We are delighted to partner with Angus Buchan for Mighty Men Ireland. Join us online Saturday 11th July at 10am for this free event. It is our vision at Healing the Land to see a move of God in all of Ireland and this is an opportunity for men from every background to be encouraged, inspired and transformed. Follow us on Facebook for updates.
Each Friday for the past two months during lockdown the Healing the Land team have been able to deliver free meals to folks throughout South Derry. Most of whom are living alone and had been receiving meals at the Day Centre before it had to close temporarily due to COVID-19. This past Friday we were able to deliver 70 meals bringing us to a total of 446 meals delivered so far.
We appreciate and thank Legal and General and The Honourable The Irish Society for their financial support enabling us to be able to provide these meals at this time.
Thank you to everyone who came to our 4th Community Christmas Dinner yesterday in Walsh's Hotel, Maghera on Sunday 15th December. We thoroughly enjoyed having you join us for a Christmas meal and time together. The room was packed to overflowing and we unfortunately had to turn some people away.
Thank you to John Burns and Second Chance and the Maghera Cross Community Link choir for providing musical entertainment. Thank you to Allie Mae Living, Kellys Eurospar Maghera, Bradley's Centra Maghera and Crawfords Maghera for providing free door prizes.
Thank you also to Mid Ulster District Council, The Honourable The Irish Society and Enkalon Foundation for their support.
Merry Christmas to all!
A big thank you to all who came out to our Community St. Patrick’s Celebration in Walsh's Hotel last night. An opportunity for community to come together, enjoy food, the story of St. Patrick and music from Not Safe With A Razor.
Save the date and plan on joining us St. Patrick's night from 7.30pm-9.30pm in Walsh's Hotel, Maghera for an evening of traditional folk music, the story of St. Patrick and some food. #stpatrick #maghera #community #healingtheland. Please RSVP by the 13th March to healingthelandni@gmail.com.
On Sunday 16th December we hosted our 3rd Annual free Community Christmas Dinner in Walsh’s Hotel, Maghera.
A big thank you to Sophie, Glenn and the Maghera Cross Community Link choir for singing. Thank you also to Allie Mae, The Byre, The Auction Room and Crawfords for providing some free door prizes.
Hundreds of people gathered on Saturday 8th September from 1pm-4pm, at Nutts Corner Co. Antrim, for the ‘Healing the Land’ interdenominational Day of Prayer for Ireland.
Attendees travelled from all four provinces to gather to pray for the whole island. The tone of the proceedings was very much one of contrition for the church’s failings and contribution to our troubled history.
Prayers of repentance were prayed for how those who have called themselves Christian have treated others and each other. Prayers for victims of clerical abuse and the troubles were offered. There were also acts of repentance for how the Christian message has been politicised in much of our religious expression. The gathering was called upon to submit all political and religious labels and categories to the claims of Jesus Christ. There was a huge wooden cross erected on site. Attendees were encouraged to approach the cross and leave a stone representing something they believed they should submit to God.
Speakers on the day reaffirmed that the message of Christ is beyond Catholic and Protestant labels and any ‘ism’ we might ascribe to. Also, there was a positive reaffirmation of and call to the biblical Gospel.
Various topical issues were prayed for by the crowd including Stormont (Saturday being the 600th day without government), community relations, reconciliation, suicide, addictions, abortion and the uncertainties of Brexit.
The day ended on a positive note regarding the hope of a new kind of spiritual awakening in Ireland: North, South, East and West.
Ireland, in the mighty Name of Jesus we bless you that you might prosper under the mighty hand of God. We bless you that justice and righteousness might take their proper place within your boundaries and you would know a healing of your wounds. We bless you that the favour and mercy of the Lord might rest upon you and give you peace.
Ireland, we bless you that the Father’s compassion might fall upon your people, we bless them with health and wholeness. We bless relationships in every household that there would be love, peace, healing and understanding flowing between everyone. We bless your poor and needy that they might be lifted up. We bless your schools and colleges that they may be secure, safe places for teachers and pupils alike and we bless your children’s capacity to learn and to develop good healthy relationships.
Ireland, we bless your governments, police forces and health and social services that they may serve with compassion, diligence and integrity. We bless your businesses and enterprises that they may prosper and be successful; giving much back into the community. We bless your land and fields to be fruitful. We bless the people of God in Ireland that they might rise up with servant authority and become a people of blessing.
We bless the churches in Ireland, may the Holy Spirit and the Word of God flow out through them in power and may they serve in love and humility with a heart for unity.
Ireland, we bless you that the knowledge of Jesus might come amongst the people of your land like a flood, may His presence and His Kingdom fall upon them. Ireland, we bless you that the joy of the Lord might be your strength. Amen.
Father, Lord of heaven and of every tribe, tongue and nation on Earth. We as Your church affirm that “All authority in heaven and on earth” belongs to Jesus and He has commissioned us to “Go make disciples of all nations”.
