“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8
Monday night is my Perspectives class. I didn’t think I would have enough time to do it well, but I found I look forward to the class and am learning some things that really blow me away! This week, our instructor’s subject was, “The History of the World Christian Movement.” It was fascinating to realize how the true gospel went out in the early centuries after Christ by mostly Irish missionaries!
Over the roads built by the Romans, came missionaries to Britain. Patrick was born in 385 AD to British Christian parents. When he was 16 yrs. he was kidnapped by Irish traders. They sold him into slavery, but after 6 years, he was able to escape and found his way back to Britain and reunited with his family. Ireland was a violent place with no Christian testimony. Patrick felt God was leading him to go back and preach to the people who had tried to kill him. He did go and taught the people through songs and music. At the end of his life, he had planted 700 churches, discipled 3000 pastors and baptized 100,000 believers! Patrick sent his missionaries in groups of 12 and they went first to Scotland and England, then east to Europe. He prayed over them: “May the strength of God pilot us, may the wisdom of God instruct us, may the hand of God protect us, may the word of God direct us. Be always ours this day and for evermore.”
Out of Ireland they came, in the sixth, seventh and eighth centuries. breathing holy power and bearing Irish names such as: Gall, Columban, Ferghil, Aidan and thousands more. They crossed to the continent of Europe to reintroduce Christianity and revive the learning that had disappeared when the barbarians sacked the Roman Empire. The Irish built monasteries, sent out missionaries, converted the heathen and improved the life of the average person, to the ends of the earth.
It is hard for modern Protestants to understand the concept of the medieval monastery. But think of them as a mission station, and the monks as missionaries who renounced marriage to carry the Gospel to the unreached. These early monks were hard-working, disciplined, and zealous to reach souls for God’s Kingdom, ready to confront danger and happy to lay down their lives for Christ. Their kindness and love for the common folk resulted in many people becoming Christians.
Later, another Irish missionary, Columban (b. 543) preached the Gospel to the Picts of Scotland and founded a monastery on Iona off the coast. His holy living and love for his workers made an impression on the heathen. Six new monasteries emerged from Iona staffed by Irishmen and Picts. Columban left Ireland for France with twelve friends to preach to the Gauls. More Irish came and 70 monasteries were built. The monks farmed the land, drained swamps, prayed, taught and copied books. Kings came, were converted and whole populations turned to Christ. The monks schooled them, baptized them, and hoped for the best. However, the new converts suffered from the lack of good pastor/shepherds to teach them God’s Word, nor did they have the written Word available to read, if they could read.
However, the Irish role in world history should not be minimized. Some say they saved civilization. If so, civilization was saved in the name of Christ!
Your friend, Jean