Lancaster Bible College Choir Tours and Ministers in Ireland

The Lancaster Bible College Choir trip to Ireland was such a wonderful experience. I feel truly blessed to have been allowed to go. Even before we left, I prayed that God would be with the group of us going and for those who would send us. I prayed for experiences, connections, and moments with God and others. Like the good Father He is, He provided it all.


A monumental event before the very start of the trip was our financial overcoming. I was blessed by the generosity of those who donated to cover my costs. However, others were not. Despite their efforts, some members of our choir could not raise the funds needed to cover the cost of this trip. The college decided that individuals who could not raise sufficient funds would not be permitted to go. This was heartbreaking for multiple reasons. First, they wouldn’t be allowed to go and would miss this fantastic opportunity. Second, it was the choir going. Every voice matters in an ensemble. If even one voice is missing, the whole of the choir suffers. As soon as I heard this, I prayed and reached out to my mom so she could start praying too. I remember our choir director, Dr. Bigley, suggesting a time when we could get together and pray about our financial situation. It was so powerful when we went in a circle to pray, and I remember Dr. Bigley sprawling out into a bow, lowering himself to offer a prayer to God. The following days were covered in prayer. Although I knew God would handle everything, it was still hard not to worry and be a little stressed, especially for my best friend who couldn’t meet her goal. But then God answered our prayer! More donations were sent in, and after four days of prayers and trust in God, our shortage of $30,000 was met.


Well then, it was time to start packing and leaving. We stood outside the bus and the chapel in a circle, praying and singing the Doxology. We always do this before every concert and show, and it has become a favorite tradition of mine. It seemed like no time, and we were in Ireland. It was beautiful. I don’t know how else to describe it. I feel like crying just thinking back on our arrival to Ireland that evening.


I loved going around to the different cathedrals to sing and having our pop-up concerts, especially when we were on the streets of Galway. While Dublin was lovely, there was just something extraordinary about Galway. God used the gift of song to raise money that would be donated to the Ukrainian refugees and a suicide prevention group. We were also able to minister at a local school. Another memorable experience was the night we spent in a ballroom. Those in attendance were all older folks. They were filled with joy to spend time with us and expressed their appreciation of the young people attending. We shared our stories, and in return, they were delighted to teach us waltzes, polkas, and other dances. Sometimes it’s easy to forget the importance of showing God’s love through the simple gift of spending time.  


Then there was the joy of singing in the enormous cathedrals. Wow, just wow! The sound that lingered in the air even after we finished singing was mesmerizing. The silence that remained revealed the connection between everyone in the room. Even though it was predominantly a Catholic denomination where they don’t exactly raise their hands during worship, some were! The Spirit was moving every time we sang.  I could feel it. Tears were brimming in my eyes by the end of every single concert. Yes, I love singing and putting on a good show, but it didn’t feel like that when we were worshipping God. It was just complete. God is just so amazing, isn’t He?


I remember one day we traveled through the countryside traveling from one location to the next when we stopped to look at a pyre. The ocean was so blue and clear, and the grass was so green; I just had to stop and look. I thought, “This used to be covered by water. God pulled this land out of the sea, and He made this. This!” It was just perfect. Then I thought about how God wanted us to rule with Him, have dominion over the Earth, and how He thought that the world needed me in it. Me, a sinner who deserves death but was graciously saved by His Son. I mean it’s just so unbelievable to think about. That made me want to cry with gratitude toward Him.


One of the most memorable moments was the time we shared with Ukrainian refugees. About sixty of them stayed in a hotel that was closed to customers for the winter. It was such an incredible moment to connect with them, share our music with them, and then have them share their music with us. Before going, we learned a piece in Ukrainian that we planned to sing for them. One gentleman said his ten-year-old daughter was learning the piece, but she wouldn’t be here for another ten minutes. We sang other songs until she came, and when she came, she sang the first two verses for us. Then we sang the piece back to them. There was not a single dry eye in the place. It was so precious that it felt like it needed to be trapped in a snow globe. A woman came up to someone in our group and talked to her about how they heard people cared about them, but they didn’t know it was real until we sang that song for them. Another woman said that she hopes we can all meet again - not in Ireland, but at her home in Kyiv. They so desperately wanted to go home, but because of the war, they couldn’t.  While talking to the hotel owner afterward, the news he gave us broke our hearts. Because the winter season was soon ending, he couldn’t keep the Ukrainians at his hotel anymore, no matter how much he wanted to. Due to some rules and regulations, he would be forced to move them out and open his hotel to customers. He has been trying to find homes for them to live in, but he has only found homes for twenty of them so far. We prayed then – and continue to pray - for those refugees we met that day.


