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Showing posts with label NI churches. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NI churches. Show all posts
Dr John Coulter ✍ There has been much talk in recent years in the pro-Union community that the various Unionist parties have lost touch politically with the loyalist working class with the latter feeling it is the forgotten section of society in Northern Ireland.


If this is the perception of reality in working class loyalism, then perhaps the Christian Churches should step up to the mark and fill the supposed gaps left by the Unionist political parties.

Even though it’s been some five years since the Covid pandemic shutdown, many places of worship are still feeling the pinch financially and numerically in the pews from 2020.

Now that we are also supposedly in the teeth of a cost of living crisis, many places of worship are following Christ’s parable of the Good Samaritan and are organising food banks, clothing banks, and soup kitchens for those in need.

Such actions are not just about doing Christian outreach, but also proving in today’s increasingly secular society that places of worship are integral parts of the communities they serve.

But could the churches do more in making the loyalist working class feel they are recognised, appreciated, and even feel wanted in Northern Ireland society?

How many churches can actually say that if a destitute looking stranger turned up at their front door some Sunday morning, they would be made welcome - or would the so-called ‘tut-tut brigade’ which still exists in many places of worship frown at the sight of such a person sitting in the pews?

The secular proverb states it only takes one rotten apple to spoil the barrel. Put in church terms, it only takes one person deemed to be from the ‘tut-tut brigade’ to voice open criticism and that stranger could easily turn on their heel and walk out.

Many places of worship have enough challenges and competition trying to encourage folk to come into the pews on Sundays without driving people away because of their image.

Pre-pandemic, some places of worship got the reputation of being ‘snooty churches’, namely that fashion image, position in society or the size of your car dictated the warmth of your welcome.

Even in some traditional denominations, family pews in church buildings were seen as sacred ground - places where that church family had sat each Sunday for generations, and how dare any stranger accidentally sit in them.

In my own spiritual journey, I have known of a situation where a new family came to a place of worship for the first time; wandered into the building and sat in a pew.

The mother of all rows erupted when family members who had sat there for decades came in and found the new comers in their pew; there was no warm welcome for those new comers - only a sharp retort as if it was primary school yapping; that’s our seat you’re in!

The bottom line in terms of a practical challenge to the church is, if the folk won’t come to the church, then the church will have to go out and find them. This is where the tried and tested method of door to door evangelism must be deployed.

Are too many places of worship relying solely on social media or hoping that sporting organisations, such as the bowling club, will attract folk into the pews come Sundays?

Perhaps, like voting trends, non-attendance at church has become a generational problem. Is it a case that because parents are not attending churches, their children are adopting the same attitude?

Like it or not, many churches if they are to remain viable (because bills still have to be paid) will have to swallow the bitter medicine that the only way to see an increase in attendance is to do the footwork in the communities they are supposed to serve.

It’s no use just simply shoving a leaflet with a Gospel tract through the letter box and hurrying away; the doors must be rapped, introductions made and invitations extended to attend a church.

Perhaps it is the thought of doors being slammed in our faces, or rude comments about being ‘tub thumpers’ or ‘bible bashers’ which makes us Christians wary of getting involved with the practical side of evangelism?

Perhaps, too, the bitter reality we as Christians have to face is that we would rather remain in our snug little holy huddles compared to dealing with the practical challenges which communities have to cope with in their daily lives?

In terms of the specific working class loyalist community, if such communities feel they have been abandoned or ignored by their Unionist political parties, who is filling the leadership gaps? Are the loyalist terror gangs or criminal gangs taking over loyalist working class communities where once political Unionism of one shade or another, or even the places of worship once reigned supreme in terms of influence?

Could the real bitter medicine for places of worship be that they want their churches to become mere social clubs for the select few, leaving the challenges of communities for someone else to deal with?

Perhaps such churches need to take a long hard look at the churches which are growing or expanding and simply ask the wee question - why?

If they don’t, the gap between the loyalist working class and the Christian faith could become wider. More significantly, will those places of worship which abandon the notion of evangelism in their communities still exist in a decade’s time?

Put really bluntly, who needs who the most? Do the churches need the loyalist working class to build numbers in the pews, or does the loyalist working class need the churches to show them real compassion, understanding and certainly a listening ear?
 
Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter
John is a Director for Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. 

