Mark and Alisha well settled in Brannockstown

"I've never felt more at home, with the church, with the Brannockstown community, with the whole area."

Pastor Mark Hamblen and his wife Alisha have been in Ireland just three years, and have been associated with Brannockstown Baptist Church for around two of those. But, no more than they have made their own impact on their new community, the people of their church and their adopted village have equally affected them.

Mark was told by someone that he had 'big shoes to fill' when word came that he had been asked to take over the position vacated by Robert Dunlop. "I haven't even tried," he says with a grin. "But the graciousness and support which Robert showed towards me has been a great help."

Living in Athy at first and working as a 'public supply' pastor with a church in Newbridge, as well as with the drugs rehab group Teen Challenge, Mark had preached occasionally in Brannockstown during the early part of 2008.

"I realised that I wanted the position there, and I prayed specifically for it," he admits. "But I didn't want to ask straight out. I wanted to see if they would come to me, that way I'd know we were playing on the same pitch."

Which is what happened. There were meetings with individuals and families in the Brannockstown Baptist community. There was a bit of mutual getting-to-know-you, and then the hoped-for request came.

"It was different to some of the places where I had been back home. This time we knew the people, they knew us. And what happened here was just brilliant."

Mark recalls that he and Alisha 'hit the ground running' when he took up the position at Brannockstown. It has been a busy time, especially with the complete renovation of the church building itself being the major task of 2009.

"We have also established a new monthly evening service that is totally different from the ordinary one. It's dark, with candles and is very informal. The extraordinary thing is that things like this were embraced by the community with absolutely no issues. For instance, having me just sitting on a stool in casual clothes, with the pulpit removed for the evening service ... I have been in churches where that kind of thing would have been a big problem."

Included in the renovation was 'turning the church around', physically reversing the way people sat. "Which actually was how the church was originally, so we were only going back to that."

There's more music too, and the organ has been replaced with a digital piano, another move which has been easily accepted. "We have other musicians too, including some who hadn't played together before, so we regularly have violins and flute in addition to the piano."

The Baptist community in Brannockstown is growing too, with six new families added last year, and two babies on the way. "I find it more diverse than other churches I have been with. We don't seem to have any people in their 40s, or teenagers, but otherwise it's quite varied. And the families are always doing things together -- there are very strong connections."

But what the Hamblens find absolutely charming is something Mark describes as a 'unified energy'. "It is just amazing. When we were doing the renovations, different people would just turn up on different days, and put in 12-hour stints of work. I never asked how they got the time, who looked after the children, they just came."

Mark made it clear from the beginning that the renovations were not just about the church community itself, but that the building would be a resource for the whole community of Brannockstown. And that's how it is already turning out to be. "The local school used it for their Christmas carols, with around a hundred children on stage and as many parents watching. I never thought that 200 people could fit in that church."

Mark acknowledges the help that came from other Baptist congregations in the area, and he looks forward to a future where Brannockstown's resources will be used to give back to them.

The Hamblens were aware that coming to Ireland would be a bit of a culture change, and it was so. But in a good way. "I guess I came with a 'check-list' expectation, that we would be straight into the work of church just as I would have back home. I thought that I would be 'growing' as many people as I could, as fast as I could. But I found that it is much more about relationships, about examining things that we need to take care of. And we found that interactions are longer here, that an invitation to lunch is not just a half-hour and then leaving before you feel you have outstayed your welcome."

Turning 40 this year, Mark also found that coming to Brannockstown gave him and Alisha an opportunity to reflect on their own church beliefs. "We spent a lot of time, many late nights, just talking. I was able to try and sort out what parts of my faith were cultural and what parts are authentic. It has been a time of pruning, of cutting away a lot of things that are not really part of our faith."

Against his experiences in his homeland, which for many years embraced the concept of 'mega-churches', the Brannockstown Baptist community reflects something which he feels there is a discernable returning to. "I think that people want community, and they're trying to get back to it."

Although there is a general air of crisis in most churches, Mark doesn't spend much time thinking about it. "What I do understand is that most people believe in a higher power, and most people want to live good lives. They may want to kick against structures, and against performance, but there's no shortage of spirituality. Just look in any bookstore, and the section on the subject is huge."

For the coming year, there's no physical project, which means that Mark and Alisha can give some time to building on the relationships which have already become such a part of their life in Brannockstown.

After all, that's what church, any church, and all of life is, isn't it? People.

Brian Byrne.


This article originally appeared on the Kilcullen Page of the Kildare Nationalist.