Annual Appeal

“I started in IBI in 2015 and was very quickly aware that I was “standing on the shoulders of giants” as I had become part of the story of God’s work in and through IBI. I came to IBI zealous for the gospel but with a lot of rough edges. There are still rough edges, but IBI smoothed off quite a few of them and helped me mature as a follower of Jesus. In IBI, I was immersed in a learning community with fellow students from different backgrounds and with different views. As part of that community, I soon discovered that I didn’t know as much as I thought I knew! It was an incredible experience to share life with both students and lecturers – and that experience was great for my character. ”

“I graduated in 2018 and expected to return to the Donegal-Tyrone border in the northwest of the country where I am from. I had thoughts of church planting, pastoring or some other service there. But God had other plans and I was offered a part-time apprenticeship in Dublin (I am not a city boy!). In 2020 I was appointed as associate pastor of the same church and it has been an exciting journey.
We have been able to plant a second congregation in south Dublin and are in the process of planning to do the same in north Dublin. In the meantime, I am serving the central Dublin congregation and putting into practice many of the things I learned when I was at IBI.”

“For one of my assignments in my first year (writing a Bible study) I got a bare pass mark. I didn’t like it, but it was fair. The teacher said to me that just because it had been given a low mark, that was no indicator of whether God could use it. I feel I have been writing bare pass mark studies since then. At IBI I learned that God is faithful – and that has stayed with me ever since.”