Churches Have A Key Role In Connecting With Loyalist Working Class

Dr John Coulter ✍ While there has been much discussion in recent years about political Unionism’s clear disconnect from the Protestant working class in Northern Ireland, a similar problem is facing the Loyal Orders that it needs to build firm bridges with all of the various Protestant denominations and places of worship.

The Loyal Orders are made up of three organisations - the Orange Order, its senior body, the Royal Black Institution, and the Apprentice Boys of Derry. There is also the smaller Independent Orange Order.

Whether it be an Orange lodge, a Royal Black preceptory or Apprentice Boys branch, there is one major item in the calendar of each organisation - the annual divine service and church parade.

This was an opportunity for the Loyal Orders to clearly demonstrate their Christian principles. It was very much a family occasion. My late father, Rev Dr Robert Coulter MBE, was a Deputy Imperial Grand Chaplain in the Orange and Black, and a Past Assistant Sovereign Grand Master in the Black. He was also a member of the Apprentice Boys.

Dad was always a staunch preacher of the Gospel of Salvation and used annual divine services to tell the congregations about the need to become ‘born again believers’.

On occasions, he would be a main speaker at traditional revivalist missions organised by the Loyal Orders. On many occasions, he would preach at the religious service which formed an integral part of the platform proceedings at Twelfth and Black Saturday demonstrations.

However, while dad and many other Loyal Order chaplains played a key role in cementing the relationships between the Orders and places of worship, I honestly believe it was the disastrous events surrounding the Drumcree protest in Portadown in 1998 which marked a change - indeed a cooling - of the relationship between the Loyal Orders and Protestant places of worship.

Shortly before the Twelfth that year and just a few months after the signing of the historic Good Friday Agreement, the successful referendum in support of the Agreement, and the inaugural Stormont Assembly elections, three Catholic brothers died in an arson attack on their home in Ballymoney.

Dad had been elected as an Ulster Unionist Party Assembly member weeks earlier and Ballymoney was at the heart of his North Antrim constituency.

Interviewed at that time about the murder of the three Catholic brothers, dad said:

We are burning our children on the altar of our hatred. This is the harvest of inflammatory speeches and intransigence on both sides.

When dad and two other senior Loyal Order chaplains called on the Orange Order to leave Drumcree hill as a mark of respect to the dead brothers, they received death threats from a breakaway loyalist death squad.

However, Drumcree generally after that 1998 massacre in Ballymoney was to witness a slow distancing of many in the pro-Union middle class from the Loyal Orders, especially the Orange.

More than a quarter of a century on from those horrific days in 1998, the key question which the Loyal Orders must now address is - given the importance of the annual divine service, can the Loyal Orders say they are welcome in every Protestant place of worship across Northern Ireland?

Without doubt in recent years, the Loyal Orders have indulged in a massive charm offensive with the community to show that events, such as the Twelfth, the Sham Fight in the Co Down village of Scarva, and Black Saturday, are family fun days.

While all these events continue to be well supported by the community, there is a creeping suspicion that the Loyal Orders may not be as well received in certain Protestant places of worship and denominations since the start of the new millennium.

On one hand, there is the problem of theological liberalism and wokeism within Protestantism.

The ecumenical movement still has a strong influence within the Christian faith and many of the Protestant clerics who consider themselves theologically liberal or ecumenical may not want to have a Loyal Order parade to their place of worship, or even an annual divine service given that the Loyal Orders are emphatically Protestants-only organisations.

On the other side of the coin, those on the militant fundamentalist wing of Protestantism can regard the Loyal Orders as sinister secret societies which they perceive as running contrary to Biblical commands to ‘come ye out from amongst them’.

The Loyal Orders, especially the Orange, have always been viewed as the social cement which keeps the various elements of the pro-Union community together. In the lodge room, the upper class businessman could sit shoulder to shoulder with the working class labourer and call each other ‘brother.’

The Loyal Orders have to be pro-active and reach out to places of worship and denominations which in 2025 regard those Orders with an unhealthy dose of suspicion.

With the so-called ‘Big Three’ main denominations within Protestantism - Presbyterianism, Methodism, and the Church of Ireland - suffering a decline in numbers in the pews, perhaps the time has come for the Loyal Orders to reach out to some of the newer and popular Pentecostal movement places of worship.

Has the time come for the Loyal Orders to launch a charm offensive to build bridges with the Faith Mission movement and Christian Workers’ Union network of halls across Northern Ireland?

