Friends of the College: September 2022
A Big Birthday!
The Irish Baptist College has been serving Irish Baptists for 130 years. Established in Dublin in 1892, its continued existence and contribution to kingdom work are evidence of God’s faithfulness. Over 130 years the College has consistently trained men and women for gospel service in a variety of spheres. Praise God with us for his goodness to the College as we celebrate this milestone.
Graduates
On Wednesday 11th May the College graduation took place in Ballymena. There is a full report with photographs in the June-July issue of Insight and a student report on the blog. It was a tremendous evening celebrating the graduation of almost 50 individuals from a variety of College courses. Given we are a ministry training institution it has been particularly pleasing to see the majority of the Preparation for Ministry graduates find ministry positions over the summer. We praise God, however, for all of the graduates who will serve in a variety of ways in light of their time studying at the College.
If you missed the graduation you will be able to catch it on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8vOmDD95OI.
New Year
September marks the beginning of a new academic year. God has sent us ten new undergraduate students and seven new postgraduate students. While these numbers remain a little lower than desired, the interview panel is confident that we have accepted students of high calibre quality. More, we have the students God has sent us. There is excitement and anticipation about getting to know them a little better and seeing where God will lead them over the next few years. Do pray for them as they commence their studies.
The evening class programmes, including the courses offered in partnership with Baptist Women, do not begin until the end of September. There is therefore still time to enrol if you want to grow in your faith. All of the information about locations, subjects and costs can be found on the College website, where you can also enrol.
Support
God’s goodness and faithfulness to the College over the last 130 years has not appeared in a vacuum but is most frequently experienced through his people. The College is therefore dependent on your support. The very fact that you are reading this suggests that you are already a supporter of the College. For that we are deeply grateful. The College, however, needs more support.
There are two key ways in which you can consistently support the College. The first is by picking up our daily prayer diary entitled Pray Without Ceasing. In this short video you can listen to our Registrar, Lynette, sharing about the resource. In addition to praying, you can also support the College financially. For as little as £10/€12 a month you can guard the gospel by investing in the training of future Christian leaders. Find out how to give here.
Upcoming Events
On Tuesday 20th September the College Commencement Service will take place in Antrim Baptist Church at 7:30pm. The speaker will be Pastor Richard Blayney. It would be a huge encouragement to all of the commencing students to see you join with us on that evening. More details are available here.
On Thursday 29th September the second batch of Deacons’ Seminars will be held in Cork and Portadown. You can find out more and register here. These seminars will provide the opportunity for serving deacons to learn from each other and reflect on what the Bible has to say about the office of deacon.
On Thursday 20th October the next Irish Baptist Historical Society Lecture will be held in the College building in Moira. Edwin Ewart, Principal of the College, will address the society on A Theology of Worship: Historical and Contemporary Reflections. This is a public lecture, open to all, and sure to be of benefit to those involved in organising corporate worship in the local church.
The Hugh D. Brown Lectures will return on Thursday 19th January 2023. The College is delighted to be able to host Dr R. B. Jamieson who serves as Associate Pastor in Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D. C. He will be helping us explore the book of Hebrews, with some specific application to the task of pastoral ministry. This will be an exclusively online event and requires registration, but more information will be forthcoming in the next few months.
Once again, thank you for your interest in and support of the work of the College. Our sincere prayer is that with your partnership the College might continue training men and women for gospel service for at least the next 130 years.
