Dublin West Community Church is a group of people of different ages, nationalities and backgrounds who are exploring how to follow Jesus together. We started life in 1990 in Blanchardstown. Together we want to discover what Jesus’ teachings mean for life in contemporary Ireland. Our desire is to love God, love one another, and love our neighbour.
We are an independent Christian church: we believe that Jesus is God in accordance with the historic creeds, and we base our beliefs and practice on the Christian Scriptures; but, like many other Christian churches throughout the country, we are not part of a denomination.
Why Jesus?
There has been much talk and experience of religion in Ireland, but our central focus is Jesus. We follow a man born 2,000 years ago who lived an extraordinary life and left a legacy worth exploring. Jesus’ teaching explored profound depths about human life and ethics, influencing much of what we take for granted in the Western world. During His life, He welcomed and treated all people equally regardless of race, gender, age, creed or social status.
He died an appalling death, after a miscarriage of justice, yet some of His early followers argued they had seen Him alive again after His execution. This all raises one key question, who was He? We believe that He was and is God and that He holds the key to a full and meaningful life.
Our aim as a church is to follow this Jesus together. To do this, we emphasize three key commands of Jesus: to love God, love one another, and love our neighbour.
Love God — Up
To follow Jesus is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22 v37).
For the first people who followed Jesus, being His disciples meant to be “with him”, they observed Him, talked with Him, listened to His teaching and obeyed Him. And Jesus Himself lived out His life on earth through an ‘up’ relationship with His Father.
We believe Jesus opens up this kind of relationship with God for all His followers. This involves talking and listening to God (e.g. prayer & Scripture), but also includes every part of our lives because God cares about His whole creation. It is through this relationship that He transforms us from the inside out.
Love one another — In
To follow Jesus is to “love one another, as I have loved you” (John 13 v34).
We all share a universal longing for community, to know and be known. Jesus offers His followers a deep, diverse community because when He becomes the centre point, community is built around Him and not nationality, personality, status or even shared interests. There is no barrier or dress code to join the Christian community. He calls us to love each other practically and sacrificially like He did, and teaches us how to forgive and accept one another. We seek to be this type of community where everyone knows they belong.
Love your neighbour — Out
To follow Jesus is to “love your neighbour as yourself” (Matthew 22 v39).
Jesus lived His life thinking of others: He taught people how to live a new life, fought injustice and healed disease. So following this Jesus involves imitating this way of life and loving those around us. We want to both show and tell of God’s love. We are learning to love our local community and serve it by hosting community events, running a local kids’ club, and caring for those on the margins of society. Furthermore, we want to help others discover the love of God for themselves and the change that new life in His Kingdom can bring.
What Can I Expect
Anyone is welcome to come and join us on a Sunday morning. We gather together as a church community on Sundays at 11 a.m. in Hansfield Educate Together National School.
The service is informal in style and lasts for about eighty minutes. This includes a time of sung worship where we thank and praise God through songs and prayer; some community time where individuals can share in different ways; a time of prayer; and culturally relevant teaching from the Scriptures.
There is also tea and coffee after the service and time to chat to one another. Children are well catered for with a full programme of children’s classes for primary school age. And on the first Sunday of the month, we have a family service where children stay in for the whole service.
During the week there are other groups and events. Growth groups are small, committed groups of people that meet in various locations around the D15 area. They aim to help us all grow in our faith and are the best environment for building friendships. There is also a young adults group, a youth group for teenagers and a kids’ club. And every second Wednesday evening there is a prayer meeting for the whole church.