About
We are an evangelical Baptist fellowship located on the west side of Galway in Knocknacarra. We are a part of the Association of Irish Baptist Churches, as well as Aontas and the Evangelical Alliance of Ireland (EAI).
Please explore the related links to find out more specifics about what we believe, what we value, our dreams, as well as what to expect at one of our worship services. To put it simply, we are a community of believers moving forward as followers of Jesus. We love the Lord, His Word, and each other. Why not pay us a visit and see for yourself?
Times & Location
Ever feel there are times in your life when you just don’t know which way is up? We’re all in the same boat. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a place to turn for some answers? We agree. That’s one of the main reasons that we gather on Sunday mornings.
We believe that the Bible has answers to our everyday questions. So, every Sunday morning, we come together as a group of Jesus followers to worship God and explore the Scriptures together for answers to the questions that we all ask.
We meet every Sunday morning at 11am in the Knocknacarra National School (St John the Apostle Primary School). See the map below for directions, but it is a big yellow building just down from the roundabout at Western Distributor Road and Bóthar Stiofáin in Knocknacarra. It can be seen from the roundabout if looking towards the Altan Flats and Gort Siar housing estate. If traveling from the City Centre on Western Distributor, the roundabout is the next one past Aldi stores. If traveling from the other direction on Distributor Road, it is the roundabout just after the Clybaun Hotel. We gather in the sports hall, sing some songs, and look into the Bible. If traveling from the city centre via bus, take the Bus Eireann 405 from stop number 5 in Eyre Square at 10:20am and exit at Dunnes/B&Q. It’s a short walk from there. The Eircode (if you’re using Google maps) is H91R3N1.
After the service, you are very welcome to stay for our fellowship time; tea and biscuits. If you’re interested in a little more information, please take a look at our page on what to expect.
What To Expect
There aren’t too many things more scary than going to a new place for the first time, especially a church! Will they do weird things? Will they look at me funny? What will I wear? How long will it last? These are all very important questions, and ones that we want to help you answer before you arrive. Please rest assured that we will never call you out to do something you don’t want to do.
What do I wear?
Wear whatever you like. We are a very casual fellowship. This seems to be one of the benefits of meeting in a school. Our services are informal, most of the time we wear blue jeans or trousers and comfortable shirts.
Do you do weird things?
No. We always begin our time with some informal chatting over tea and coffee. Then we sing some songs together, have a short time of prayer, and listen as one of our teachers shares from a passage in the Bible and talks about how we can apply it to our everyday lives. We conclude with another time of fellowship around tea and biscuits! We will generally celebrate communion on the first Sunday of each month, although at times we may vary that frequency.
How long will it last?
The whole service lasts about 1-1.5 hours, then the tea time.
Will I be embarrassed?
Absolutely not. We won’t embarrass you at all. We were all new to a church at one time or another, so we remember what it’s like. We won’t ask you to do anything you don’t want to do.
What about my kids?
We have a fantastic children’s ministry. Your kids will be safe, have fun, and learn about God’s Word, the Bible. In their time on Sunday, the kids will generally do a handcraft, sing, and hear an exciting message from God’s Word. Anyone that works with our children has been thoroughly vetted, so you can rest assured that your children will be well taken care of. We also have a creche for the smallest among us, as well as an opportunity for the older youth to gather most Sundays of the month.
Why do you meet in a school?
While we would hope to own our own space at some point in the future, we believe that a church is more than a building. That the Church of God is a spiritual Body made up of all those who have placed all their faith and confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. So, as the Gospel according to St. Matthew says, “where two or more are gathered, there I am in their midst.” The place that occurs is irrelevant.
Church History
Galway City Baptist Church began with one family back in 1999 when Tim and Joan Cumings moved to Galway from Dublin via Michigan, USA.
