Association
Established in 1895, the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland is a gospel partnership of 117 independent local churches who have voluntarily agreed to work together. These churches have over 8,500 members and represent a Baptist community of over 20,000.
The churches in membership of the Association all affirm the doctrinal statement and have agreed to work together to achieve the following aims and vision:
- Evangelisation of others in obedience to the Lord’s Commission.
- Establishment, fostering and maintenance of Churches of the Baptist faith and order in Ireland and overseas.
- Promotion of fellowship among all the Baptist Churches in Ireland.
- Provision of opportunities for conference, for joint action on questions affecting the welfare of the churches, and for the co-operation of the churches in the advancement of Baptist principles.
- Promotion of measures for educating persons called to full-time Christian service.
- Maintaining of spiritual unity through the fostering of fellowship with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and who adhere to the Doctrine of Scripture expressed in the Doctrinal Statement and are faithful to the gospel of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone.
Along with assisting the churches of the Association in a variety of ways, the Association acts on behalf of the churches to carry out the work which the churches have agreed to do together.
The work is organised into following departments
Baptist Missions
Proclaiming Christ and planting churches in France, Ireland, Peru and Spain. Our strategy is working with existing Baptist churches to reach out and plant new churches, and to help those existing and new churches to grow and develop spiritually and numerically.
Baptist Youth
At Baptist Youth our aim is to see a generation transformed so that the source of their joy and confidence is not in what they see around them but that their hope is in Jesus Christ alone. This permeates through everything we do.
Irish Baptist College
The Irish Baptist College was founded in Dublin in 1892 and is the Training College of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland. IBC is renowned for excellence in teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, achieving high academic standards from our students and providing them with careful Biblical and Theological study and research. IBC exists primarily to serve the needs of our own churches and Association departments. We also welcome students from a wide variety of Christian backgrounds and we provide courses for those who wish to concentrate on Pastoral, Missions, Youth, Children’s or Women’s ministry.
Baptist Woman
Baptist Women seeks to encourage and equip women to reach their full potential under God so that local churches might be built up and strengthened.
Northern & Southern Region
The Regional Ministry Committees seek in consultation and co-operation with the other Management Committees to promote, facilitate and encourage the development of regional groups of churches by encouraging a fellowship of information and prayer and co-operative evangelistic projects.