Why has it taken nearly 2000 years for us to get here? I don’t know the answer to that question, but it does mean that I have to introduce you to who Baptists really are:

1. Baptists are not new - they’ve been around for a long time.

2. Baptists are the second largest Christian grouping in the world.

3. Where was the First English Speaking Baptist Church?

4. We have 110 Baptist Churches affiliated to ‘The Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland.’

5. Baptists simply aim to fulfil the Great Commission of Jesus Christ.

6. How did Cavan Baptist Church come into being?

7. We formed the church with 14 foundation members.

8. As you can gather our members come from a very wide area.

9. Church Building.

1. Baptists are not new – they’ve been around for a long time.

There is evidence that groups like us, believing what we believe and practising what we practice, have been around for quite some time before the Reformation of Luther and Calvin in the sixteenth century. (They were often known then by the nickname “Anabaptists” which literally means re-baptisers.)

So Baptists belong to neither the mainstream Protestant Reformation, nor do we belong to the Catholic Tradition. We are historically neither catholic nor protestant. In fact down through history, our Baptist, and Anabaptist forefathers were persecuted by both sides of the religious divide. Because of this fact we believe that we stand in a very unique position in Ireland today, with the opportunity to reach out to both sides of a divided community with the same message – the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It doesn’t matter what tradition you belong to; you personally need to repent or turn from your sin, and put your trust in Jesus Christ alone to save you from that sin. If you do that then He will save you, because he died for people of all backgrounds when he died on the cross, and then rose again.

2. Baptists are the second largest Christian grouping in the world.

Second only in size to the Roman Catholic Church. There are now more than 40 million members in Baptist Churches across the world. They are especially strong in America, but also in places like Russia, India and South America.

3. Where was the First English Speaking Baptist Church?

It was actually formed in exile in Holland, and later relocated to Spitalfields in London in 1612.

The first Baptist Churches in Ireland were formed in the 1640’s in places like Cork, Waterford and Dublin. Up until the Famine in 1845 there were far more Baptists in the Southern part of Ireland than in the North, but because of the Famine many from the South left for America. Today we have about 8400 actual members in Baptist Churches throughout Ireland, but only about 600 of these would be in the Republic. However around 1200 people actually attend Baptist Churches in the Republic on any given Sunday. We always tend to have more adherents than members, since membership is voluntary and only for those who have professed faith in Christ and been baptised by immersion as a believer.

4. We have 110 Baptist Churches affiliated to “The Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland.”

Only 16 of these are in the Republic. But in the Republic of Ireland, Baptists are on the move and are growing. From 1990 to 1997 our overall membership in the Republic increased by 50%, by contrast to membership in the North which has decreased by 4% in the same period. Six new churches were added to the Association in the same period – all situated in the Republic – namely Thurles, Swords, Bandon, Midleton, Cavan and Balbriggan. There are at least another four Baptist Fellowships in the South preparing to come into membership of the Association, namely Athlone, Carrickmacross, Ballincollig and Donegal. This would bring us to 20 churches in the Republic, whereas in 1990 there were only 10 – this would be 100% growth in just over a decade!

5. Baptists simply aim to fulfil the Great Commission of Jesus Christ.

This can be found at the end of Matthew’s Gospel in chapter 28 verses 18-20. We also seek to model ourselves as far as possible on the Early Church as we find them in the Book of Acts in the Bible.

We seek to practise our faith as they did: -

• To preach the Gospel in order to see people saved or converted to Christ,
  
• To encourage them to become disciples or followers of Jesus Christ,
  
• To baptise by total immersion those who believe the Gospel,
  
• To teach them God’s Word as we find it in the Bible.
  
• To worship God in a simple and straightforward manner.
  
  
  

6. How did Cavan Baptist Church come into being?

Around about 1980, a lady living in Cavan town called Jane O’Neill asked a couple called Addison and Margaret Clingen who lived in Lisnaskea, if they would start a Bible Study in her home. They agreed to do so, and asked Pastor Eddie Betts of the Stonepark Baptist Church in Co. Fermanagh to be the speaker. This Bible Study had a change of venue in 1986 to Tom and Mary Caslin’s home at Latt, where it was held up until Mary became terminally ill in 1997. Eddie Betts left the area in 1990 and for the following year Pastor Mark Patterson from the Knockconny Baptist Church near Ballygawley took the studies. At the end of 1991, as a young Pastor in Mullaghmeen Baptist Church near Enniskillen, I was asked to take this Bible Study. At that stage there were about 16 people attending every other Tuesday night. Three months later on 22nd March 1992 we started a Sunday afternoon Fellowship meeting in the home of Edward and Yvonne Morton, near Killeshandra. On the very first Sunday, 42 people turned up! A year later we officially constituted as Cavan Baptist Church, and moved our meeting place to the Farnham Arms Hotel, Main Street, Cavan. The management and staff were very good to us indeed, and we record our thanks and appreciation to them.

7. We formed the church with 14 foundation members.

These were baptised as believers by total immersion in Mullaghmeen Baptist Church in Co. Fermanagh on Sunday 21st March 1993. Today we have 28 members and about 60 people attending on a Sunday morning. We have about 12 children in our Sunday School, which meets during the morning service, about 15 teenagers in our J2Y Youth Group which meets on alternate Friday nights. We also hold Bible studies in Cavan, Virginia (Co. Cavan) and Carrick-on-Shannon (Co. Leitrim) on a fortnightly basis. Between 15 and 20 people attend in Cavan & Virginia and about 6 in Leitrim. On the First Sunday night of each month we hold an Outreach Event to which all are welcome, and we usually see over 50 people present on these evenings. On the second Sunday night of each month we have a Fellowship meeting in The Bush Hotel in Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim – about a dozen people attend. We hope that in due course this will become another Baptist Church in its own right.

8. As you can gather our members come from a very wide area.

From Bailieborough, Cootehill and Virginia to Cavan, Killeshandra and Arva, and even as far away as Carrick-on-Shannon. We come from every background you can imagine. We are quite a diverse bunch of people, but we share these things in common - we have trusted in Jesus Christ as our Saviour, we have been baptised as believers upon profession of our faith in Jesus, and we have joined together to establish this Church for God’s glory.

9. Church Building.

It was quite a step for a small church to take to purchase a one-acre site from the Council, back in 1995, but when the time came to pay for it, the Lord made sure we had just enough money for it.

Joseph Wedlock had just joined the church and we gave him the task of designing our Building.

Jim McDermott was given the contract. He started building work in May 1996 and was finished by the end of the year – 2 months ahead of schedule! We are grateful for the excellent job that he did.

Addison and Margaret Clingen officially opened the Church Building on 21st March 1997, on our Fifth Anniversary. However, sadly due to considerable vandalism over the following 4 or 5 years we decided to sell that building and re-locate to the edge of Cavan town, and so we bought our current property – a house in its own grounds at Corglass, Oldtown, Cavan. We are currently in the process of adding on a main hall and renovating it into a church building. We hope to be finished by the beginning of 2003, in time for our Tenth Anniversary in March. The main contractor is Vivian McAuley from Cootehill.