Surge in membership of evangelical churches

The number of evangelical Christian churches in the Republic has increased from 150 in 1980 to 400 today, while membership has grown from less than 10,000 to over 30,000 in the same period.

The figures followed research by Evangelical Alliance Ireland (EAI). It also found that 65 per cent of those attending evangelical churches in Ireland were Irish, with an estimated 43 per cent from Catholic backgrounds.

Just one in three of the people who attend evangelical churches were raised outside Ireland.

Evangelical Christians regard the gospels as "the supreme authority in all matters of faith and behaviour". The EAI was established in 2004 and is a national movement of evangelical Christian churches, organisations, and individuals from independent and denominational churches in the Republic.

Some 65 per cent of evangelical churches in the Republic were founded since 1980, with 40 per cent founded in the past 10 years alone. There are now evangelical churches in every county, with, for instance, over 50 in Cork city and county.

Last June, research published by the EAI found that there were over 130 evangelical churches and groups in the greater Dublin area, where numbers attending church each week were an estimated 13,000.

Some 78 per cent of church-attending evangelicals in Dublin were Irish.

Average weekly attendance nationally was found to be 75, while the size of congregations varied from 15-20 to over 500.

Pentecostal churches have the most international flavour with over half their congregations originating outside Ireland.

These Pentecostal groupings make up about 18 per cent of the total and, as with the Irish evangelicals, their age profile is comparatively young.