Any American style churches in Ireland

BogMonkey

You know those churches where the priest (or minister whatever) puts his hand on the persons head and starts shouting about casting out demons and people start talking in tongues and mad stuff like that. Are there any churches in Ireland where they do this sort of thing?

Peregrinus

Yes, there are.

Churches of the kind you mention often describe have "Charismatic" or "Pentecostal" in their name, although I should add that not all churches with that label necessarily have healing services or speaking in tongues very frequently, or at all. Here's a BBC report about some churches in Belfast. The movement is probably strongest in Northern Ireland, but there are certainly some churches in Dublin and elsewhere in Ireland. Some of the churches which came in with African migrants, in particular, favour this style of worship.

martinedwards

some of the televised stuff is WAAAAAYYY OTT, but the roots of charismatic worship is well rooted in the bible.

ever read Acts?

the Toronto blessing of the late 90s was the biggest expression of it, with a LOAD of mainstream churches, protestant and Catholic dipping a toe in the water.

My wife is on the prayer ministry team of the Summer Madness festival, run by the church of ireland youth council.

It's Ireland's biggest Christian festival, and the Holy Spirit regularly shows up!

COYW

I have never heard of any American style churches in Dublin or the surrounding areas but there may be some small congregations.

I am off to Houston, Texas in a few weeks. I am thinking about heading to one of the megachurches over there to see what they are like. I have seen bits of them online but I don't really have any in-depth knowledge on them. I will be staying very close to one, Lakewood church, which is the biggest in the USA, according to the marketing blurb, holding 16,000.

santing

martinedwards wrote: »

the Toronto blessing of the late 90s was the biggest expression of it,

Interesting that you mention the Toronto Blessing, I thought it was generally regarded as the Toronto Deception ... although many churches that partook in it would just say that they grew out of it.

martinedwards

santing wrote: »

the Toronto Deception ...

never heard anyone who actually went to a service call it that......

Mrs OBumble

I'd say there are a few: eg
http://www.elim.ie/churches/
http://www.agireland.org/church-by-region/

uck51js9zml2yt

I'm at a bit of a loss here and not to open up a huge debate (honest ) Why do people think speaking in tongues, casting out demons and healing the sick are American?

These things were in existence in the Church long before Columbus discovered America and they were in existence in Ireland long before the "American styled" churches opened their doors here.

But anyone wanting a "mega church" in Ireland, I'd say St Marks on Pearse Street. I've been around long enough to know when they were just a handful of people

Peregrinus mentioned the Charismatic Churches, This move of God occurred in the Ireland and was a move of God among all who would believe and was often signified by a manifestation of the Gifts of the Spirit which were the outward manifestation of whats called the Baptism in the Spirit (refer to Acts 2) This was part of a worldwide move of God in the 60's/70's Unfortunately some churches resisted it or just wanted to control it which brought the general move to an end though it continued among many.

COYW

Hugo Shaggy Vandalism wrote: »

I'm at a bit of a loss here and not to open up a huge debate (honest ) Why do people think speaking in tongues, casting out demons and healing the sick are American?

I am very uneasy with tongues and the healing of the sick by these American pastors, tongues to a lesser extent. For starters I don't believe that they actually heal people. I have yet to hear about or see evidence of them dealing with someone with severe down syndrome or an amputee. I have a massive dislike for the whole idea of prosperity theology and the idea of 'planting seeds' also.

Hugo Shaggy Vandalism wrote: »

But anyone wanting a "mega church" in Ireland, I'd say St Marks on Pearse Street. I've been around long enough to know when they were just a handful of people

How big is that church, numbers wise, as a matter of interest? Is it multi-denominational?

Benny_Cake

COYW wrote: »

How big is that church, numbers wise, as a matter of interest? Is it multi-denominational?

It's affiliated with the Assemblies of God, one of the larger pentecostalist denominations. I'd imagine it draws a decent sized crowd but I'd doubt it would qualify as a megachurch in the American sense. There probably aren't any churches in Ireland on the scale of the Mars Hill or Lakewood type churches which pull in thousands every weekend.

CORE (St. Catherine's church) on Thomas St would be another large city centre church with contemporary music and so on - they're affiliated with the Church of Ireland. I'd imagine that some of the African-initiated churches such as the Redeemed Christian Church of God must draw big numbers given that they seem to rent out large spaces for worship. There would be an emphasis on healing and "speaking in tongues" as well.

uck51js9zml2yt

St Marks is a out 4-500 on a Sunday. By Irish standards it's mega. Was a few dozen in the 80's. I've not been there is a long time. Very easy to get lost in a crowd and just go to church instead of being the church. didn't appeal to me
Fbc on gardiner st is looking big but is non pentecostal. And as benny said. Core is church of Ireland.

Manach

Personally the smaller the church the closer the congregation and thus a more spiritual service, eg Honan's Chapel in Cork.

uck51js9zml2yt

As regarding speaking in tongues and healing.
Firstly they are biblical and secondly they were never rescinded.
One of the main reasons we don't hear a lot about healing here is because often we don't really believe God Will heal and often we have alternatives.
I've friends who are pastors here who have been to Africa and seen amputees grow limbs. They have no choice but to believe God will heal them. And more importantly the pastors also believe God will do it.
A lot of pastors here don't believe.

I do know people who were healed of cancer with their Irish consultants ready to operate and then admitting they may have gotten it wrong when they found nothing.
I've been to Portugal and prayed for a mosque leader who had a problem with his shoulder that his doctors couldn't heal and Allah couldn't heal. God healed him. He got in the car next day with me and he knew he had been healed. And he knew in whose Name he had been healed.
I was over for his daughters wedding.
His family are Christians.

martinedwards

I've seen healings here.