A few years later in 2003, Jason and Mandy Post joined the team. The Cumings’ sitting room was the venue for the young church for a couple of years until, in 2005, the move was made over to the Clybaun Hotel. Susan Newell arrived to serve from New Jersey in 2006. God continued to bless and people continued to come until it was apparent that the small conference room was no longer sufficient. So in 2008 the church moved from the conference room to the large function room in the hotel. Each week people met early to convert one-half of the room into a venue for worship. The church was blessed in 2008 with the arrival of Kirk and Sandlin Poth from California. As God continued to bless with more adults and children, something needed to be done. So, in 2009, the church made the move to the newly built Knocknacarra National School. This venue has served the church well and offers years of potential for continued growth. May God continue to bless!
Our Values
Our values remind us of what is important to us. They undergird everything we do and all of the programs that we implement.
God’s glory
Everything exists to bring glory to God. Therefore, we seek to please Him in all things. To glorify Him in the way we handle the things that He has given us (our money, time, and talents), and to strive to do all that we do with the excellence that will bring Him praise as we seek to accomplish His mission in the world.
The Bible
As God’s disclosure of Himself to humanity, we hold the Scriptures in high regard. Because the Bible is the primary means by which the Holy Spirit transforms our lives and saves people, culturally relevant biblical preaching and teaching is a priority in our fellowship. The knowledge of Scripture that leads to application and life change is also something that we are committed to undertaking in our own personal and private lives, as well as initiating in the lives of believers in our fellowship.
Prayer
Having obtained access to the Father through the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ, we regularly spend time in corporate and private prayer because we believe that God moves in power when His righteous people pray.
Unity in the Community
We celebrate our diversity of background knowing that the Body of Christ is not homogenous. In the essentials of our doctrine we stand firm together. In the non-essentials we extend grace to each other in love. We seek to be deeply connected to one another as we encourage and struggle with one another towards the common goal and mission God has given us.
Merciful Concern for Others
In light of God’s mercy shone to us through the cross, we seek, as God gives opportunity, to help people with physical, spiritual, and emotional needs, especially those in the family of God.
Character and Accountability
Although striving to reflect the character of Christ, we are willing to answer to one another in the times we fall short. We seek to be teachable, honest, and available for one another in all things; forgiving each other as Christ has forgiven us.
Evangelism and Discipleship
God loves people everywhere, and so should we. We seek to have relationships with people in our own local communities and surrounding areas who do not yet believe. When we have opportunity, we seek to share the life-changing message of the Gospel in a culturally relevant way. Knowing that God loves all the people of the world, we seek to share His message of hope with people all over the world. We are committed to seeing believers mature and develop in their relationship with God for His glory in the accomplishment of his mission in the world.
Our Beliefs
In addition to what follows, we also affirm the Association of Baptist Churches Doctrinal Statement found here.
The Godhead
We believe that there is only one true God who is at work in the world to accomplish His desired end. He eternally exists as three co-eternal and co-equal persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. While these are distinct persons performing distinct functions under the headship of the Father, they are of the same essence, one God. Because they are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes, and perfections, they are also worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence, and obedience.
God the Father
God is the self-existent Creator and Sustainer of the universe. He is omniscient and possesses exhaustive foreknowledge of all future events. Everything in all of creation exists to glorify Him. He is an infinite, personal spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power, and love. He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of human beings, intentionally intervening in pursuit of humanity in order to enter into a fatherhood relationship with them spiritually through the new birth. He hears and answers prayer, and He saves from sin and death all who come to him through Jesus Christ.
God the Son
God the Son took on flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, being conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary. He is fully God and fully man. Jesus perfectly demonstrates all that it means to be human. He lived a perfect life and offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for all people by physically dying on a cross and rising bodily from the dead three days later. Having ascended to Heaven, He now sits at God’s right hand as the eternal sacrifice for sin where He, the only Mediator between God and humanity, continually makes intercession for His own as High Priest and Advocate. We believe in His imminent, personal, visible, and bodily return from heaven to rescue His Bride, the Church, and to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
God the Holy Spirit
God the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. He was sent to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment; and to draw sinners to Christ. We believe that, at the moment of conversion, He permanently indwells each believer: making him holy, baptizing him into the Body of Christ, His Church, and giving him spiritual gift(s) with which to serve the Church in accomplishing the mission of God in the world. He provides each believer with power for living, understanding of spiritual truth, and guidance for making right decisions.
