ABOUT US

WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE BELIEVE

We are Christians - people who follow Jesus Christ, and who therefore take his name.

We are Bible-believing Christians - the bible and its message is at the center of everything we do.

We are gospel-centred Christians - the main message of the Bible is the good news that, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…” (1 Timothy 1:15b, ESV). Because it is good news, we want to share it as widely as we can.

We are family-friendly - we have a fully-supervised creche staffed by Garda-vetted volunteers, most of whom are parents themselves. We hope that this will give you a few minutes to sit in the service. There’s also a similarly staffed and fun, Bible-centred Sunday club for children.

LET THE WORD OF CHRIST DWELL IN YOU RICHLY...

COLOSSIANS 3:16

STORY

We are a Baptist church, part of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland (ABCI). You don’t have to be a baptist to come to Blackrock Community Church, everyone is welcome. “Baptist” is a nickname for Christians who follow the biblical practice of baptising people who publicly declare that they are followers of Jesus.

There have been Baptists in Ireland since the 1680s. Our church was formed out of group sent from our congregation at Grosvenor Road in Rathmines. The Grosvenor Road church moved to Rathmines in the 1940s from their Harcourt Street site.

In 2016 Grosvenor Road Baptist Church began working to establish another local church in South Dublin in an effort to provide the community with greater access to the Bible’s message. In partnership with the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland (ABCI), in January 2019, a group from the Grosvenor church began meeting on Sundays at St. Andrew’s College Dublin, Booterstown Avenue, Blackrock, Co. Dublin.

Originally from Co Tyrone, Richard came to Dublin as a student in 1998 where he met his wife Mandy. He studied History and Political Science at TCD followed by the H. Dip. in Secondary Education.

After working for number of years as a secondary school teacher (at St. Andrew’s and Wesley) Richard studied for a Master of Divinity degree at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Chicago (2011-2014) before moving back to Dublin to take up the role of assistant pastor at Grosvenor Road Baptist Church in Rathmines. He enjoys reading and endures running.

Our Beliefs

  • In one triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as revealed in Scripture, and in His sovereignty and grace in creation, providence, revelation, redemption and final judgement.
  • In the divine inspiration and consequent inerrancy of Scripture as originally given, and in its final authority in, and all-sufficiency for, all matters of faith and conduct.
  • In the universal sinfulness and guilt of the human race in consequence of the Fall, and in our liability to God’s wrath and judgement.
  • In the real and personal existence of the devil.
  • In Jesus Christ, the divine and eternally pre-existent Son of God, who took upon Himself true humanness, was born of a virgin, and is the sole mediator between human beings and God.
  • In Jesus Christ’s perfect life and sacrificial death as our representative and substitute, whose life and death are the sole and all-sufficient ground of redemption from the guilt and power of sin, and from its eternal consequences.
  • In the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, in His ascension into heaven, His present reign, and His personal, visible and imminent return in power and glory
  • In the justification of the sinner solely by the grace of God through faith alone, resulting in the eternal security of the believer and in works that please God.
  • In the person of God the Holy Spirit and in His illuminating, convicting, regenerating, indwelling, sanctifying and empowering work in every believer.
  • In the priesthood of all believers, their calling to serve God with the gifts He has given them, their equal standing before God and their equal access to the Father through the Son by the Spirit.
  • In one universal Church, comprising all believers from all nations of all time, as the body of which Christ is the Head, expressed locally in terms of churches committed to the Word of God and prayer, mutual service and care, and mission.
  • In baptism of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ in obedience to His command, and in the Lord’s Supper as a symbolic remembrance of His death.
  • In the resurrection of the body and the future, final judgement, subsequent to which those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ will suffer eternal punishment, while believers will enjoy and serve God and His Christ perfectly in the new creation for all eternity.

© 2021 Blackrock Community Church | Dublin, Ireland.