St Pauls and St Barnabas Belfast

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. David wrote those words not from a place of comfort but from the depths of despair, running from enemies, wondering if God had turned away. In this sermon on Psalm 23, preached at the evening service at St Paul and St Barnabas, North Belfast, we explore what it means to trust God through the storms of life when the pain goes so deep that no human comfort...

Twelve ordinary, unremarkable people. No qualifications, no status, no shared background — a tax collector who worked for Rome and a zealot who opposed it, standing together under one King. In this sermon from Matthew 10:1–8, Rev Andrew Irwin explores how Jesus calls his disciples to himself before sending them out, why the work of God always begins by abiding in his presence, and what it means to...

Jesus went through all the towns and villages — the ordinary, overlooked places — with compassion, teaching, proclaiming, and healing. He looked at the harassed and helpless crowds and saw not a crisis but a harvest. In this sermon from Matthew 9:35–10:8, preached in the wake of a hard week in North Belfast, Rev Andrew Irwin reflects on what it means to see our city with the eyes of Christ, why pr...

What do we do when things change and the ground beneath us feels less solid? Psalm 33 answers simply: we praise. In this sermon, Rev Andrew Irwin explores the four movements of Psalm 33 — the joy of collective worship, the God who made the heavens by the breath of his mouth, the security of knowing he is in control and sees each of us individually, and the hope that flows from a life shaped by pra...

For Christ, and His City — Rev Ross Munro on Nehemiah 1 In this sermon at St Paul's & St Barnabas, Belfast, Rev Ross Munro of The Gathering Belfast preaches from Nehemiah 1, on the night The Church Flute Band joined us for a Pentecost Sunday evening of praise, music, testimony, and gospel encouragement. From a cupbearer in the citadel of Susa, seven hundred and sixty five miles from a city in...

For Christ, and His City — Rev Ross Munro on Nehemiah 1 In this sermon at St Paul's & St Barnabas, Belfast, Rev Ross Munro of The Gathering Belfast preaches from Nehemiah 1, on the night The Church Flute Band joined us for a Pentecost Sunday evening of praise, music, testimony, and gospel encouragement. From a cupbearer in the citadel of Susa, seven hundred and sixty five miles from a city...

Pentecost is not simply a day we remember — it is the ongoing life the church is called to live. In this sermon from 1 Corinthians 12:3–13, Rev Andrew Irwin reflects on the Spirit who makes salvation real, who gives life and unity to the church, who distributes gifts for the common good, and who takes people of every difference and joins them together as one body under the Lordship of Christ. Prea...

The last image the disciples have of Jesus is not anger or distance. It is his hands raised over them in blessing as he ascends. In this sermon from Luke 24:44–53, Rev Andrew Irwin explores how the risen Christ opens the Scriptures, sends his people as witnesses, promises power from on high, and takes his throne — and why, in a world full of uncertainty and weariness, the church can still return w...

Have you ever found yourself in a place where you wanted to say something, but the culture, the language, the whole world around you was so different you didn't know where to begin? Paul did. He stood in the middle of Athens — a city of temples and idols, the philosophical capital of the ancient world — and somehow found a way to speak hope into it. He didn't start with condemnation. He di...

A locked room. A frightened band of disciples. And a risen Jesus standing among them with the most surprising opening line in the New Testament. In this sermon from John 20:19–31, Canon Mark Eldredge — visiting from the American Anglican Council — asks why the very first thing Jesus said to his disciples after rising from the dead was "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." Not &q...

In this sermon from Acts 2:42–47, Rev Andrew Irwin reflects on the four pillars of the early church and asks what it would look like to get the simple things right — the teaching of the Word, the breaking of bread, common life in grace, and the rhythms of everyday faith — and why, when a church does, God builds it. Preached at St Paul's & St Barnabas, Belfast — Sunday 27 April 2026. www.sp...

Two disciples. Seven miles. A stranger they should have recognised. On the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus, Cleopas and his companion have all the facts — the empty tomb, the angels, the reports that Jesus is alive. They can practically summarise the gospel. And yet hope is past tense. They are walking away, downcast, confused, and completely missing the one walking right beside them. In this sermon...

On the first Easter morning, Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb in the dark — grieving, searching, and not yet understanding. She finds the stone rolled away, the grave clothes lying empty, and angels where a body should be. And then, in a moment that changes everything, the risen Jesus speaks her name. In this Easter sermon from John 20:1–18, Rev Andrew Irwin reflects on the restless searching that...

