Hymns: 1993 Memories

1993 was the year that I started feeling old 😀, which is perhaps why I purchased a Nintendo NES console and Achtung Baby by U2. I bought the U2 CD in HMV, Cruises Street, Limerick, just across the road from where we had our open-air preaching meetings. I had just listened to their Dublin concert at the RDS, live on RTE radio, and I quite liked it. I’d seen U2 a few times in my late teens, but I didn’t like their early material much.

And I probably got the Nintendo console in the Game shop in the same street. It was a wonderful street at that time. Bewleys coffee shop, Game, HMV, Past Times, the Early Learning Centre, McDonalds are all gone now. But I still have my console and CD 😀.

In May 1993, our new baby was born, and Limerick Baptist Church opened its new building on the Old Cratloe Road in Caherdavin. Our guest speaker for the opening was Stephen Murphy from Dundalk Baptist Church.

The following songs were published in 1993.

Our church in Limerick wasn’t huge, but it had grown substantially in the previous few years. More significantly, it was much more representative of the community at large. It no longer felt like it was just a little remnant from the Protestant community. Since Ireland became independent in 1922, the Protestant community had steadily declined. Catholics respected Protestants, but they saw them as a different community. But now Limerick Baptist felt that it was part of the modern growth in evangelicalism in Ireland that first took hold in the late 1970s. Newer groups weren’t really seen as Protestant, even though, technically they were.

One of the characteristics of evangelical churches is to spread the good news and to plant other churches. Fellowships in Limerick had an interest in planting churches in surrounding towns in County Limerick, County Clare, and County Tipperary. Most newer evangelical churches weren’t called Baptist churches, but they weren’t dissimilar to small Baptist churches. I spent much of 1993 giving Bible Studies in Nenagh, Tipperary as well as helping in Limerick Baptist Church. We stopped at the end of the year because the main couple moved to the UK. But many years later, in 2015, Nenagh Baptist Church was formed.

Towards the end of 1993, I was introduced to a little evangelical fellowship in Tipperary town, which is 25 miles from Limerick city. Over the next few decades, that became my main focus. We did consider planting a Baptist church in Tipperary town, and for a while, we even changed the name from Tipperary Evangelical Church to Tipperary Baptist Fellowship. But, over time, it became evident that people preferred to be an independent fellowship rather than be branded a Baptist church. So, in 1998, we simply called it Tipperary Christian Fellowship. I went back to secular work that year, and I was involved in that fellowship until 2020. In recent times, the church changed its name to Tipperary Bible Church.

In practice, all these fellowships have the main characteristics of Baptist churches. People are baptised after they believe rather than as infants, and decisions are made at a local level by the congregation. But most modern evangelicals in Ireland are hesitant to be seen as part of a traditional denomination. That being said, you do get plenty of new Baptist churches, and even some Presbyterian, Methodist, and Church of Ireland churches are evangelical. The big difference with Baptist churches in Ireland is that they’re all thoroughly evangelical.

1993 was my last time leading a Baptist Youth Evangelism (BYE) team, this time in Limerick itself. Limerick had a new shopping street in 1993; late 1992 in fact. That became the centre of our Open Air preaching throughout the 1990s. In September 1993, I remember an organiser encouraging us to be around for the Cruises Street festival. It was nice to be welcomed rather than be told to make ourselves scarce 😀.

For that, we worked with Mallow Street Christian Fellowship. In fact, even back in 1981, when I first visited Limerick, I do remember the Baptist Church and Mallow Street Christian Fellowship working together on a Sunday night Open Air Meeting. In 1993, and in some of the years that followed, I remember some of the Limerick evangelical churches getting together for an annual meeting in Jurys Hotel. It was lovely to see that. I think that Ennis Evangelical Church were involved too.

I remember the following song was a hit in the summer of 1993:

Romans 1:20
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

I attended the Summer School at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London in 1993. The highlight for me was a talk that Peter Masters gave on atheism. I still have it on cassette tape.

