Our arrival coincided with the opening of Connect - a community drop-in centre that would characterise and define our week.

Castlederg can sometimes be a forgotten place, or we identify it for the wrong reasons, but it was so evident God had been working long before we had arrived. It was inspiring to see a church, numerically small and in the difficult absence of young people, pursuing the Kingdom of Heaven for families, parents, teenagers and children, who attended the Connect centre throughout the week.

Our time in Castlederg consisted of sharing the burden of the local church and supporting their daily responsibilities within the Connect centre, which was open four days of our week – a lot of time for a small church. Alongside this, we helped to raise awareness of Connect, through doing door-to-door work and within the local schools. We also participated in primary school classes and assemblies and had some very rewarding Q&A sessions in Secondary schools. Cross-border travel was a privilege, too!

Our time in the west was an incredible experience, learning from Pastor Fyffe and a church that is faithfully pursuing relationships that will lead to opportunities to speak of Jesus. If you saw it, you would be incredibly excited. Certainly we as students are – pray for Connect.

(Written by David Neill and published in abci insight magazine)