Trips

Dear Friends and Family,

The Holy Spirit has called me to be a missionary with a church planting ministry in the beautiful but spiritually broken island of Ireland. I have enthusiastically said YES to God’s prompting, and I am excited to share the gospel with His lost children.

When I first started attending Willow Bend Church in Plano, Texas and I heard that our church was working with E3 Partners to plant churches in Ireland, I thought, as you may be thinking, “Ireland? Why there? That is already a Christian land.” Sadly, that is not the case, as the centuries of wars, forced faith conversions, the troubles, anger, and animosity between “Catholic” and “Protestant” political ideologies has warped the view of Christianity in the minds of the Irish. Many see Christianity intertwined with politics instead of the worship of our Savior, Jesus. To illustrate the dire situation:

·         The Republic of Ireland is the least Christian part of the English-speaking world (Irish Times)

·         The Republic of Ireland is the least evangelized nation in Europe (Gospel Coalition)

·         Only 1.56% of Irish people identify themselves as followers of Jesus (Joshua Project)

·         Ireland has 72 towns with populations of more than 5,000 that remain without any gospel centered church (Gospel Coalition)

In the last year, our church’s missionaries were able to meet and minister with a small group of believers from Kilkeel in outreach to Donegal. By God’s grace, our team will get to work with them again this summer in outreach and discipleship. This team of eleven Willow Bend Church missionaries will follow the example given in Luke 10 to go into communities to share the gospel and make disciples with the goal of starting church plants. Our church has adopted the county of Donegal as our focus in fulfilling E3’s Irish Mission Vision: to plant a Gospel proclaiming church in all 32 counties by the year 2032 (32 x ‘32 is the name of the movement). Our prayer is that we can help to plant a healthy, grace-filled church in Donegal!

Why do we go? Because Jesus calls us to go: 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19 NIV)

Will you partner with us? Our trip is scheduled for June 19-26, 2024. The cost is approximately $3,000 per person. We are praying for mission-sending partners who will join us in God’s work in Ireland. We have faith that God will raise up prayer and financial support through His body of believers. I will send a follow-up message with more details on how to pray specifically for our team.

If you feel led to give, please click the "Donate to this Fundraiser" button, above.

This website will take you directly to my fundraising page for the Ireland mission. I ask that you prayerfully consider helping me achieve my fundraising goals. All donations are tax deductible, and E3 will send you a donation receipt for your records.

Thank you for partnering with us in Ireland through your prayers, financial support, or both! We are so blessed to have friends and family who long to see all people find the hope, peace and freedom that only comes through faith in Christ. We look forward to letting you know about all God is going to do through our team – thank you for being an integral part of it!

In Christ Alone,

Matt Berg

Citations:

• Gospel Coalition: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/reaching-ireland-christ/
• Irish Times: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/ireland-least-christian-part-of-english-speaking-world-1.3567045)
• Joshua Project, https://joshuaproject.net/countries/EI
  

There are no updates at this time.

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