Could we ever witness a time when the Loyal Orders would also be regularly holding their annual divine services in Gospel Halls run by the Exclusive and Plymouth Brethren denominations?

In much of the last century, the Loyal Orders played a key role in encouraging the pro-Union community to also have faith in the ballot box. It has now been suggested that some 48 per cent of the pro-Union community has snubbed the ballot box in elections.

Could a new plan of action for the Loyal Orders in cementing their relationship with all places of worship would be to encourage Christians from all Protestant places of worship to get registered, and ensure that they physically go to the polling booths on elections days.

Perhaps the banner which the Loyal Orders could promote is - ‘you can’t complain if politicians vote to bring in anti-biblical legislation if you won’t go out to vote for Christian candidates’.

That should be a key theme for those Orange chaplains and clerics working on their Twelfth platform speeches and sermons.
 
Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter
John is a Director for Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. 

Time For Loyal Orders To Cultivate All Protestant Churches

Dr John Coulter ✍ The recent anti-immigration demonstration and counter protests in Belfast have fuelled the perception that racism has become the new sectarianism in Northern Ireland.

Ironically, the Christian Churches could find themselves in the frontline in trying to defuse such tensions. Indeed, is it the case that the churches should move into that frontline and seize the initiative to defuse those tensions rather than wait to be asked by politicians?

After all, one of the most challenging parables of the New Testament is Jesus Christ talking about the Good Samaritan and how he helped the man in need. We can read about this in the Bible in St Luke’s Gospel chapter 10.

I recently attended a Presbytery rally of the Presbyterian Church which was focusing on the role of how we as Christians can help those who have come to Northern Ireland as migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.

One woman talked very competently about how her church was helping legal asylum seekers in her local community.

One of the key points she made was how Christians were chatting to the asylum seekers about what represented Biblical Christian values, especially to the males regarding the treatment of women.

In many of the nations, especially majority muslim countries, from where asylum seekers are coming, women are treated in many cases as second class citizens.

In Northern Ireland, there have been massive strides over the decades to bring equality between the genders. While a lot more work has still to be achieved, there is the real danger that any inequality could be hijacked by those militants in our society who would want to use the issue of the treatment of women as an excuse to verbally or physically attack asylum seekers.

One of the most horrific statistics in Northern Ireland is the number of women who have been killed by males in past years. Militants can twist these figures to suit their own extremist agendas against asylum seekers.

This is where the Christian Churches can play a vital role in combating falsehoods against asylum seekers. Many militants try to compare the supposed asylum seekers’ culture with Northern Ireland culture, especially concerning the role of women in society.

While the churches can do very little to combat the warped minds of the militants, they can support the asylum seekers by explaining how Northern Ireland culture is different from many of the muslim and other religious cultures that the asylum seekers have come from.

In a practical sense, this is a key way in which the churches can assist the asylum seekers in integrating into society in Northern Ireland. But there is no doubt, some churches may be walking a tightrope socially in seeking to be Christ’s Good Samaritan towards the asylum seekers.

The crucial question has got to be asked of the churches - while their work to help asylum seekers integrate effectively into Northern Ireland society is highly commendable, are those churches similarly doing enough to help folk in their own congregations who are struggling because of the cost of living crisis - the lonely, the hungry, those needing clothes, those feeling isolated, single parent families, the homeless?

Then again, has it taken the issue of needing to help the asylum seekers that has caused many churches to waken up and smell the social coffee that there are many people in their own communities who are in need, too.

Given the warped militant mentality of extremists who are opposed to asylum seekers being here in Northern Ireland in the first place, they will use the excuse that the churches are modern day Biblical hypocritical Pharisees - working hard to assist the asylum seekers, but ignoring the plight and suffering of their own communities.

Likewise, the churches have to recognise that the asylum seekers may not be in Northern Ireland permanently, although many have made Northern Ireland their full-time homes for many years.

A situation may arise back in their native countries from which they fled that a stability may come so that they decide it is safe to return home. Will those asylum seekers do so with a positive view of their treatment in Northern Ireland?
 
Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter
John is a Director for Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. 

Churches Have Key Role In Reducing Racial Tensions

Dr John Coulter ✍ Before readers totally misinterpret the headline of my column into thinking church folk should get involved in street protests, let me firmly clarify the long-term solution to the current racial and social unrest which has plagued locations across Northern Ireland.

