Meet the panel for ‘Breaking down barriers, building commUNITY’, a conversation with local faith leaders, our event as part of Good Relations Week 2024.
Our host for the evening will be Reverend Anna Williams, who currently serves as Curate in Seapatrick Parish, Banbridge. Anna studied at Trinity College, Dublin before completing a Masters in Global Ethics at Birmingham and subsequently trained for ordination. Anna’s passion for Habitat’s mission is borne out of her deep understanding of its faith in action impact. Following a Global Village experience as part of a team from Hillsborough Parish when she was 16, Anna has led a number of ‘Building on Faith’ Habitat teams and helps to promote its mission at events including New Horizon, Summer Madness & Queens Christian Union mission night.
Revd Dunlop, one of the most significant figures in Irish Presbyterianism in the latter half of the 20th Century, is a Patron for Habitat for Humanity Ireland. From 1978 to 2005, Dunlop was minister of Rosemary Presbyterian Church and exercised a wider ministry in efforts to further better relations between Protestant and Roman Catholics encouraging each community to better understand the other's culture and history. He was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland in 1992-93. From 1987-99, John was Senator of QUB. From 1996-97, he was a member of the Independent Review of Parades and Marches which laid the foundations of the Parades Commission in Northern Ireland.
Harold Good is a Patron of Habitat for Humanity. In addition to his training for the ministry of the Methodist Church in Ireland in the mid-sixties he studied in the United States during the tumultuous years of the struggle for civil rights. As well as serving local congregations across the island of Ireland he has served as a hospital chaplain and a prison chaplain. From 1973-1978 he was the Director of the Corrymeela Centre for Reconciliation. In 2001 he was elected President of the Methodist Church in Ireland and in 2005 was one of two independent witnesses to the decommissioning of the weapons if the IRA, a vital part of the Northern Ireland Peace process.
Lynda Gould is a Project Coordinator for Faith-based Engagement at the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action (NICVA) in Belfast. NICVA is an umbrella organisation for the community and voluntary sector and through the Faith Engagement Programme works with churches, faith-based organisations and individuals that are involved in faith-based community work. She offers practical support to enable the faith sector to effectively engage with local communities – specifically helping with good governance, fundraising, and training. Lynda also coordinates meetings of the Community Faiths’ Forum and during COVID, helped the Executive Office to meet with a wider group of faith leaders to manage the impact of the pandemic. More recently she has been thinking theologically about the role of faith in society.
Joe has been involved in Youth Ministry and peacebuilding for twenty Years in different contexts locally and internationally. Joe is the CEO at Youth Link, which is the inter-church youth service a partnership of the Methodist Church in Ireland, Presbyterian Church in Ireland and Church of Ireland and the Catholic Church. Joe has led and been a participant on local and international Habitat for Humanity builds. He is an advocate for Peace and Reconciliation and has been involved in many initiatives in Northern Ireland and shares his story of forgiveness and reconciliation with others. Joe is married to Paula and has two children, Anna and Lorcán.
Ivan has been minister of South Kirk (formally Windsor Presbyterian) for 12 years. During this time the church has been working out a vision called ‘Faith without Borders’. The church seeks to come alongside and value people who find themselves on the edge for whatever reason. Ivan's aim is that the church try to place themselves in the border lines socio-economically, culturally/ethnically or another way they might be of use. Ivan has been involved with Habitat for more than 20 years and currently sits on the charity's Faith Engagement Board. Ivan is married to Gemma and has two kids called Lucia and Jasper.
Following a career in marketing and sales, Jenny has worked in the non-profit sector for more than 30 years, leading Meningitis Research Foundation in Scotland and Concern Worldwide in Northern Ireland before joining Habitat in 2007. Appointed Chief Executive in 2011 Jenny now leads Habitat’s work across Ireland. Under her leadership Habitat launched the first Habitat ReStore in Europe, in Lisburn in 2012 and she is responsible for the strategy for scale across Ireland. She is passionate about the power of Habitat’s faith in action mission for people, communities and the planet.
