There are 3 main ways in which Christians can serve overseas with the Methodist Missionary Society (Ireland):

Mission Partner:

3 year minimum placement with partner church overseas

Experience Exchange Programme:

6-12 month placements with partner church overseas

Volunteers in Mission:

2-3 week work/witness teams

If you feel God may be calling you to serve overseas then please contact our office. We would be delighted to talk with you.

Mission Partners

Mission Partners follow God's call to serve him in another country. The mission partners currently supported by the Methodist Missionary Society (Ireland) are:

• Alan McIlhenny - Southern Africa & Ireland  
• David & Rhoda Nixon & Family - Zambia
• Barry & Gillian Sloan & Family - Germany
• Helen Moorehead - Kenya
• David & Sarah Hall & Family - Bangladesh
• Ruth Wilson - The Gambia
• Pat Jamison - Bangladesh
• Mervyn & Claudette Kilpatrick - Sri Lanka

Download - powerpint of individual slides of mission partners

Download - powerpoint of all 8 families on one slide

You can receive monthly emailed prayer points from all Mission Partners by contacting the office - office contact .

Alan McIlhenny - Southern Africa & Ireland

Dr Alan McIlhenny is working as the International Director – Children at Risk for the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI). He is developing educational strategies for churches, Christian schools and organisations working with children who have been denied access to traditional schooling in Southern Africa. Alan is working partially from home in Lisburn, where he lives with his wife Margaret, and also from the ACSI office in Johannesburg, South Africa. Alan and Margaret attend Trinity Methodist Church, Lisburn. Further information is available on the www.openschoolsworldwide.org

  David & Rhoda Nixon & Family - Zambia

David co-ordinates the work of the Chodort Centre offering opportunities to learn skills in carpentry, tailoring and ICT. This operates under the Unted Church of Zambia (UCZ). Rhoda helps co-ordinate the work of the church orphans programme. Samuel and Christopher board at Wesley College, Dundrum. David and Rhoda will be returing to Ireland in early 2012 to take up a new station in the Irish church.

Barry & Gillian Sloan & Family - Germany

Barry & Gillian and Michael  and Megan went to the former East Germany as mission partners in 1999. Chemnitz is the main church where they minister but they are in charge of two other churches in Floha and Augustusburg. Check their church web-site for further information. Gillian teaches English as a foreign language to local people and also coordinates the children's programme in Chemnitz. Barry is currently Secretary for the Congregational Development Board for the national church.Michael is on TOM in Ireland for 20011/12 and Megan has just started A Levels. From the summer of 2012, Barry will take up the national post of Director of Evangelism, a very important role. It entails heading up the Board of Evangelism which works in the areas of church planting, evangelism and congregational development - some similarities to the Irish Home Mission Department.

Helen Moorehead - Kenya

Helen, from Edenderry Methodist Church in Portadown initially settled into her new post in Kaaga Methodist School for the Deaf north of Nairobi. She relocated to Tharaka (from January 2007), a dry barren area 3 hours drive from Meru town, where there is no provision for deaf children at all. There has been an ongoing building programme encompassing classrooms, dormitories, a kitchen and dining room for the new school - Kamatunga.

David & Sarah Hall & Family - Bangladesh

David is a developmental consultant with a focus on water and sanitation issues. Recent work has also included work in raising awareness about the dangers of human trafficking and the rehabilitation of those who have been caught up in this horrific trade. Sarah is an education advisor to the church schools and teaches English to theological students. Rebecca is six, Reuben is four and Matthew is two.

Ruth Wilson - The Gambia

Ruth Wilson has been serving as a mission partner in Banjul, The Gambia since January 2009. Ruth is working within the education department of The Methodist Church, The Gambia. This involves teaching computers in Lower Albion School, being financial administrator in Methodist Special School and offering input in the Church Educational Secretariat. Ruth is originally from Creagh Methodist Church in County Fermanagh and was a primary school principal.

Pat Jamison - Bangladesh

Pat Jamison from Newtownabbey Methodist Mission is a nurse in Bangladesh with the Church of Bangladesh. She will be home on furlough from mid November 2011 to early January 2012.

Mervyn and Claudette Kilpatrick - Sri Lanka

Experience Exchange Programme (EEP)

EEP places volunteers to work alongside partner churches overseas for periods of 6-12 months. Volunteers use their skills and training to benefit a new community and culture. Contact the office for details. Dixi Patterson is currently serving on the island of St Thomas in the West Indies where she is involved in dance and drama with with children who have special needs.

Volunteers in Mission

ViP is a programme which takes groups of 10-20 from all over Ireland to work and witness alongside communities and members of partner churches overseas. MMS(I), along with the partner church, tries to make these full experiences. The next team planned is a youth one to Guatemala in July 2012. This is in partnership with the Methodist Department of Youth and Children's Work and the Methodist World Development & Relief Committee. This team will be advertised and recruited through Autumn Soul (the large DYCW event in Bagor) at the end of October.

The most recent Volunteers in Mission team was a youth team to the Methodist church in Togo in July 2011. The team was recruited through Autumn Soul, the large youth event organised by the Methodist Department of Youth and Children'sWork (DYCW). The team integrated with a Togolese youth conference abd took part in discipleship, wroship, sports and a clinic building programme. The photo shows both the Irish and Togolese teams with the King of Aneho.

Churches that are contemplating sending their own teams can ask for guidance and advise through the 'Church Link Scheme'. MMS(I) can also offer training. The office should be contacted.

Process for serving overseas

There is still very much a need for Christians to offer for overseas service. Requests come from overseas partner churches all the time. Through the Methodist Missionary Society (Ireland), there is a process of initial conversations and prayer and subsequent interviews should the individual wish to take it further. Such a process helps Christians test their call and find the best way forward for them. There are experienced people within MMS(I) who have had overseas experience themselves and who can offer advice and be a listening ear.

As a result it may be that either the Mission Partner (usually 3-6 year commitment) or Experience Exchange Programme (6-9 month commitment) are the right way ahead.

It is the hope of MMS(I) that it can help those earnestly seeking God's will for them in relation to their place in the World Church. To have an initial chat or make enquiries please contact the office and ask to speak to Tim Dunwoody, the World Mission and Development Officer.