St Patrick: By Dr. Michael Matlock Professor at Asbury Theological Seminary

Patrick ... what can we learn from this man of God?

Most of my thoughts come from a colleague in this area, a pastor of a church in the Anglican tradition.

St. Patrick was the wealthy son of a clergy person who lived in Roman Britain during the fifth century. As a young man, he rejected the faith of his family and lived a wild life with his wealthy friends. When he was a teenager, raiders from Ireland kidnapped Patrick, took him to Ireland and sold him into slavery. For six years, he faced hunger, privation and nakedness as he served his master as a shepherd.



During his servitude, Patrick returned to the faith of his family. While he was alone in the fields, he turned to God and found solace through faith in Jesus Christ. After a number of years, Patrick received a vision from God that called him to escape and return to his home. By God’s protection, he returned home. In time, he sensed a calling to be a priest in the Church. During his preparation for this vocation, Patrick again heard God’s call. This time it was a call to return to the Irish and bring to them the message of God’s extravagant love revealed in Jesus Christ.




Patrick obeyed this heavenly voice and returned to Ireland as a Bishop to make disciples of Jesus Christ and organize communities of Christians throughout the land. Within Patrick’s lifetime, a multitude of faith communities was founded and within a few generations, the Irish people were converted from paganism to Christianity. The Irish or Celtic Church then sent missionaries all over Scotland , England and Northern Europe.




The Celtic Church was marked by a number of features that made it flourish:


•A focus on founding deep communities of faith for outreach and service to the Irish people.

•Intensive, intentional disciple-making through the liturgy, practical spiritual instruction and deep friendships.

•A holistic faith that embraced all of creation as a means to understand and draw closer to God

•An emphasis on mission and self-giving to the surrounding culture as central to the Christian life.

•A wedding of the historic Christian faith with the forms of Irish culture.


In our increasingly post-Christian and post-modern culture, many women and men are fully disconnected from Christianity. We look to Patrick, and the story of God’s work through him, as an inspiration and model for us as a faith community.

By Dr. Michael Matlock Professor at Asbury Theological Seminary March 18 Asbury Virtual Campus http://virtual.asburyseminary.edu/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=135494