This entire trip was a huge blessing packed with unforgettable moments. I pray that this experience encourages others to step out in faith. Even though this experience may not look like a mission trip in a traditional sense – and it looked completely different from my Guatemala with my youth group. But I can honestly say we made just as much of a difference in lives in Ireland as we did in Guatemala. If you are willing, God will use you in His perfect way.


Sydney Hirsch

Berlin Brethren Church

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By Dan Acker May 21, 2025
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By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood, And fired shot heard round the world. “Concord Hymn,” Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1836. This is true. The American Revolution was transformative. One hundred years later, poet James Russell Lowell celebrated the modest span as “era-parting.” As the Concord militia ran across the bridge chasing retreating redcoats, they ran from one era into another. This is also true. The United States was the first government founded on the principle that “all men are created equally.” To be sure, this noble concept was very imperfectly implemented, but nobody else, certainly not European monarchies, even pretended to believe it. On April 19 we rightly celebrate the 250th anniversary of Concord, the beginning of a war that led to American independence. But there’s more. The first shots were not fired across Emerson’s “rude bridge” but on Lexington Common. Here three British companies faced the village militia. Major John Pitcairn, the British commander, ordered the Massachusetts men to disperse. The militia captain, John Parker, seeing that his men were significantly outnumbered, ordered them to break ranks and leave. But before they could, somebody—we still don’t know who—shot, and the British spontaneously responded with heavy fire. Then, again without orders, they charged, shooting and bayoneting, including the wounded. Historians disagree over whether British officers encouraged the melee or futilely screamed for order. Almost certainly, however, redcoats cut down fleeing militiamen. It was more massacre than battle. This atrocity, not Emerson’s “shot heard round the world,” inaugurated a lengthy, difficult, brutal war. The War for Independence lasted eight years, the longest conflict in American history until Vietnam and now fourth behind Afghanistan, Iraq, and Vietnam. Civilians were targeted, casualties high, and prisoners, when taken, treated inhumanely. Lexington wasn’t the only time in the war when wounded and surrendering soldiers were assaulted; both sides did it, but more often the British. As people of faith remember Lexington and Concord, they can find three takeaways. 1. Injustice creates conflict. Identifying wrongs inflicted upon us comes naturally, but the call is to recognize injustice felt by others. The colonists had legitimate grievances: They were unrepresented in Parliament and taxed without their consent, a fundamental injustice. Logically, they demanded self-government. For ignoring American complaints, Imperial leadership lost some of its most valuable colonies, and its military endured high casualties. The lesson is that release for the captives and freedom for the oppressed are both the right thing to do—"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness”—and pragmatic because of the problems they solve. 2. Similarly, bad things happen when people stop listening to each other. Mostly, this falls again on the British. Even a few months after Lexington and Concord, independence was still not mainstream among Americans, who probably would have accepted something short of full sovereignty. How might the history of the British Empire evolved if it had listened and applied the Golden Rule? Tone-deafness cost the British severely. Likewise, may we remember that most arguments have two sides. The Empire’s anger over the extensive property damage caused by the Boston Tea Party feels legitimate. Refusal to concede that the other side has a point or two often has significant practical cost, in this case further widening the breach between the Empire and its seaboard colonies. This is not to say that Jesus compromised his values, but he lunched with tax collectors and sinners and, presumably, listened. 3. Wars are easier to start than to stop. This includes labor (strikes) and trade wars. The great conflict that started on Lexington Green lasted much longer than anybody thought. In fact, there was little deliberation. Tensions escalated and anger boiled until violence erupted, and once the floodgates of war opened, it took eight years and rivers of blood spilled before they closed. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they are not only the children of God but, in practice, they rescue society and, especially, innocents from the suffering of war. In the long run society is best served by peace (and justice). Do justice, listen, and make peace: Put together, these lessons from Lexington are foundation stones of Christian behavior, and they equip Brethren to be the salt of the earth in tumultuous times. Steve Longenecker is Professor of History, emeritus, at Bridgewater College (VA). Photo by Donovan Reeves on Unsplash
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