The lasting solution is two-fold; the Northern Ireland Assembly will first have to divert or allocate significant funding to the PSNI to get more bobbies on the beat across Northern Ireland.

We heard a lot of fine words during the Assembly recall debate on the current unrest crisis, but all the fancy words will be meaningless rhetoric unless Alliance boss Naomi Long’s Stormont Justice Department can boost the coffers of the police in terms of getting more uniformed officers into flashpoint, or even potential flashpoint, areas of Northern Ireland.

Alongside the boost to policing must come a pro-active campaign by all the Christian Churches across the province to be physically seen on the streets helping the local communities. Put bluntly, the churches cannot duck their responsibilities in keeping a lid on social unrest once the police have been given the manpower to restore order and calm.

Again, we have had a number of well-meaning statements from church leaders urging calm. These will only sound like fancy sermons unless they are backed up by positive actions in the community. And it may mean that many places of worship will require a serious look at their calendar of events.

Traditionally, during the summer months, many places of worship shut their organisations and activities apart from those which host a one-week or two-week long summer scheme or Bible week. Everyone likes their summer holidays to give them a chance to recharge their spiritual batteries to prepare for the school year which normally begins in September.

However, the 2024 school summer holidays have witnessed some of the most serious rioting and disturbances since the Drumcree crisis erupted in 1995.

The churches cannot adopt the view that they should simply pray for bleak winter weather so that the rioters or protestors cannot physically take to the streets. That’s a pathetic ‘bury your head in the sand’ approach.

Just as the presence of locals standing in front of business premises was a human barrier to those seeking to smash those shops, and the police lines were a physical barrier to the rioters getting to locations, so too, church folk must play their part practically in showing the ethos of Jesus Christ Himself when he said - love thy neighbour.

It’s not a case of getting people into the pews for Sunday worship; it’s about getting Christians out of those pews and playing an active role in the communities which are facing needs.

In an earlier column, I suggested that one strategy would be that places of worship could become centres to help the homeless in society. But that’s only one element of the ‘churches in the community’ agenda.

Sermons and singing will not put food on the table, clothes on the back, or heat homes. Certainly, many churches have played their part fully in providing numerous items for food and clothing banks. But the churches can do so much more, as can we Christians individually.

Whilst I appreciate many families are facing a cost of living crisis, how many ‘well-off’ Christians are physically giving their full tithe - a tenth of their income - to God’s Work? That’s a financial challenge for everyone in Northern Ireland who calls themselves a Christian.

And it’s not just a cash call to the churches. Potentially, the churches could have an image problem in the community because of the horrendous activities of a small minority of so-called street preachers.

Evangelically, I’m a huge fan of open air Christian witness. But there is the danger that many people could judge what the Christian faith stands for when they hear some street preachers using loud PA systems to target sections of society.

Keep the preaching about eternity for the pulpit, but show God’s Love in a practical way by every Christian deciding to become the Biblical Good Samaritan and look after a neighbour.

Churches need to get back to the traditional method of door to door evangelism which goes beyond simply shoving a Gospel tract or copy of the New Testament through a door and then hastily walking away. Churches need to take ownership of their communities.

It should not be left to the clergy, elders or deacons to visit the sick and needy. But it must be an organised and orchestrated campaign of open air witness. Practically, it means churches visiting homes in their localities to actively find out what the needs are of the spiritual flocks they are supposed to serve.

Physically, it’s not a case of rapping on someone’s door and asking them what challenges the churches can pray for. It’s also about co-operation among the churches so that those places of worship which have the manpower to visit homes can help those churches or mission halls which don’t have as many members to put feet on the footpaths.

Some churches and even denominations can complain about dwindling numbers in the pews on Sundays. Rather than putting all their efforts into getting people to come into places of worship, the churches must clearly focus on how they can be practically active in their local communities.

Churches may have to swallow the bitter medicine that community activities are not just about Christmas carol singing or the summer Bible week.

If the current rioting is to be stamped out long-term, church activities will have to be a year-long campaign. But are the churches up to the challenge?
 
Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter
Listen to commentator Dr John Coulter’s programme, Call In Coulter, every Saturday morning around 10.15 am on Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. Listen online.

Bobbies On The Beat, With Churches On The Street!

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