Ireland's Evangelical Moment
Less than 20 years ago, more than eight of ten people in Ireland attended Catholic Mass at least weekly. Today, fewer than half do. The erosion of Ireland's traditional Catholic identity may be largely due to secularization, but it's an opportunity for evangelicals, whom the Irish have historically shunned as foreign.
In fact, much of evangelicalism's growth in the country is foreignbut not British. Ireland's steadily growing economy has attracted immigrants from China and Nigeria, and now about one-third of Ireland's evangelicals are immigrants. Churches have adapted with PowerPoint slides that translate Bible verses into multiple languages.
Research published in 2006 by the Evangelical Alliance Ireland (EAI) shows that the number of evangelicals tripled from 10,000 in 1980 to 30,000 in 2006. However, evangelicals still make up less than 1 percent of Ireland's population. More than 60 percent of evangelical churches have started in the last 25 years; 40 percent in the last 10. Nearly half claim no denomination.
The Irish Bible Institute (IBI) has also played a key role in the church growth. Remarkably, IBI is "the first major evangelical Bible college since the Puritans lost control of Trinity College, Dublin, in the 1630s," said former Trinity fellow Crawford Gribben.
"A number of former and current IBI students, teachers, and adjunct faculty are engaged in church planting across different denominations," said Patrick Mitchel, IBI director of studies. "In the 'pioneer days' of the 1970s and 1980s, church planters tended to be mostly missionaries from the United States or Northern Ireland."
For centuries, evangelicals failed to penetrate Ireland. Evangelistic efforts in the 1800s were thwarted by a pervasive Catholic influence. Protestantism threatened Ireland's national identity, wrapped up in centuries of conflict with nearby England. The Irish Constitution in 1937 recognized the "special position" of the Roman Catholic Church. Influential Irish bishops regarded evangelicals as cultic.
However, Gribben said that Catholic charismatic renewal in the 1970s marked a turning point. Many former members of the movement have joined evangelical churches. In addition, Ireland's Catholic church sustained numerous sexual abuse scandals involving priests in the 1990s. As the church's moral authority declined, Irish society grew increasingly tolerant of other religious groups.
"In general, the deep Catholic-Protestant divisions that shaped recent Irish history have become less important in an increasingly secular, post-Christendom, consumerist society," Mitchel said. "The virtual collapse of old Ireland has given much more space. Everyone has a voice and a place, and this is a good time to be an evangelical in Ireland."
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Related Elsewhere:
Other Christianity Today articles on Ireland are available on our site.
Ireland's economic growth has made it a friendlier place for organizations like Evangelical Alliance Ireland and the Irish Bible Institute.
Christian History & Biography's issue on Celtic Christianity includes facts on St. Patrick and the origins of Irish Christianity.

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Daniel Nickel
If evangelicals know what it is to be saved, it is a good time to be an evangelical in Ireland. Most Catholics are still seeking to earn salvation through the sacraments. Their works are the means and Christ is not the center and only hope of salvation. Ask any priest here if he is sure of Heaven. He will say he is sure after a few years in purgatory. The gospel is well hidden by the Catholic Church. But God says: "By grace you are saved through faith..." Ephesians 2:8. I use this verse going door to door in Limerick, Ireland. To think one can know he is saved according to Scripture. Most Catholics will say, hopefullly I will make it. Few will say they are saved. So goes the programming of religion in contrast to the plain teaching of Scripture. A gospel preacher in Ireland.
Timothy
'[IBI] has also played a key role in the church growth. Remarkably, IBI is "the first major evangelical Bible college since the Puritans lost control of Trinity College, Dublin, in the 1630s"..' Those of us from Ireland, or who know Ireland well, can spot the difference between "Ireland as the cross-border entity that encompasses the island" and "Ireland as the Republic in the South", but the fact is that most Americans and a lot of Brits don't spot the difference and get confused. This will lead to many non-Irish thinking that there were no Evangelical seminaries created on the island of Ireland before IBI came into being. This is not the case and there are quite a few in N. Ireland. To those who start patronising us for our "family feud", please note that the English invaded Ireland as Catholics with an English Pope's support and the invitation of an Irish king who had kidnapped another king's wife. The Pope told the Irish to accept their English masters until the Reformation came
Fr. Jim
Such hubris. Pretending that somehow Christianity is new to Ireland. The Irish are unlikely in large numbers to join the evangelicals. All this will do is weaken Christianity as a whole in Ireland. How about concentrating on evangelizing places where few people know Christ or is that maybe a bit to risky for you?