Our mission
The Centre for Christianity in Society exists to connect Christ with contemporary culture by explaining Christianity truthfully, engaging issues thoughtfully and equipping Christians thoroughly for the glory of God and the good of all people.
Our services
The CCS team is available to:
Speak on topical issues and big questions to all ages, sceptics or believers, in person and through various media.
Train Christians to think biblically, apply truth in loving relationships, and
evangelise persuasively.
Create informative, engaging and practical Christian perspectives on issues in writing and video.
Advise Christian leaders about contemporary culture and issues facing Christians.
Our values
We affirm the core beliefs of the Christian faith, are signatories to the Life Affirmation, and have adopted a Position on Sexual Ethics and Family.
We work within four values based on 1 Peter 2 verse 17:
'Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood.
Fear God. Honor the emperor.'
Fearing
God
As servants of God, we aim for truthfulness in everything we say, integrating insights from quality scientific and sociological research with biblical truth.
Honouring
the authorities
We seek proper permission to work in any context into which we are invited and we want to help people in authority fulfil their responsibilities well.
Honouring
everyone
Since every person is created and loved by God, we aim to treat them with integrity (honesty and transparency) and grace (humility and sensitivity).
Loving the family of believers
As diversely gifted friends united in God's love, we want to work with all individuals, churches or organisations that share our core beliefs
Our story
The Centre for Christianity in Society was launched in 2020 as a collaboration of friends with an interest in connecting Christian thinking with the issues and trends in contemporary culture. Two of our three founding directors, Paul Coulter and Rachel Shields, had been involved together in several initiatives in the area of apologetics over many years, including the Northern Ireland Christian Apologetics Network and the Sophron Network. The addition as a collaborator of Michael Shaw, who came up with the Centre's name, was the catalyst for a new beginning. Together these three amigos refined the focus of the Centre on our three 'Es' - explaining, engaging and equipping. They served as a team leading the Centre's work but other associates and friends also contributed to our speaking in churches and training.
In 2021, growth in our ministries led us to decide to register as a charity. Paul Coulter brought some of his existing resources (Understanding Christianity and First Steps) into the Centre and we recruited a volunteer Operations Manager, Gareth Kimpton, and a fourth director, Keith Gardiner. On 6th October 2021, CCS became a company limited by guarantee, registered with Companies House (Company Number NI682889). In December 2021 we had our inaugural Board meeting and Keith Gardiner was appointed as Chair of the Board. Helped by another volunteer with experience in launching charities, we registered with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland (Charity Number NIC108788). In summer 2022, the Centre adopted the legacy of former charity Focus Radio. We became custodians of the apologetics videos created by David Couchman and colleagues under the God New Evidence channel.
An obvious question to ask might be why we are establishing a new charity. We have two simple answers. First, there was no existing charity in Ireland with a focus on apologetics, ethics and cultural engagement from an evangelical Christian perspective. We know there are others elsewhere, and we want to partner with them where we can, but we believe that Ireland needs local contributions. Second, there was no existing avenue for us to make our contribution as a network of partners. The Centre is not just an organisation. It is, and will remain, a group of friends encouraging each other to use whatever gifts we have to make Christ known and to equip his people. We are a collaborative network seeking to mobilise Christians of diverse gifts, personalities and levels of education to make their contribution to connecting Christ with contemporary culture.
You can find out about our plans for the future in our Development Plan.