Jenny Munro talks to PASTOR Paul Evans
PASTOR
Paul Evans, 43, has been the Minister of Maghaberry Elim
Church for the past six months. He is married to Iris and
the couple have two children. Pastor Evans, who is
originally from Newtownabbey, has been with the Elim Church
for seven years full time, although he worked as a Lay
Preacher before that. He became a Christian at 20, having
been involved in the punk/rock scene before being introduced
to the Christian faith through a friend. He soon realised
that he was missing something from his life, that something
being Jesus Christ, and he called on Jesus Christ to he his
Lord and Saviour. He worked at the Metropolitan Tabernacle
as a Lay Preacher, undertaking Bible Classes and Youth
Outreach for 15 years, before moving to the Elim Church. As
we enter the most important week in the Christian calendar,
with the Easter festival, Pastor Evans takes us through a
typical day in his life.
My day begins early as I get up around 7.30am, I take my son to work and I am usually at the office from 9am. where I stay until lunch time then carry out visits to people from the Church and do some door to door outreach in the local area and in Lisburn, normally I just take a break when I can get one.
A lot of my time spent in the office is study preparation for our Sunday Service and Sunday evening Service, which are held on Sundays at 11.30am and 6.30pm so, as you would expect, I am busy all day on a Sunday.
We have a Bible Study on Wednesday evenings and a Youth Club on Fridays so I will always be involved in those as well. I also carry out some of my visits during the evening as some people aren't available during the day
I spend some time during the day speaking to parishioners on the phone, I get phone calls most days with people just wanting a chat and I usually finish around 5pm.
In the evenings we have our evening meal at 6pm when everyone is home and I like to get a couple of hours relaxing, I like to go for walks or I will watch a bit of TV.
Monday is my only day off so I like to spend time with my wife.
There is never a specific time for Baptisms or Weddings: for Baptisms it depends when people become Christians and we have a wedding in August here so I will arrange to take time talking to the couple, counselling them on marriage and preparing for the actual day.
Over the Easter period we have no meetings throughout the week.
On Easter Sunday we have our Service and on Easter Sunday evening we have a guest speaker. Mr George McMurtray who recovered from five strokes, telling us his inspirational story.
It is usually the same amount of preparation for the Easter Sunday Service, although more people come in on that day.
It is a very important date in the Christian calendar. the Resurrection is the cornerstone of the Christian faith.
I usually go to bed just after 12am as it takes time after my day to wind down. I have had an excellent six months in Maghaberry. the people are very good and very kind and helpful. I hope to do more community projects, more practical projects. in the coming months so I am also planning ahead and thinking of what we can do next. I love what I do, this is my life's calling.
Ulster Star
21/03/2008