The Bible
The Bible is the record of God’s intent and action in His relationship with His creation. We believe that it was written by men under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit so that they wrote the exact words that God desired. As God’s revelation to us, it is the final authority regarding the faith and practice of believers. Because it was given by the inspiration of God, it is without error in all that it affirms; absolutely true so that there is not even the possibility of teaching anything false. We believe that the central figure in the Bible is Jesus. The Old Testament anticipates His arrival, and the New Testament reflects on His first coming and looks forward to His second coming. We believe that the final guide for the interpretation of Scripture is Scripture itself.
Satan, Angels, and Demons
We believe that God created supernatural spirit-beings to serve Himself and believers. These angelic beings, though not eternal, possess immense power. Some of those beings, because of pride, rebelled under the leadership of Lucifer, or Satan. Although Satan has been ultimately defeated through the cross of Jesus Christ, he is the ruler of this present age; blinding the eyes of those who have not trusted Christ, and attempting to draw the people of God away from devotion to Him. These fallen angels will be judged forever in the Lake of Fire.
Humanity
We believe that men and women exist to glorify God, having been made in His image; and to reflect His image and character to the world as the supreme object of creation. In their original state, they were pure and innocent, free from sin and in right relationship with the Creator and His creation, including fellow human beings and self. Sin, which entered the world through Adam’s disobedience, blemished all humanity and caused separation from God. Since that original act of disobedience, all human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, and stand condemned without excuse before holy God. The rift that sin created cannot be bridged through one’s merit as no human (except Jesus alone) can meet the requirement of holiness that God sets. Thus every person, left to his own devices, will fail to reach God’s holy standard.
Salvation
We believe that salvation is a free gift of God found only through faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. It is only by this act of sovereign grace that fallen people can have their broken relationship with God restored. His shed blood is the sole basis for forgiveness of sins. Salvation occurs only when people turn from trust in merit and good behavior to faith in Jesus as the only sufficient payment for their sin. We believe that at the moment of salvation, the person who has truly believed has the full penalty of his sin forgiven, is credited with the righteousness of Christ, and is declared righteous by God based on the sacrifice of Jesus. Because Jesus can never sin and never die, His sacrifice is eternal. Thus, we believe that all believers are kept eternally secure by the power of God, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and the eternal sacrifice and high priestly ministry of Jesus. We believe that God has made full provision for believers to overcome their sinful nature and live for Him by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit working through the knowledge of the Bible. Through yielding to these, every believer should grow in maturity, Christ-likeness, and proper social concern as His ambassadors in the world.
The Church
We believe that the Church is the spiritual body of which Christ is the Head sent to announce the reign of God in the world. The members of this universal and invisible Church are all those who have truly placed their faith in the work of Jesus for salvation, regardless of organizational affiliation. We believe that Jesus ordained the observances of believer’s water baptism by immersion (which symbolizes their identification with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection) and the Lord’s Supper. The ordinances are not a means of grace or salvation. Rather, in baptism, a believer identifies himself with the universal Church, and the Lord’s Supper calls the Church to remember Jesus’ death on the cross and the promise of His return. It is the mission of the Church to glorify its Head, Jesus, by sharing the message of His death and resurrection for salvation with the whole world. We believe that the local expression of the universal Church is a group of believers voluntarily joined together in mutual love and service to worship God and glorify Jesus through efforts to disciple others by the preaching of the Gospel in all the world and the exercise of spiritual gifts for the building of the church, impacting the world for Christ. We believe that under the headship of Christ each local church should be self-governing and free from interference by any ecclesiastical or political authority. We believe in the offices of elder and deacon. We believe in the priesthood of all believers.
Eternity
We believe that the blessed hope of the Church is the certain, imminent return of Christ to reign as King. We believe that all people will exist forever, believers immediately upon death entering into eternal conscious fellowship with the Lord and unbelievers immediately entering into eternal conscious separation from Him to await final judgment. Those that trust in their own good works will exist forever separated from God in a literal Hell. Those who trust in the perfect life of Jesus and His death and resurrection for salvation will exist forever in the presence of God in a literal Heaven.