Today we speak into existence a new mindset in the heavenly realms over our land, that will allow our politicians and all our people to move forward into a peaceful and harmonious future together where there is room for all.
We declare, we will have King Jesus to rule over us, as our only Saviour and Lord, we will serve His Kingdom above all other earthly Kingdoms and we will choose to walk in His footsteps, loving and serving one another – to the glory of God the Father, in the name of Jesus the Son, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
At the Day of Prayer we identified and prayed for four Social Strongholds: Families, Additions, Victims and Stormont.
Our Father in heaven, may Your Name be honoured in our families.
May Your kingdom come into our homes.
May Your will be done in our lives and the lives of our children.
Meet our physical needs and let us see Your blessing.
Heal our relationships and forgive us as we forgive those who have sinned against us.
Guard us in times of temptation, and deliver us from the plans of the evil one.
Build Your kingdom and manifest Your glory in our homes and in our land.
Father, we are thankful for Your mercy and Your abounding love. In the Name of Your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, we come ourselves and on behalf of our families and communities who are bound by many strongholds and strategies of the Evil One.
In Your Name Lord Jesus, we confess that we have partaken of sins associated with addictions.
Together we ask that by the blood of the cross and the power of Your Holy Spirit You will have mercy on us and set us free from all addictions to follow You in fullness of life. As your church give us courage and strength as we now take our stand against them.
Father, may your Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth and Love pursue us all, may He rest on us and fill us. May He protect us from the illusions and the false inspirations that addiction encourages and feeds off. Set us free to recognise Your presence, to see clearly, and walk in Your ways.
We ask that You would disarm these destructive forces in our society. We ask that You will dispense Your holy angels to fight on our behalf and for our children and future generations. Amen
Lord thank you that you are a God of justice, grace and mercy, help us to be like you in sharing that grace, mercy and justice to others.
Lord as we pray for victims we acknowledge that in our failure to reconcile our past and in our failure to take responsibility for sin in the church we have caused a deeper pain and wounding in many victims in our communities. We are sorry for our lack of love and compassion, our silence, our inaction and indifference. Father have mercy on us, forgive us and help us to be Your instruments of healing, reconciliation and peace. We choose to love and bless in the way You love and bless us.
Father as you bring release from the hurts we have caused to each other and freedom to those who are in bondage to past hurts and pain may those who are victims find comfort, peace, healing and acceptance.
Lord we ask that the cry of the victims would not just be heard but listened to. May they also find the true justice, understanding, support and breakthrough they are looking for. AMEN
Lord open up my heart and mind to your grace, so that a tide of forgiveness may flow through me.
Cleanse my own bitter stained heart, and forgive me for my wrong attitudes and sins, as I forgive others who are different from me for their attitudes and sins.
Father help me to share the grace you have shown to me with others who are different from me, but who’s hurt and brokenness is as valid as mine.
May we all get to revel in your love, forgiveness and grace, undeserving sinners, rescued from our past enmities.
Pour out you Holy Spirit upon us as we respond to your forgiveness and grace, and may our voices resound with the words of Psalm 124 “Like a bird out from the net we have broken free, we have been saved from destruction.”
Lord we ask that your incoming tide of grace would lift the politicians that need it most, the ones who hark back to bad times and who carry personal hurts and grievances.
Free from the anchor chains of the past those who play old tunes and who wave old banners of conflict, and those who celebrate battles and violent acts that took innocent lives.
Lift political parties and their electorate, up out of the mud, safely around the rocks, and put us on course for a peaceful future together.
Below is the prayer that was used at the Day of Prayer for various current affairs:
We come to You as our Creator and the Author of all life,
You formed our inmost being and knit us together in our mother’s womb.
We confess that as a people we have embraced a culture of death through the repeal of the 8th amendment.
We repent of national sin and ask You to halt the advance of abortion: the murder of our children in the land.
We pray for those who have experienced the trauma of abortion and we ask You to comfort them and help them find forgiveness and hope in Your love.
- We agree and say AMEN!
We want to claim Ireland as an abortion free land in Jesus’ name.
We say in Jesus’ name that THE NORTH IS NOT NEXT!
- THE NORTH IS NOT NEXT!
We pray resolve for our politicians in Stormont to stand firm against this evil.
We declare that ‘both lives matter’: the mother and the child.
- We agree and say AMEN!
We repent of how some who have claimed to represent You and Your church have abused the young, forgive us for not protecting the innocent. We ask for healing for victims of abuse of any kind at the hands of churches and the state.
- Lord have mercy upon us.
We are sorry for how we have abused Your institution of marriage and ask that You will preserve its meaning in our land and heal the brokenness of our marriages and families.
- We agree and say AMEN!
