Mark 12:31)

Br Jared Stephens

Minister of Ballinderry and Cliftonville Belfast Moravian Congregations