On Palm Sunday at St Paul’s & St Barnabas, Rev Andrew Irwin preaches on Psalm 31:9-16 and the strange, weighty tension at the heart of Holy Week. As Christ enters Jerusalem in triumph, he also walks towards sorrow, rejection, and the cross. This sermon explores the agony beneath the triumph, the honesty of David in suffering, the stubborn trust of faith, and the hope that comes from knowing th...

St Paul’s & St Barnabas Sermons Galatians 3:13–14 | The Solution to the Curse Rev Ethan McCarter (Crosscollyer EPC) In this sermon from St Paul’s & St Barnabas, Rev Ethan McCarter of Crosscollyer EPC preaches from Galatians 3:13–14 , opening up how Christ redeems us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. At the heart of the passage is the good news of the gospel: that throug...

Part of our Lent preaching, this episode takes us into Matthew 4:1–11 where Jesus is led into the wilderness and tested with hunger, spectacle, and power. The devil’s first move is to unsettle identity: “If you are the Son of God…” but Jesus stands firm by the Word, answering again and again, “It is written.” This sermon calls us to Word-saturated endurance in the ordinary pressures of life, where...

Part 5 of the “Contending for Hope” series reflects on 1 Peter 1:22–25 on Transfiguration Sunday, drawing on the mountain-top glory of Matthew 17 and what it means to walk back down into the ordinary valleys of daily life. This episode explores how the Christian life is not sustained by moments of spiritual intensity but by the living and enduring Word of God, calling us to love one another deeply...

In this sermon from 1 Peter 1:17–21, Rev. Andrew reflects on what it means to live as God’s redeemed people in a pressured and uncertain world, reminding us that we have been rescued not by perishable things, but by the precious blood of Christ. Set in the context of a church living as strangers and exiles, the passage calls us to take the holiness of God seriously, not as fear-driven moralism, bu...

Rev Alan preaches this morning from Hebrews 11 and In this sermon, we are brought face to face with one of the most searching questions of the Christian life: what does real faith look like, and where does it come from? Hebrews 11 opens by grounding faith not in emotion or optimism, but in confidence and conviction. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the certainty of things not yet see...

Part 3 | 1 Peter 1:10–16 | The Beautiful Life Is a Holy Life In Part 3 of our series through 1 Peter, we turn to 1 Peter 1:10–16 and consider what it means to live a beautiful life shaped by holiness. Peter slows the church down. Before calling believers to action, he invites them to dwell, to linger, and to reflect on the salvation they have received. This salvation was long anticipated by the pr...

In this episode, we open 1 Peter 1:3–9 and reflect on what it means to live with a living hope in a weary and pressured world. Writing to believers in exile, Peter begins not with instruction but with praise, reminding us that Christian hope begins with salvation, is secured by the resurrection of Jesus, and is sustained even through suffering. This episode explores new birth, an inheritance that...

As we begin a new year and mark 175 years of worship and witness at St Paul’s & St Barnabas, we open a new teaching series: Contending for Hope . In this first message, we turn to the opening words of Peter’s first letter. Written to a weary, scattered church under pressure, these verses speak with striking clarity to our own moment. Peter reminds God’s people who they are before he tells them...

Living Because the Light Has Come | Isaiah 63:7–9 What do we do when the waiting is over? Christmas has come. The candles are lit. The moment has passed. And now the question presses in: what next? In this sermon from Isaiah 63:7–9, we reflect on what it means to live because the light has come. Isaiah speaks to a people who are weary, disoriented, and unsure where God is. They are religious, but...

As the shortest day of the year slipped into darkness, we gathered by candlelight at St Paul’s & St Barnabas, Belfast, to sing carols and to reflect on the deeper meaning of Advent. This episode is drawn from that reflection — Hopeful Waiting — shared in the space between fading light and rising hope. Winter has a way of intensifying what we already carry: weariness, grief, anxiety, and unansw...

As we continue our Advent series Hopeful Waiting, in this sermon from Micah 5:2–5, we continue by exploring the promise that God does His greatest work through small and overlooked places. In a world shaped by numbers, visibility, and influence, Micah points us instead to Bethlehem — insignificant in the eyes of the world, yet chosen by God as the birthplace of the promised King. This episode refl...