New Life Ministries
An inner city church in Norther Ireland
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Pastor Jack McKee is Director of New Life Ministires in Ireland and senior minister of New Life Fellowship Church. Jack grew up experiencing the horror of sectarian violence that wracks Northern Ireland. As a young man, he served in the military wing of the Ulster Defense Regiment for five years during which time a number of his friends were tragically murdered by terrorists and he himself narrowly averted death.
In 1977 Jack went to study at Elim Bible College in England and was ordained as a minister in 1982. Since then, Jack has been ministering into the heart of inner city Belfast. Based in his home community known as "The Shankill," his ministry not only impacts lives in his immediate area but reaches across the sectarian divide of Northern Ireland's conflict, touching both Protestants and Catholics alike.
The Shankill Road is 100% Protestant and its neighbor, the Falls Road, is 100% Catholic. A concrete wall that stands over 20 feet high in places separates them. Both of these communities have suffered much, often at each other's hands during forty years of civil unrest and paramilitary activity.
In 1989 Jack converted an old movie theater into a youth and community outreach center. His focus was reaching young men and young women who were being affected not only by the normal inner city problems of drugs and alcohol but also by ongoing sectarian and internal violence unique to Northern Ireland. Many young men are recruited into paramilitary organizations as young as thirteen and also fall victim to paramilitary godfathers resulting in punishment beatings and shootings.
In 1993 Jack pioneered New Life Fellowship as a response to the spiritual needs of young converts. Today the church is located in a warehouse that straddles the very line of division between the Catholic and Protestant communities. He and his staff have launched two new youth outreach projects: Revolution, a monthly Saturday night youth church and Club Liberty, a Friday night event catering for unchurched youth.
In 2002 God challenged Jack to take the message of the cross to the people of Belfast by doing a Forty Day Cross Walk through the streets of the Shankill and Falls and around the wall that has divided these communities since 1969.
Walking down the road for up to two hours a day for forty days carrying the cross, stopping and talking with people about Christ, was a bold public witness.
In September 2009, the Lord again invited Jack to life up the cross in the middle of his divided community. Every day for seven weeks, Jack stood at the gate that divides the Protestant and Catholic communities holding a cross with John 3:16 written on it. Activities like these gave Jack opportunities to witness for Christ in the Shankill.
New Life Ministries offers a way for believers in the US to make a difference in the lives of troubled youth in Belfast. Supporting programs like Revolution and Club Friday makes it possible for Jack and his team to bring the truth of God's love to young people who are targeted to become both drug users and drug runners. Once the young people move into that sphere of hopelessness their lives become a living hell. Funds are needed to help equip the new warehouse with furniture and equipment to run the needed programs. Regular monthly contributions also help buy air time for New Life broadcasts and run training programs fro those rescued from the life of drugs, crime, and paramilitary activities. Through the ministry of New Life and Jack McKee the gospel is being testified in Northern Ireland.
Gifts can be given here.
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