TRINITY CHURCH NETWORK: OUR STORY

Trinity Church Network (formerly known as Fellowship Bible Church/FBC) began in the exciting days of spiritual renewal in the mid-1970s. It grew out of neighbourhood Bible studies which started in the home of Fergus and Sarah Ryan in Malahide, a town about 16km north of Dublin, where dozens of people found new life in Jesus Christ. In the early years the fellowship had the assistance of Jim and Angee Walsh of Greater Europe Mission (Wheaton).

The first Sunday morning worship meeting was at the International Hotel at Dublin Airport in January 1977. In 1981 FBC acquired a house, and then, in 1984, an office building for its meetings in Artane, on Dublin’s north side. By 1986 this was filled and FBC planted a new independent church in the nearby town of Swords (now Swords Baptist Church). Sometime later another group from FBC helped plant Dublin West Christian Fellowship (now Dublin West Community Church). FBC continued to grow, once again outgrowing its Artane building. Then in 1991 a Christian Assembly in the city centre merged with FBC and the fellowship acquired a much larger city-centre building. Instead of starting a new independent church, however, FBC now had two ‘congregations’ meeting on Sundays in different locations, both of which formed an integral part of the same fellowship.

Around the same time, FBC was becoming more ‘charismatic’ in theology and practice, while still being thoroughly evangelical. (See Trinity Church Network Distinctives). In 1995 the transition to becoming a cell-church began, a process still under way. FBC celebrated its 25th anniversary with a series of events in early 2002, including a gala celebration at which the name was changed to Trinity Church Network. Trinity’s third congregation began in Lucan in September 2002. In 2006 Trinity exchanged its Abbey Street building (’12C’) for the city’s former Labour Exchange nearby in Gardiner Street, which had begun its life as Trinity Church in 1839. This new Network building, currently under renovation, will house Trinity’s large events, administration, training, and outreach to the city.

In 2011, Trinity Church Network leaders brought all three congregations together to pray and reflect on our future and at present we all meet as one congregation in The Exchange where we are experiencing a new and dynamic phase on our life as a church body.