In 1996, I remember being introduced to the Christianity Explained course. We used that for a few years for evangelistic studies. Later we moved onto Christianity Explored. Another popular one, which I never used was the Alpha course.
For new Christians, we used to study a little booklet named Walk Worthy.
Popular worship songs from 1996 include the following. As I always point out, I had little interest in new songs during the 1990s, but I do enjoy discovering them nowadays.
In February, a secular song, One of Us, by Joan Osborne made the charts. She sings “What if God was one of us”. I don’t really understand the song, but we often point out that God really did become one of us in the incarnation.
Phil 2:6-7
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
Other memories from 1996 include speaking at Carrigaline Baptist Church, County Cork and distributing the Jesus video in Limerick.
And I fondly remember our Open Air in Cruises Street, which we used to do with Mallow Street Christian fellowship. We often went for coffee afterwards in Bewley’s. It was a great street back then.
As often happened, we had visitors to help us with our Open Air meetings, including an Operation Mobilization team. I remember one of the young people, a German, had a unicycle, which proved an attraction. Mallow Street Christian Fellowship had a team from Scotland who did a little bit of drama/dance. They used the following two songs.
I remember some teenage schoolgirls coming up and jokingly handing us a poster and asking us to advertise a Manic Street Preachers concert in Dublin. I knew little about the Manic Street Preachers at that stage. I knew plenty of real preachers from Wales, but these guys were atheists.
Later, in 2002, they released a song named There by the Grace of God. They hadn’t become Christians, but to me, it seemed like a tribute to real preachers.
Speaking of Wales, we had Welsh preacher, Derek Thomas, from the Evangelical Presbyterian Church speaking at Limerick Baptist Church in April. It was my first time hearing him, but in subsequent years I listened to him online quite frequently. I was particularly impressed with an interview he did in 2007 for 9Marks. And I’ve often listened to him online over the years on various sites, such as Ligonier Ministries. We also got a new Pastor in Limerick Baptist Church in 1996.
One of my favorite secular songs that year was Three Lions by David Baddiel, Frank Skinner, and The Lightning Seeds.
It sounded very strange for a football song when I first heard it. However, it became the song of the summer, and it was all about hope and perseverance. It wasn’t a Christian song, but its emotional tone applies to us as Christians, especially when we feel that we’re up against it.
I think of the line relating the England’s 1966 win, “I know that was then, but it could be again“. That’s how I think of Christian revivals of the past, or even our small successes. When you go through barren times, have a listen to Three Lions and apply it to whatever you like. It needn’t be soccer 😀. Frank Skinner is actually a Catholic, but an unusually vocal one. I’m always impressed by people who stand up for their faith, especially when they’re in an environment when it isn’t considered cool to do so.
The Spice Girls were big in 1996. What concerned me about them is that they were very much targeted to young kids, yet they’re songs were quite adult in some respects. But that was nothing compared to some of the stuff that would come later. And George Michael’s Jesus to a Child wasn’t a Christian song, but it just shows how Jesus looms so large in general culture.
For my Baptist Missions work, I visited the following Baptist churches in 1996:
April
- Carrigaline Baptist Church
- Limavady Baptist Church
- Haypark Avenue Baptist Church (Now closed but Village Church use the building)
- Comber Baptist Church
- Lurgan Baptist Church
- Calvary Dee Street Baptist Church
November
- Portrush Baptist Church
- Portstewart Baptist Church
- Gortmerron Baptist Church
- Ballyclare Baptist Church
- Rosemary Park Baptist Church (Now Bethany)
- Saintfield Baptist Church
- Great Victoria Street Baptist Church
I also spoke at Midleton Evangelical Church (now Midleton Baptist Church) that year.
For our Baptist Missions Easter workers get-together, we went to Kilkeel, a lovely fishing village in Northern Ireland. Some of us brought our young families. I remember my daughter, who wasn’t yet even two, hearing She’s Electric by Oasis on the radio, smiling, and asking if they’re the people who sing So Sally (Don’t Look Back in Anger) 😀.
