Childlike Faith

If only we could have faith like a child, much like what Jesus said in Matthew 18:3,

² He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. ³ And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ⁵ And whoever welcomes such child in my name welcomes me.

If only we would rejoice in healing like this little girl did.  She prayed believing that her mouth would be healed.  How many times do we as Christians pray expecting the Lord to show up and believing that our prayers would be answered? It’s this childlike faith that I strive to have daily and what a great reminder of how we should pray expecting results and  rejoice in healing and answered prayers!

Pray for the Irishtown community as the fall programs come to an end and the summer programs begin.  Pray that the children and adults alike will have that child like faith witnessed by the excited little girl above.  Pray that they will be committed to coming to programs and most importantly fervent and faithful in serving the Lord!

a whirlwind of a week…

Things at Irishtown mission are starting to come together. We’ve started back with the read to succeed program and had 8 students in attendance.  We had 7 at our Thursday night tutoring program and had about 9 on average in children’s church. We’ve been serving about 96 sack lunches every Monday and had 27 in attendance in worship last Sunday! I’m excited to see what the Lord has in store for the mission in the future.

As the children have begun to get comfortable with me, their behavior has begun to backslide. Please be praying for the behavior of the children in Irishtown. Many don’t respect authority and act out at the ministries, many times to the point where the volunteers are hesitant to come back. This mainly results from the terrible home lives many of them deal with from day to day. So please be in prayer for the children and the volunteers this week, and all throughout the semester! So as you can see, the past week has been a whirlwind! After making this statement, I was challenged to look up the word.

Whirlwind: A violent windstorm of limited extent, characterized by an inward spiral motion of the air with an upward current in the center.

I usually associate this word with stress, aggressiveness, and many other things that aren’t very pleasant. And I’m ashamed to say I was planning to use this word in the same sense again in this blog. But today, as I read this definition, it struck me differently. “An inward spiral motion of the air with an upward current in the center.” Picture this spiral movement of air in your mind. I see the upward current in the center as Christ, as we use our gifts and talents for Him, we (the inward spiral motion of air) grow closer to the upward current in the center (Christ) while working WITH the upward force, not against it. Though we may feel as if we’re “spinning violently out of control” much like a whirlwind, the upward current in the center is constant and holding the ‘whirlwind’ together. I love how God chooses to work everything for His good (Romans 8:28).

 

MINISTRY NEEDS: We are in need of volunteers for Adult Bible study. It will take place on Thursdays at noon. In the past, there have been about 5-10 people on average in attendance. We need volunteers to cook them a meal, and help lead in Bible study. We’re also looking for high school or college students to help with Children’s church during worship at 3PM.

If you’re interested please contact me:
(859) 254-7747
alyssa@elkhorn.org

A new year, a new start…

Irishtown is located behind Rupp Area, in the heart of downtown Lexington.  So many pass through this area and have no idea the poverty that surrounds them.  Think back to high school.  Some claim they’re the best years of your life; others wouldn’t relive it if you paid them.  Either way, most reading this have memories of a high school experience. However, for the people of Irishtown Mission this isn’t the case.  In a recent demographic survey, only 1% of the population of Irishtown has graduated high school.  The results to this survey were staggering to me!  My first prayer request is for students to be excited about learning and graduating high school, as well as the adults to realize that they’re capable of receiving an education as well.  To help assist the people in this area GED help classes are offered on Monday Nights at 6pm from a couple at one of our association churches.  On Tuesday nights, Read to succeed comes to Irishtown for the children.  This program tries to get children excited about reading by one-on-one pairing with an adult where they read stories together. Then a prayer time is offered where prayer requests are shared along with the Gospel.  There’s yet another chance for the students at Irishtown to excel in school.  Thursday night students from the Marshall Center at Georgetown College come and offer tutoring one-on-one.  It gives a chance for the students to receive help with their homework while being shown the love of Christ through their tutors.    Think of the last restaurant you went to.  Could it have been a nice steak house? Perhaps even the McDonalds dollar menu.  Whatever the case, most people at Irishtown couldn’t answer this question, because some truly don’t know where their next meal will come from.  Since less than 1% graduate high school, the average household income is less than $15,000 per year.  Yes, you heard me right, per household, not per person! To try and meet this need, every Monday Irishtown offers a sack lunch ministry where each person can come and receive a sack lunch for every member of their family which includes: a sandwich, chips, cookies, and fruit.  Gordon Food Service also provides us with produce, which we divide to hand out as well.  Please pray that as we’re meeting their physical need of food, that we’re able to point them to Jesus, to meet their spiritual needs as well.  Beginning next month, every first Monday of the month a clothes closet will be open where the people are able to get clothes for themselves and their families for free.   

Some volunteers with the sack lunch ministry

Every Sunday at 3pm Irishtown offers a worship service and refreshments afterwards.  Pray for the salvation of the people and the continued discipleship of those who are already Christians.     Ways to serve Irishtown (wherever you are): 

  

•  The first way is to pray for Irishtown, the people, ministries, and volunteers
• Volunteer for one of the ministries
• Donate money or supplies for our ministries:

  • Sandwich bags, brown lunch sacks, save your plastic grocery sacks and plastic containers, and gently used clothing. 

For more information visit or call:
 1161 Red Mile Lane
Lexington, KY 40504
(859) 254-7747   
 Thanks again for your continued prayers and support!