The Baptist Union produced a special evangelistic leaflet for the centenary, which I distributed in Limerick and Tipperary town in 1994. Generally, we produced our own literature locally, but I think that it was great to be able to explain what Baptists are in the Irish context. Ireland isn’t just a Roman Catholic country. Protestants also have a rich history. For example, few people know that William Penn, who gave his name to Pennsylvania, became a Quaker in Cork. And American Methodism was started by two lay preachers from Ireland around the year 1766. And the hugely influential J.N. Darby who was one of the key figures behind the Plymouth Brethren, came from Ireland. And Donegal man, Francis Makemie, is said by some to be the father of American Presbyterianism. So, everything comes from Ireland 😀.

1993 was the last visit that I remember from Herbert Carson. That was the year I drove him to Cork. He very kindly expressed no criticism of my driving 😀. And I spoke at the missionary weekend of a lovely church on the North Antrim Coast, Dunseverick Baptist Church (founded in 1935).

Other speaking engagements (as part of my Baptist Missions work) in 1993 included:

• Letterkenny Baptist Church founded in 1978
• Londonderry Baptist Church founded in 1897 (Now Richill Park Baptist Church)
• Stonepark Baptist Church founded in 1956
• Moira Baptist Church founded in 1987
• Lisburn Baptist Church founded in 1926
• Ballykeel Baptist Church founded in 1896
• Millisle Baptist Church founded in 1976
• Mountpottinger Baptist Church founded in 1891(Now closed)
• Great Victoria Baptist Church founded in 1847
• Grange Baptist Church founded in 1811
• Newry Baptist Church founded in 1889
• Queens University Christian Union
• Cliftonpark Avenue Baptist Church founded in 1901 (Now closed)
• Bloomfield Baptist Church founded in 1903 (Now closed but used by Village Church)
• Ballygomartin Baptist Church founded in 1962
• Glenarm Baptist Church founded in 1977
• Coleraine Baptist Church founded in 1795
• Donaghadee Baptist Church founded in 1991
• Carryduff Baptist Church founded in 1939
• Ballymoney Baptist Church founded in 1986

The churches that close tend to be older ones in the city centre. That was partly why we moved out of our old building in Limerick, although there are now some large churches near our old church building, such as Elevate Community Church and Abundant Life. But Limerick Baptist Church is now full to overflowing in its new location too, and it also has a meeting in Castletroy near the University of Limerick ; Crossway.

Finally, here’s some music, events, and films/TV shows that would have formed the background to 1993. I don’t necessarily endorse all the songs or films😀, but thinking of them takes me back to 1993.

10 Songs

• I Will Always Love: You​ Whitney Houston
• No Limit​
• All That She Wants: Ace of Base
• Everybody Hurts: REM​
• Pray: Take That
• The River of Dreams: Billy Joel
• Wild Wood: Paul Weller
• Creep: Radiohead
• Stay (Faraway, So Close): U2
• Hero: Mariah Carey

10 Events

• Shankill Road Bombing
• Murder of James Bulger
• Warrington Bombing
• World Trade Center Bombing
• Waco Siege
• Czechoslovakia Dissolved
• Nelson Mandela Wins Nobel Peace Prize
• Pentium Processor Released
• Prince Charles Tape Scandal
• Black London teenager Stephen Lawrence is stabbed to death

10 Films or TV Shows

• Jurassic Park
• Schindler’s List
• Mrs. Doubtfire
• In the Name of the Father
• The Nightmare Before Christmas
• The Remains of the Day
• The Mrs Merton Show
• Sharpe
• The Animals of Farthing Wood
• Groundhog Day

10 Famous People Who Passed Away

• Audrey Hepburn – Iconic actress and humanitarian
• River Phoenix – Talented young actor, died of drug overdose
• Vincent Price – Master of horror films
• Bill Bixby – Star of The Incredible Hulk
• Frank Zappa – Experimental rock musician
• Dizzy Gillespie – Jazz trumpet legend
• David Koresh – Leader of the Branch Davidians
• James Hunt – Formula One World Champion
• Bobby Moore – England football captain, 1966 World Cup winner
• Federico Fellini – Italian film director and screenwriter