We pray over the uncertainty of Brexit and how it effects our border, businesses and the relationships between our islands. Lord, may Your will be done in the political future of our nations and Europe. Whatever happens, may it result in the expansion of Your Kingdom from our land to the nations of this world.
- We agree and say AMEN!
The following is the Prayer of Repentance which was corporately prayed at the Day of Prayer held on Saturday 8th September, 2018.
Heavenly Father, we thank You for our Christian heritage from Patrick and the Celtic church until now. We thank You for our history as a ‘land of saints and scholars’, spreading the Gospel to the world. However, today we acknowledge that for many years the world has known our land as a place of hatred and bloodshed. Throughout our history the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, has been used to justify many things that have brought dishonour to You. Our bitter disputes and hard hearts have driven Your Kingdom from us and we have served the idols of national identity and tribal fears. We confess that we have taken Your Holy name in vain.
- Father, forgive us as we have sinned. Lord, have mercy upon us.
We gather together today to own our sins and the sins of our fathers which have stained our land. We are truly sorry and we earnestly repent. Please have mercy on us and forgive us for what we have done against You, what we have done to this land and what we have done to one another. Together we come to the foot of the cross declaring that only Jesus can take away our sins and heal our land.
- Father, forgive us as we have sinned. Lord, have mercy upon us.
We recognise that along with the heritage that we have received from You there are weeds and snares of compromise and untruth. We confess fear, mistrust, hatred, violence, negativity, judgementalism, entitlement and complacency. We confess that we have covenanted against one another through ungodly blood covenants and oaths that have set us at odds with one another. We plead the blood of Christ’s New Covenant to release us from all unhealthy bondages of culture, wrong covenants and the unhelpful mindsets of our history, and bring us into the righteousness, peace and joy of the kingdom of God.
- Father, forgive us as we have sinned. Lord, have mercy upon us.
There are some unfortunate road closures tomorrow which are out of our hands that may affect some folks coming out of Belfast on the M2 and those coming off the M1. Please follow diversions in place and give yourself a bit of extra time.
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On Saturday 8th September, thousands of people from all over Ireland will gather at Nutts Corner to pray for the healing of our land. Last year this event attracted estimates of between 5-7,000 people from all over Ireland. This gathering is for all who believe that our island has a desperate need for healing, renewal and reconciliation. Not only is there a political vacuum in Northern Ireland, with 600 days without a functioning government at Stormont, but there is also a massive spiritual and emotional void in the people of this whole island. Our political impasse reflects quite graphically the personal crisis and despair of so many hearts. Over the years, so much has been tried to find a long-term solution to our problems, but answers have eluded us until now.
Some will say that the last thing we need in this country is more religion – ‘Did that not help to get us into this monumental mess in the first place?’ We sympathise with such an assertion, as no doubt, religion has had a huge part to play in our trouble. The 8th September is not about any sectarian religious expression that divides, but is about God’s Holy Spirit uniting ordinary people together in love and truth. It is a call to all who sense that there is more to Christianity than what we have experienced in much of our history. So, we invite all, from whatever background, who have a true hunger to see a new day in our churches and in our land to join us to pray. We need God to do something new and fresh among us!
At this day of prayer, we will be seeking to reaffirm the true message of Christianity, but we will also seek to pray for forgiveness for the church’s many sins and repent of how we, who have taken Christ’s name, have facilitated and contributed to the many stains upon our past.
It is time for those who believe our only answer is found in answer to prayer to unite together, petitioning God in Jesus’ name for real transformation on our island.
If you agree, please join us: 8th September 2018, 1:00pm-4:00pm, Nutts Corner Market Area. Thank you, we look forward to joining you there!
Here are our suggestions on what to bring with you to the Day of Prayer:
Gather with us on Saturday 8th September from 1-4pm at the Nutts Corner markets area as we meet together to pray for this land.
Malcolm Duncan urges each of us to come and unite together in prayer.
"God will not touch the island of Ireland, north and south, he will not move in power unless we His people are willing to humble ourselves, turn from our wicked ways, repent of our sin and cry out to Him....We have talked about it long enough, we have argued about it long enough, we have debated it long enough, the Church of Jesus Christ must get on her knees and call out to her Creator to move in power and when we cry He will hear"
Join us on Saturday 8th September, 1-4pm at the Nutts Corner markets area, Co. Antrim. Don't miss this significant day!
Can you use some posters and/or flyers to help promote the Day of Prayer? If so, please contact us via the contact tab above.
Starting Wednesday 18th July we will be meeting weekly to pray ahead of the Day of Prayer. All welcome to come and join us Wednesday nights at 7.30pm at the Nutts Corner markets area.
*When you arrive come onto the property via the middle gate. We will meet under the covered area at the far end of the property.
Join us as we gather together on Saturday 8th September, 2018 at the Nutts Corner Markets area for a Day of Prayer. Stay tuned for more updates!
Healing The Land, Mid Ulster Area.
