Who We Are
Oranmore Community Church is a community of followers of Jesus seeking to know Jesus and make Him known in Oranmore, through gospel-centred community.
Here you can learn more about our:
Vision - Denomination - Beliefs - Values - Leadership - History
Our Vision:
To know Jesus and make Him known through gospel-centred community.
The Bible tells us that God made us for a reason - to have a real, living relationship with Him, one where He gets the glory and we get the joy. Wherever you are at in that journey, our church family wants to encourage you and each other to know Jesus more and more. “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)
Know Jesus:
Jesus gave his church a mission - to make disciples of one another and the world. We want to see Oranmore and the surrounds filled with the real, life-transforming hope that Jesus gives through the gospel. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:18-20)
Make Jesus Known:
The church isn’t a building you go to, or just a Sunday morning meeting, instead, it’s a spiritual family that you belong to in Christ. The Gospel is the “good news” of what God has graciously accomplished for sinners through Jesus, namely our complete justification before God and adoption into His family. Our church community is centred around our gospel family identity, one where you can be fully known and fully loved because of the gospel. We want to walk through the everyday stuff of life together as we live for Jesus by the power of the Spirit. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another... (Heb.10:23-25)
Gospel-Centred Community:
Our Demonination:
Oranmore Community Church is a Christian church first and foremost. The Christian denomination we belong to is Baptist.
We are part of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland, which was established in 1895 and is comprised of 119 churches across the Island.
Our Beliefs:
What we believe about God [our doctrine] really matters, which is why our doctrine needs to be rooted in the authority of God’s Word alone.
(If Christianity is new to you and you want to know the message of what we believe, check out our gospel page.)
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We believe the glory of God is seen most beautifully in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel is the “good news” of what God has graciously accomplished for sinners through the sinless life, sacrificial death, and bodily resurrection of his Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ, namely our forgiveness from sin and complete justification before God. This Gospel is also the foundation for our confident hope in God’s restoration of all creation in the new heavens and new earth. This Gospel is centered in Christ, is the foundation for the life of the Church, and is our only hope for eternal life. This Gospel is not only the means by which people are saved, but also the truth and power by which people are sanctified. The salvation offered in this gospel message is received by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone; no ordinance, ritual, work, or any other activity on the part of man is required in order to be saved. (Mark 1:1; Luke 24:46–47; John 3:16–18; Romans 1:16–17; Romans 1:18–25; 1 Corinthians 1:18–25; 2:2; 15:1–4; 2 Corinthians 4:1–6; 9:13; Galatians 1:6–9; Ephesians 1:7–10; Colossians 1:19–20; 2 Timothy 1:8–14; 2 Peter 3:11–13; Jude 1:3–4)
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We believe that the Bible is the Word of God, fully inspired and without error in the original manuscripts, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and that it has supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct. (II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:20,21; Mark 13:31; John 8:31,32; John 20:31; Acts 20:32)
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We believe that there is one living and true God, eternally existing in three persons; that these are equal in every divine perfection, and that they execute distinct but harmonious offices in the work of creation, providence and redemption. (Genesis 1:1,26; John 1:1,3; Matthew 28:19; John 4:24; Romans 1:19,20; Ephesians 4:5,6)
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We believe in God the Father, an infinite, personal spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power and love. We believe that He infallibly foreknows all that shall come to pass, that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men, that He hears and answers prayer, and that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ. (Luke 10:21,22; Matthew 23:9; John 3:16; 6:27; Romans 1:7; I Timothy 1:1,2; 2:5,6; I Peter 1:3; Revelation 1:6)
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We believe in Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit. We believe in His virgin birth, sinless life, miracles, and teachings. We believe in His substitutionary atoning death, bodily resurrection, ascension into heaven, perpetual intercession for His people, and personal visible return to earth. (Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38; John 1:1; 20:28; Romans 9:5; 8:46; II Corinthians 5:21; I Peter 2:21-23; John 20:30, 31; Matthew 20:28; Ephesians 1:4; Acts 1:11; Romans 5:6-8; 6:9,10; Hebrews 7:25; Hebrews 9:28; I Timothy 3:16)
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We believe in the Holy Spirit who came forth from the Father and Son to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and to regenerate, sanctify, and empower all who believe in Jesus Christ. We believe that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Christ, and that He is an abiding helper, teacher and guide. (John 14:16,17,26; 15:26,27; John 16:9-14; Romans 8:9; I Corinthians 3:16; 6:19; Galatians 5:22-26)
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We believe that man was created by God in His own image; that he sinned and thereby incurred physical, spiritual and eternal death, which is separation from God; that as a consequence, all human beings are born with a sinful nature and are sinners by choice and therefore under condemnation. We believe that those who repent and trust Jesus Christ as Saviour are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and become new creatures, delivered from condemnation and receive eternal life.Genesis. (1:26; 5:2; Genesis 3; Genesis 2:17; 3:19; Eccl. 2:11; John 3:14; 5:24; John 5:30; 7:13; 8:12; 10:26; Romans 9:22; II Thessalonians 1:9; Rev. 19:3,20; 20:10;14,15; 21:18; Psalm 51:7; Jeremiah 17:9; James 1:14; Romans 3:19; 5:19; Proverbs 28:13; I John 1:9; John 3:16; John 1:13; II Corinthians 5:17; Romans 8:1)
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We believe in the universal church, a living spiritual body of which Christ is the head and all regenerated persons are members. We believe in the local church, consisting of a company of believers in Jesus Christ, baptised on a credible profession of faith, and associated for worship, work, and fellowship. We believe that God has laid upon the members of the local church the primary task of giving the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost world. (Ephesians 2:19-22; Acts 1:8; Ephesians 5:19-21; Acts 2:42; Hebrews 10:23-25)
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We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has committed two ordinances to the local church, baptism and the Lord's Supper. We believe that the Lord's Supper was instituted by Christ for commemoration of His death. We believe that Christian baptism is intended for believers and is practiced in the name of the triune God. We believe that these two ordinances should be observed and administered until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Matthew 28:18-20; Romans 6:3-5; I Corinthians 11:23-26)
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This Affirmation of Faith does not exhaust the extent of our beliefs. The Bible itself is the soleand final source of all that we believe. For purposes of the faith, doctrine, practice, policy, and discipline of Oranmore Community Church, we believe God establishes elders in the church to have interpretive authority on the Bible’s meaning and application. (II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:20-21; Mark 13:31; Hebrews 13:7,17; I Peter 5:2)
Our Values:
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In all that we do and say, we want the Gospel to always be on display, surrendering to the Bible to show us how. The good news of Jesus is the power of salvation for everyone who believes, and we aim to declare and show this good news through every facet of our church. The whole Word of God is our authority for how to do that and we aim to be a church always mouldable and reforming to truth of the Scriptures.
