Around 500 pupils from 30 different schools throughout the county were in Ramelton Presbyterian Church on Wednesday 24th September for the 2025 incarnation of the County Donegal Schools’ Service.
The service, which is now in its 10th year, is for schools in Donegal under Protestant church patronage, and clergy from the three main Protestant denominations attended the service.
As usual, the 70 teachers and staff, and a host of stewards, rose to the logistical challenge of organising and running the huge event, with a fleet of buses ferrying the children from schools in every corner of the county and back to their communities again.
The weather for the day was benign – bright and sunny, if a little cool – but the minister at Ramelton & Kilmacrennan Presbyterian Churches, Rev Richard Tregaskis, offered his guests, young and old, a very warm welcome.
Worship was led by the Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, Rt Rev Andrew Forster, who got the children to interact with a number of prayer drills, and pupils from all the schools present read prayers. Rev Philip Poots from the ‘Inishowen Four’ – the name given to the joint charge of Greenbank, Moville, Carndonagh and Malin Presbyterian Churches – led the singing, which, as usual, was loud and boisterous.
The theme for this year was ‘Foundation for the Future’. The Gospel reading, the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders from Matthew 7: 24-29, was read by a pupil from Ballymore National School.
The Moderator of Derry & Donegal Presbytery, Rev Stephen Hibbert, used the story of the Three Little Pigs to help illustrate the significance of the parable for his young congregation. “What Jesus is telling us here in this parable is that when those tough times in life, those problems that we face, come along, that’s when the cracks from the foolishness of what we trusted in really shows.” The good news, he said, is that Jesus provides us with some principles here to help us.
“It’s a pretty straightforward message. The first truth is that every single one of us will experience hard times and difficulties in life. It means even if we’re followers of Jesus it doesn’t give us immunity to the difficulties that we will inevitably face….But it’s worth noticing that [in the Gospel] Jesus doesn’t focus on the cause of the storms. He wants us to focus on building the right foundation so that when those tough times come, we are prepared. Instead of wondering why bad things can happen, Jesus is more concerned that we take the proper steps to make sure that we’re prepared for when they do come along and, of course, that means building on the right foundations.”
After the service, as pupils filed out of the building, their teachers were given ‘goody bags’ to share with the children on their homeward journeys.
