Founder

Brother David Jardine – Equipping for Life’s Founder

Brother David Jardine is a Church of Ireland Clergyman and a member of the Society of St. Francis, a religious community in the Anglican Church. He has been involved in the Interdenominational Divine Healing Ministries for many decades.

Equipping for Life began with the Lord. He was the One who planned it and brought it into being, in 2018. I was then 75 years of age and was hoping the Lord would give me a more leisurely lifestyle, plenty of time to go out for coffee with friends. But I knew in my spirit that He was calling me to something else. It gradually became clear He was calling me to found a new ministry - to found it, to lead it and to build up a group of people who would catch the vision we were pursuing. We gave the new ministry the name Equipping for Life. The only brief the Lord gave me at the beginning was ' to encourage Church people and others to give their services free of charge to serve people in areas which are disadvantaged and may have suffered a great deal during the Troubles. '

I felt guided to start on the Shankill Road, and although we explored a number of different avenues the place where we were given most opportunities was in schools. In October, 2018 we started sending in 8 Volunteer Tutors every week into Forth River school, to take children for reading. Inside 10 months we were sending 8 VTs into every school on the Shankill every week. Right from the beginning this has proved to be a great success. The children love the classes, and the relationship between children and Volunteers has always been terrific. This is partly due to the quality of people working with us, and partly due to the fact that everything we do is one to one. The children thrive on this personal attention.

Another major factor in our rapid growth is the spiritual dimension of the ministry. We encourage a great deal of prayer in the background, and we also have permission to say a prayer with children before we begin reading. This spiritual dimension is absolutely vital to the growth of EfL, and crucially, the children love it.

One of our major aims right from the beginning has been to help children to realise their full potential in every area of life. I feel we have made a good start on that journey and trust that as we allow the Lord to be in charge of the ministry, and constantly ask for his guidance and help, Equipping for Life will go from strength to strength.

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Brother David Jardine – Equipping for Life’s Founder