Welcome to St Michael's Church Ballina

'Living and sharing God's Word in the 21st Century'

Our vision: to be people who live the gospel of Christ and share it with others

Our mission: to express this vision in the way we worship and care for others

Our journey on the way:

In 2006 St Michael's picked up the challenge of participation in the Church of Ireland parish development programme, Church 21, and began to explore what that might mean for us to become a developing parish with a focus on community both within and outside our doors.

With the help of facilitator Dean Arfon Williams (Sligo), a small group of vision-seekers came up with the 'soundbite' vision statement- 'Living and Sharing God's Word in the 21st Century - and identified the areas we believed God was calling us to work in to make that vision a reality. Our collective gut feeling was that these areas were welcome, inclusiveness in the way we worship and relate to people, hospitality (including care for those on the edge of things who needed to be helped to get to church and take part), and outreach to the wider community.

Older church members heard with some disbelief and sorrow that newcomers did not always find St Michael's a friendly, welcoming place. Ways of making it more so seemed 'counter-culture' to begin with. However, the desire to show God's love to others was translated into action as teams of welcomers and after-service tea providers came into being. Worship planning was widened to include more lay-people and make church an active and attractive experience for families with young children.

A much closer involvement with our regenerated, fast-growing and cosmopolitan St Michael's School brought the school children, parents, and teachers in for special services and some regular all-age ones. More