A good friend of mine was pregnant and was placenta previa, but after she was prayed with her placenta had moved. which is impossible.

as to the whole tongues thing, common as hymns in our church.......

uck51js9zml2yt

martinedwards wrote: »

I've seen healings here.

A good friend of mine was pregnant and was placenta previa, but after she was prayed with her placenta had moved. which is impossible.

as to the whole tongues thing, common as hymns in our church.......

Common as hymns... I love that.

BogMonkey

Cheers for the replies, sorry I didn't follow this thread, I forgot about it. I really wanna attend one of these churches and see it for myself. I don't know if its only deeply suggestible people that speak in tongues and faint when touched on the forehead by the priest etc., but I'm an open minded man and I'd love to see if I can be made to speak in tongues, or have demons cast out of me etc. I don't exactly believe in all this stuff, but I'm somewhat agnostic so I don't disbelieve any of it by default.

Pegasus: You forgot to add the link, but I'll look for that documentary.

Hugo Shaggy Vandalism wrote: »

I'm at a bit of a loss here and not to open up a huge debate (honest ) Why do people think speaking in tongues, casting out demons and healing the sick are American?

These things were in existence in the Church long before Columbus discovered America and they were in existence in Ireland long before the "American styled" churches opened their doors here.

But anyone wanting a "mega church" in Ireland, I'd say St Marks on Pearse Street. I've been around long enough to know when they were just a handful of people

Peregrinus mentioned the Charismatic Churches, This move of God occurred in the Ireland and was a move of God among all who would believe and was often signified by a manifestation of the Gifts of the Spirit which were the outward manifestation of whats called the Baptism in the Spirit (refer to Acts 2) This was part of a worldwide move of God in the 60's/70's Unfortunately some churches resisted it or just wanted to control it which brought the general move to an end though it continued among many.

I've only seen (in documentaries) or heard about these kind of Christian churches in America. I don't think any of these things are confined to Christianity, let alone America, but I don't know of any churches like this in Ireland or the UK. My local church is too dull and boring for me to attend, but some of these churches in the US, I'd love to join.

I joined a Santo Daime church in Belgium (they're in the process of making it legal in Ireland, which hopefully will happen since its supposed to be protected by the constitution) and they were two of the most profound masses (they call them works) I have ever attended in my life. In case you don't know, Santo Daime is a religion that started in northern Brazil (which is covered in rainforest) by a Christian who came in contact with the indigenous tribes there, and after a vision he had on ayahuasca (a brew which induces spiritual visions), he started up a new religion which incorporates Catholicism, Amazonian shamanism, African animism (brought to Brazil by African slaves) and other spiritual practices common in that part of the world. It feels more Catholic than anything, but its completely unique and instead of communion, the priest (they're called Fardados, and the head priest is called El Commandante, in this case was a friendly old guy), they pour cups of "daime", which is ayahuasca that is supposedly imbibed with the lineage and spirit of Christ. Whether I believe any of this or not, my experiences felt like spiritual struggles and it felt like we were carving out a slice of salvation through our struggles. It wasn't all harsh though, there were lots of positive experiences too, especially at the end when this wave of happiness and sense of accomplishment seems to hit everyone at the same time.

Belgium is in the same situation as Ireland, they're in the process of making it officially legal so we had to drive up to Holland and the ceremony was in a community centre rather than a proper church, but its officially protected by Dutch law so the Dutch SD groups hold their ceremonies in real churches. Before the legal issues, the Belgian group had a church in Brussels, hopefully that will reopen again, or better yet, hopefully it becomes officially protected by Irish law (like it is in the US, Netherlands, Brazil, Peru and other countries) so we don't have go to another country to attend.

lazygal

martinedwards wrote: »

I've seen healings here.

A good friend of mine was pregnant and was placenta previa, but after she was prayed with her placenta had moved. which is impossible.

as to the whole tongues thing, common as hymns in our church.......

Placenta previa is often cured. As the baby grows and the uterus expands the placenta moves up. Nothing miraculous about it and nothing to do with prayer or God. I had it during pregnancy and didn't do a thing, it resolved itself.

pwurple

lazygal wrote: »

Placenta previa is often cured. As the baby grows and the uterus expands the placenta moves up. Nothing miraculous about it and nothing to do with prayer or God. I had it during pregnancy and didn't do a thing, it resolved itself.

Was about to post the same thing. Placenta previa often resolves itself.

uck51js9zml2yt

pwurple wrote: »

Was about to post the same thing. Placenta previa often resolves itself.

Sometimes it doesn't resolve itself. We'd need a medical report to tell us. But either way the God I serve hasn't changed and still does whats normal. We just think miracles aren't normal experiences.

Festy

Yes, plenty of them. They are called Pentecostal or Baptist churches.

Reiver

Hugo Shaggy Vandalism wrote: »

I've been to Portugal and prayed for a mosque leader who had a problem with his shoulder that his doctors couldn't heal and Allah couldn't heal. God healed him.

Isn't Allah just the Arabic for God? I mean we're all religions of the Book afterall!

I always felt people just referred to them as "American" churches since thats where its sorta seen alot in popular culture and what people would just sort of automatically link up with when they think of it.

Definitely more lively than a Catholic service anyways! Dunno if it'd be for me.

lazygal

Hugo Shaggy Vandalism wrote: »

Sometimes it doesn't resolve itself. We'd need a medical report to tell us. But either way the God I serve hasn't changed and still does whats normal. We just think miracles aren't normal experiences.

Why doesn't God design better placentas and uteruses then?