The Metropolitan Church Dublin was opened on 4th March 2003. It was the fulfilment of a vision of Dr James McConnell the Senior Pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle Belfast, who desired for many years to establish a church in Dublin.

Sharon Perry, who had been an Assistant Pastor in the Metropolitan Tabernacle Belfast for ten years and helped pioneer the Dublin Church, was installed as Senior Pastor of the Metropolitan Church Dublin in March 2006.

The church was taken over by a developer and is currently being rented by Pastor Sharon and her husband Paul. They have a vision for the church and the community, to show people that they are precious and they don’t realise their own worth, that Jesus gave himself so they could have a quality of life while they’re on the earth.

They have started to reach out to and help the local community. Christmas last found them handing out about 100 presents, 50 to senior citizens and 50 to homeless. They also went out carol singing in bars. These little acts of kindness prompted one local to say that after 20 years his faith in mankind has been restored.

The church has taken many people from dark, hopeless places. They want to show people that they’re loved, valued and have something to contribute in this life.

There is a parent and toddler group on Thursday mornings from 10 to 12 noon. No cost, the parents get tea and scones and somewhere to come for a couple of hours to relax.

There are also prayer meetings and outreach support for the homeless and they want the people of Ringsend and Irishtown to know that there are people here who are interested in them and want to bring some joy and hope into their lives by showing them what Jesus can do for them.

One of the many people who the church has helped and who continues to give back through helping others through the friendship and sense of community offered by the prayer meetings in the church is John Gorman. I caught up with John to hear his story of triumph over adversity and how miracles really do happen.

John came from a good family in Pearse St and had a childhood much like any other young fella. He had a promising career ahead of him playing football and even had trials for Spurs.

At the age of 13 he started on soft drugs like sniffing glue, and paint thinners. By the age of 15 he was smoking heroin, quickly started injecting and within a short while was strung out and was living the life of a drug addict, selling drugs and in and out of prison.

He hurt the ones he loved, his family suffered most and instead of football scouts knocking to the door he had police. He stole everything from his family, even his dad’s redundancy money.

One day he was looking for somewhere to inject heroin and ended up walking into a woman’s flat unbeknownst to her. This woman walked in on him using and instead of calling the police and calling him a scumbag she told him Jesus Christ had a plan for him. He used to sell heroin outside the Apostolic church on Pearse Street and thought there was no hope, the churchgoers told him there was hope and he could get help if he wanted it.

John was on 140 mls of methadone plus injecting heroin and cocaine on top of that. Doctors told him that he’d never get off the amount of methadone he was on but he was desperate and the church had faith in him. A few days later the church sent him to a treatment centre in Scotland.

On his first night over there he attended a mass and at first found it strange when people were getting up dancing and singing about how Jesus had changed their lives. During that evening, a feeling came over him that he was safe and instead of the restless nights associated with withdrawals he slept like a baby.
He stayed over there for two years and among other things he learned to read and write.

While he was over there he became very ill with Hepatitis C and was on a concoction of tablets and injections forit. He started praying from Psalm 103:

1 Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits
3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.

When John went for blood tests shortly after, his hepatitis was gone, and John believes that prayer brought this about.

When he came back to Ireland he continued to go to mass, prayer meetings and met a girl whom he later married and now has two lovely children. He is working down in MCD with Pastor Sharon and does a lot of good work with addicts in the area. Through his own story John tries to show them there is hope, a better way and with the help of Jesus anyone can be saved.

Their service offers supports such as a friendly ear, a safe place to come and has contact with treatment centres that addicts can be sent to to give them much-needed time away to help themselves and get away from the situations they’re in.

If there is anybody in the area that needs help, the prayer meetings are on a Thursday evening at 8pm or pop down the church. With the power of prayer all things are possible.
Sunday Morning 11.00am: Breaking of Bread & Ministry of the Word.
Tuesday Evening 8.00 pm: Bible Study.
Thursday Evening 8.00 pm: Prayer Meeting.

57 Irishtown Road, Dublin 4, 0879588513, Email: pastor@mcd4.cc, www.mcd4.cc

Top: John pictured before (left) and after his recovery.