Tracey began her service as a deaconess in St James’ Presbyterian Church in Ballymoney over six years ago. She is involved in all aspects of ministry there with people all of ages in the congregation.

Tracey is involved in all aspects of church life. She is engaged in women’s ministry and leads a women’s Bible study and a craft club called ‘Create & Chat’. In addition, Tracey visits member of the congregation in all settings. She also takes and part and sometimes leads worship services in St James’ . The congregation is currently cultivating connections with their local community through a new ministry called, ‘Living Hope Community’.

“I love my role as a deaconess because it brings me into contact with such a wide variety of people and situations” explains Tracey. “Each day is so different. It is a wonderful privilege to see the Lord Jesus transforming lives with his gospel, his love and his healing touch. As a deaconess it is a privilege to come alongside people with a practical or spiritual need and to pray for and support that person. I am also passionate about each of us becoming who God has created us to be, and in us fulfilling his plan and his purpose for our lives.”

Tracey was commissioned as a deaconess in September 2013 after completing a placement year in Ballywillan Presbyterian Church, Portrush. Before becoming a deaconess she was employed in administration in a healthcare setting and was a member of First Dunboe Presbyterian Church.

Prayer Points

• Pray that Tracey would be led by the Lord Jesus in all aspects of her work.
• Pray that the congregation would grow spiritually and that they would be real disciples of Jesus Christ, and not just church goers or church members.
• Pray for the ‘Living Hope Community’ as members of the congregation reach out to their local community. Pray that people will sense the love of Christ.
• Members of the congregation are going on a mission trip to Romania with the Smiles Foundation in August. Pray for the team to be knit together in love and that love would overflow to all the meet in Romania.

Latest Report - May 2023

Living Hope Community

Jesus says in Mark 12:30-31: "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these."

In St James' in 2019, we wanted to make connections with our community of Ballymoney and so we began a community project that we named 'Living Hope Community', because 'A living God, gives a living hope'. It has three strands.

The first is 'Tracey's Trolley'. The food items that are donated by the congregation every Sunday are delivered to Ballymoney Foodbank. In 2021, Ballymoney Foodbank supported 4,117 children and adults with food and toiletries. Last year, that increased to 5,883 individuals and families seeking help, just to feed themselves.

The second strand is school uniforms, where we collect items of school uniform from schools, that have kindly been donated by parents/guardians who no longer need them. These items are still in good condition for another child to wear and so we give them away when we open our church hall five days during the year. We have also seen an increase in families coming on these days for school uniform and sports kit. In 2021, we had 102 families come to us, but that rose last year to 156 families. We have been able to connect with people in our community of Ballymoney, build up good relationships with the schools and by God's grace pray with people and just listen as they tell us the difficulties and problems they face.

The third strand is Christmas toys. We had collected toys and baby items and in November 2020 we decided to give them away to those who needed them. We advertised the toys on the Facebook page and we had nearly 70 families come seeking help with toys that year. Many told us of their difficulties. One woman told us that she couldn't take many toys as she and her children would be homeless soon. We thank God that we get to hear these stories and help where we can and pray for these situations. We thought the toy giveaway would happen once but what we didn't expect was the kindness of strangers. Our own congregation and people who saw it advertised on Facebook began donating toys and so we have continued it every year since. 

We have been blessed in so many ways by the people we have met, the conversations we have had and the friendships we have struck up. The more food, school uniforms and toys we give away, the more we have received. 

Please pray:

• Please pray for those who come seeking help, that they will find Jesus Christ and his salvation.
• Give thanks for this opportunity to help our community in these ways.

To download a printable PDF version of this report visit the Mission Reports listing at the top.