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The rolling green countryside of Ireland seems a world apart from war. But behind Irish humor, warmth and a laid-back lifestyle lies a fiery passion that has torn the island in two. North and south have their own flag, currency, postal system, and—some would even insist—religion. The border divides Republican Catholics on one side, and Loyalist Protestants on the other. Religion and politics are inextricably mixed.

Nowhere is the tension more evident than in the border city named London-derry on most maps. The fact that the London prefix is ignored by most nationalists speaks for itself. Although it lies within Northern Ireland, Derry’s population is virtually divided by the River Foyle—Catholics live on the Bogside and Protestants on the Waterside. The bitterness of Bogside dwellers, who witnessed friends die on the streets during Bloody Sunday, is kept vividly alive by slogans and murals splashed on the sides of buildings. On the Waterside, loyalist communities sport equally aggressive signs and pictures; even their light poles are painted a British red, white and blue.

Donegal, just over the border from Derry, is the only county of the Republic of Ireland that is located in the north. Its residents resent being cut off from their southern counterparts by Northern Ireland and are fiercely Irish Catholic.

Breaking Hard Ground
It took seven long years before Michael and Corrie McBride, English/Dutch missionaries who moved to this part of Ireland 33 years ago, saw their first convert. “It was hard ground, a mission field that hadn’t been penetrated for 1,300 years.”

The McBrides found angry messages in front of their house—“McBride, go home! Catholic Ireland!” But they persevered, converting an old trailer into a coffee bar for young people and setting it up at village festivals. “Young people would come in for tea or coffee and we talked to them. Eventually some came to the Lord, and that was the birth of the church.”

A Church of Youth
The Letterkenny Christian Fellowship in Donegal has now passed the ten year mark. Forty to 50 people, the majority under 30 years old (not surprising considering half of Ireland’s population is under 28), attend Sunday services in a rented hall. A successful coffee bar ministry called the Y-Zone draws young people. A team from Operation Mobilization helps to run the coffee bar and youth club, joins church members in visiting local housing estates and has renovated a doubledecker bus for a mobile children’s outreach.

Irish OM leader Mike Mullins is anxious to see an evangelical church planted in nearby Buncrana. It was on a ship outside this town that “Amazing Grace” author John Newton met the Lord. Noting that Buncrana boasts three large nightclubs that often bus in local young people, Mullins especially wants to reach the youth. Every six weeks his team offers a free program for the public, supported by believers from surrounding towns, and hopes this will soon lead to establishing a new fellowship.

Ripple Effects
The Presbyterian Church is by far the largest Protestant church in Ireland. Derry, on the Northern Ireland border, has four or five congregations, with the biggest attended by some 400 families. But Irish Republicans won’t set foot in a Church of Ireland or a Presbyterian church, which are looked upon as bastions of the English.

The McBrides began work in Derry in 1979, when they realized there was no ministry at all on the nationalist [Catholic] side of the river. And because they came from Donegal, the McBrides were accepted. One of the men they led to the Lord was the well-known painter of Bogside murals, Tommy Kelly. Three churches eventually evolved from the McBrides’ ministry: the Derry-Donegal Fellowship, Tommy Kelly’s Wellspring Fellowship and Cornerstone City Fellowship.

Seeking Neutrality
“We try to stay as [politically] neutral as possible,” says Chris Sinclair, an active member of Cornerstone. “Once you move into an area you become either Protestant or Catholic. That’s why we are renting rooms in a conference hall in the city center.” Recently the church started a 10 p.m.-2 a.m. Friday night outreach in a popular downtown bar area. As the bars close, members invite drunks and addicts back to their coffee house.

“Nowadays there’s just as much openness among Catholics as Protestants,” Sinclair says, “Not just in Derry but throughout Ireland.” He mentions another evangelical church that saw 70 people attend an Alpha course in a 100 percent Catholic neighborhood. “The Roman Catholic Church has even approved our [children’s] holiday clubs,” he says. A total of five to six hundred children participated last year, with no major criticism from parents. Cornerstone hopes to have more this summer with help from Scripture Union.

Andrew McCourt, Cornerstone’s young pastor, says the 100 people who attend his church on a Sunday morning come from both Protestant and Catholic backgrounds. “We try to avoid the Protestant tag, and stress Christianity. This is a dreadfully hurting city and people don’t want to lose their identity. It’s got to be a work of the Spirit.”

Many believers have great hopes pinned to the visit of an Operation Mobilization ship to Dublin and Derry, scheduled for next May 2004. Several suggest that the time in Dublin might be strategic for launching the Evangelical Alliance Ireland. But in Derry, as Pastor McCourt points out, “The river’s the only neutral spot. It doesn’t belong to anyone.” The ship’s international Christians could help bridge the great divide.

Pray that God will continue this healing process and build his Church in Ireland—one without borders.

Debbie Meroff is a photojournalist based in London, who writes for Operation Mobilization and other Christian periodicals.

For more on Operation Mobilization: www.usa.om.org/