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Jesus doesn’t just save us, he adopts us into His family. Because of what Jesus has accomplished for us in the gospel, we can be fully known in community, and still be loved as we are. We aim to make disciples of each other through intentional gospel community groups. As Jesus prayed in John 17, we also want our love and unity for one another as Gods family to be our gospel witness to the world, as we live the everyday stuff of life together.
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Growing in our relationship with Jesus and making disciples of one another by following Him together, and practicing the disciplines of reading the Bible, prayer, and confession. God made mankind for a special relationship with Him together, and only through Jesus is that possible. Eternal life is to know God through Jesus, and we aim to prioritise our relationship with Jesus together as God’s family.
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We are not a professional outfit. God has purposed the whole church to do the work of the ministry, gifting every member of the body with valued roles, and charging the leaders is to equip the people for this work. We aim to give room for God’s varied gifts to be expressed in the church and to prioritise equipping the church to do the work of the ministry.
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In John 15, Jesus taught the disciples “apart from me, you can do nothing.” He then continued, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” God gives us prayer as a means of intimacy with Him and our way to walk out our dependency on Him. Therefore as a church, we are devoted to depend on Him in prayer in all things.
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Together fulfilling the central mission Christ gave to the church - making disciples of all peoples. We want our ministries to be outward-faced, prioritising building relationships with those who don’t yet know Jesus. We aim to be mission-minded in our small and large gatherings, making our love for each other and unity together the emphasis of our witness to the community.
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God has given us a central mandate to tend and keep the world around us. We aim to tend and keep the community we live in with practical actions to be a part of God's renewal of His created world.
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Worshipping God in our gatherings in such a way that prioritises both those that know Jesus and those that do not yet know Him. Our worship aims to edify the believers in our church through preaching that challenges and edifies, while also always being aware of and winsome to the lost.
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God is not a “killjoy”, and neither are the lives and gatherings of His people. We aim as a people to show the fullness of joy that His kingdom makes available through transformed gospel community.
Our Leadership:
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Will Miron
Pastor/Elder
Biblical & Theological Studies - University of Northwestern, St. Paul
Hiya there, I’m Will. My wife (Sarah) and our three kids (Aidan, Norah and Lucy) moved to Ireland from the USA March of 2020 (I swear we didn’t bring COVID over).
Growing up Catholic myself, I always believed God existed, but it wasn’t until I was 18 that I truly trusted IN Jesus. God saved me from a deep depression, and showed me that although I knew some things about Him, I was made for something infinitely better - to truly know Him.
Outside of my love for Jesus, I enjoy hiking, woodworking, just about all music other than country, a good whiskey, and cigars by the fire on one of the 12 days its not raining in Galway.
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Adam Ledbetter
Pastor/Elder
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Sarah Miron
Children’s Ministry Coordinator
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Ariadna Carrillo
Worship Coordinator
Our History:
Our church began with a group of us from Galway City Baptist Church meeting as a community group in Oranmore in 2021. Galway City Baptist Church had long wanted to see a church planted from their congregation, and years ago began to pray about and seek out potential leaders for a church in Oranmore.
In 2020, Will and Sarah Miron and their 3 kids were sent out from Christ Redeemer Church in Minnesota, USA, and moved to Ireland for the purpose of helping plant a church in Oranmore. Together with another elder from GCBC, and 4 other families, we formed a community group with the hope that from it God would form a church.
As we continued to meet together, God continued to stir in all of our hearts to see the good news of Jesus proclaimed in Oranmore and the surrounds through a local church. In 2023 we began to take steps towards forming Oranmore Community Church. Our first public worship gathering was held in April 2023 at the Maldron Hotel Oranmore. In October 2023, we had our first Sunday morning gathering and officially launched Oranmore Community Church. We continue to meet every Sunday at the Maldron Hotel in Oranmore at 10:30 to worship Jesus as He continues to build His church in Oranmore.