I remember purchasing The Gagging of God by Don Carson in 1996. It’s a great book but I still haven’t finished it. I’ve made much use of resources by Don Carson over the years. In later years, I came downstairs first thing in the morning to find my youngest daughter reading it 😀. Hopefully, she got further than I did, but I will go back to it.
In 1996, I purchased my first PC, which included Microsoft Windows 3.11 and my first brand new car, a lovely blue Fiat Punto. I also remember visiting Kilkenny Presbyterian Church for the first time. I also visited the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London in July to hear Jay Adams, who was a big name in Christian counselling at the time. On my way, I popped into the London City Mission Voluntary Evangelist hostel, Old Jamaica Road. That was my home from September 1982 to September 1983. Not only did no-one there know me. None of them even heard of anyone I knew from my year with the mission. Sadly, they demolished and replaced the hostel early in the 21st Century. I sometimes visit the area on Google Earth and I’m always pleased to see buildings that I recognize from those happy days of my youth. And I deeply resent all the new buildings 😀. I want everything put back the way it was!
I remember four Christian bookshops in Belfast at the time. The Faith Mission bookshop, the Evangelical bookshop and two others, now closed, in Donegall Square East and at the end of Ann Street. I was always on the lookout for bargains. I remember Ian Paisley coming into the one in Ann Street. I greeted him, and he looked a little puzzled, maybe wondering if he knew me. I was too shy to speak with him. I remember being fascinated seeing him on TV as a child. All the northern politicians, both Catholic and Protestant, were quite scary to me. But any Catholics from the North that I met seemed to have an affection for Paisley, who was an ardent Protestant. He was often quite helpful to Catholics at a personal level. Maybe his bark was worse than his bite 😀. The last time I saw him on TV was in an interview with Gay Byrne on The Meaning of Life. He was by no means a typical evangelical, but he did love God’s word. I remember seeing an open King James Bible in the seat of his car outside the shop.
Finally, here’s some music, events, and films/TV shows that would have formed the background to 1996. I don’t necessarily endorse all these, but thinking of them takes me back to 1996.
10 Songs
- Jesus to a Child – George Michael
- Spaceman – Babylon Zoo
- Lifted – Lighthouse Family
- Real Love – Beatles
- You’re Not Alone – Olive
- Firestarter Prodigy
- Don’t Look Back in Anger – Oasis
- Design for Live – Manic Street Preachers
- Charmless Man – Blur
- Say You”ll Be There – Spice Girls
10 Events
- Mick McCarthy became Ireland soccer manager
- Charles and Di agree to divorce
- End of IRA ceasefire
- Murder of Detective in Adare, Limerick
- Dunblane Massacre
- Veronica Guerin murdered
- Clinton wins second term
- Mad Cow Disease outbreak UK
- Irish Economy Begins Rapid Growth (Celtic Tiger)
- Divorce Legalized in Ireland
10 Films or TV Shows
- Babe
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame
- Mission: Impossible
- Independence Day
- Trainspotting
- The English Patient
- Jingle All the Way
- Space Jam
- Ballykissangel
- TFI Friday
10 Famous People Who Passed Away
- Tupac Shakur – Influential rapper and actor, tragically killed in a drive-by shooting
- Veronica Guerin – Investigative journalist tragically murdered by drug traffickers, her death sparked major reforms in Irish law enforcement
- Charles Mitchel – RTÉ newsreader who delivered Ireland’s first televised news bulletin
- Michael O’Hehir – Legendary sports commentator, voice of Gaelic games for decades
- Carl Sagan – Renowned astrophysicist and science communicator (Cosmos)
- Ella Fitzgerald – Legendary jazz singer, known as the “First Lady of Song”
- Gene Kelly – Iconic dancer and actor (Singin’ in the Rain)
- Eva Cassidy – Soulful singer whose fame grew posthumously
- Faron Young – Country music star
- Tiny Tim – Eccentric folk singer famous for “Tiptoe Through the Tulips”
Hibernia Gospel 