In Manchester

Yesterday I awoke at 4am to join six others from Dublin jumping on a plane to Manchester for the day. We were there for a conference put on by RUN on cafes as ministry. While I appreciated the conference and was introduced to some new resources I'll be honest and say I wasn't that impressed. What was valuable, however, was the time spent with others of like-mind. Not only did we have a great laugh but we were able to encourage one another and share our visions for working in the cafe culture emerging in Dublin. Although only seven of us flew over from Dublin I was shocked over the past few months to meet individual after individual who had similar visions. I think we counted 10 different initiatives to start cafes in Dublin! Each vision is different but the heart is the same - to see God's kingdom realized in the lives of Dubliners. We were able to visit Nexus, a new cafe focused on art culture and also the meeting grounds of Sanctus1. While there we bumped into Mark Berry who a few knew from Sojourners this past summer. He was randomly speaking that night but we decided to miss it in favor of some lovely Chinese food.

All-in-all the trip was fantastic and much needed. I'm excited to see where these initiatives go and how we might be involved in the process.