{"id":377796,"date":"2025-08-27T14:09:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T14:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/377796\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T14:09:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T14:09:11","slug":"thousands-of-christians-join-march-for-jesus-in-belfast-northern-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/377796\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands of Christians join March for Jesus in Belfast, Northern Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ThousandsPeople attending the event waved flags proclaiming their faith in Jesus Christ\u00a0John Ahern<\/p>\n

An estimated 8,000 to 10,000 Christians filled the streets of Belfast on Saturday (Aug. 23), waving flags, singing and praying in unity during a March for Jesus that organizers described as peaceful and celebratory.<\/p>\n

Rev. John Ahern, chief organizer of the event, told Christian Daily International that the turnout included \u201cmany families and children\u201d and created \u201ca wonderful sense of peace and unity.\u201d He added that the Police Service of Northern Ireland reported no problems during the march.<\/p>\n

The Belfast gathering was one of 16 March for Jesus events taking place across Europe this summer. Crowds set off from Ormeau Park at 2 p.m. and walked through the city before concluding at City Hall with worship, prayer, and testimonies led by musician Brian Houston from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe March brought a sense of celebration and joy to the city,\u201d said Ahern. \u201cAt the stage at City hall many prominent pastors and leaders prayed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those leading prayers included Bishop David McClay of the Church of Ireland, Rev. Jim Rae, former president of the Methodist Church of Ireland, and Rev. John Ashe of Journey Church.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey prayed for family, government, the unborn, the addicted and broken, along with revival and awakening for the island,\u201d added Ahern.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ahern said the day concluded with a short gospel message and an invitation to follow Christ, to which several people responded. He described the event as uplifting and emphasized that its central purpose was to exalt Christ publicly before a city and nation in need of hope.<\/p>\n

Many attendees expressed an intention to support another March for Jesus planned in Dublin on Sept. 27, beginning at the Garden of Remembrance and ending at Merrion Square. 12,000 attended a similar event in Dublin last year, 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ahern recently commented to Christian Daily International<\/a>\u00a0that issues such as addiction, brokenness, isolation, fear, and prejudice in Belfast and Dublin can only be addressed by a change of heart through the gospel \u2014 a central purpose of the March for Jesus.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s by taking Christ public, taking him into those public places and lifting him up and and telling the world you know, there’s a different way,\u201d added Ahern.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ahern acknowledged that the deep-seated divisions within churches and the wider culture in Ireland and Northern Ireland will not be solved by a single march, but he believes public witness to Jesus Christ can have a powerful impact for the gospel.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnity doesn\u2019t mean uniformity. The differences in the body of Christ exist. They\u2019re real. We\u2019re not saying they\u2019re unimportant but Jesus said, \u2018By this all men will know you\u2019re my disciples, by your love for each other.\u2019 And so it\u2019s important that we put aside our various differences and distinctions. We\u2019re not saying they\u2019re unimportant but there is a significance, I believe, to the people of God coming together in unity to pray and to worship Christ.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ahern added that the March for Jesus initiatives were open to everybody, Christian and non-Christian alike, to come and \u201ctaste and see\u201d God\u2019s love.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have empty churches in so many places and praise God for the revival<\/a> that\u2019s starting but it\u2019s only the beginning. And the reality is there is a whole generation that needs to be reached for Christ.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"People attending the event waved flags proclaiming their faith in Jesus Christ\u00a0John Ahern An estimated 8,000 to 10,000…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[2378,17675,131803,21111,131805,131802,131804,1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-377796","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-belfast","9":"tag-church-of-ireland","10":"tag-churches","11":"tag-dublin","12":"tag-journey-church","13":"tag-march-for-jesus","14":"tag-methodist-church","15":"tag-northern-ireland","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115101130106412430","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}