Brooklands Gospel Centre
Dundonald, Northern Ireland
Worthy is the LAMB that was slain
Revelation 5:12
John and Linda Stanfield
John was brought up in a Christian family in Belfast, and came to a personal faith
in Jesus Christ when he was just six years old. After studying Electrical Engineering,
he worked as an Electronic Engineer for seven years. He was involved in youth work
and door-
Linda was also brought up in a Christian family and trusted the Lord at the age of seven. After leaving school, she went into insurance, in her home town, Plymouth. After being challenged through a missionary report, she did the GLO course in 1992/93. It was a GLO summer team in August 1994, which exposed her to the spiritual needs of Ireland and she went to work in Dublin in January 1995, commended by Plymstock Chapel.
John and Linda met at a GLO reunion weekend in Motherwell and they were married in
July 1996 after which they were commended by Brooklands Gospel Centre to the Lord’s
work in the Republic of Ireland. In fellowship with GLO and initially linked with
Bethany Church, Dublin, they worked with Colin and Rosemary Sheldon. However, they
began to be concerned about the needs of some of the smaller towns in Ireland where
there is little or no evangelical witness. In particular they were challenged by
the needs of County Wexford, which at that time had no full-
They moved from Dublin to work in Enniscorthy at the end of 1997, initially doing
a lot of literature distribution and door-
The work began to expand when John and Linda were joined by Andrew and Lorna Burt in January 1999 and on the Summer team that year they started a children’s work. The team had offered Jesus videos on an estate where there was a community centre and through contacts made there they were given the opportunity to rent the centre. The GLO summer teams continued to give a boost to the ongoing children’s work helping with five day clubs and in recent years with Family Fun Days. The teams have also helped in covering the town with literature each year.
In 2001, the children’s work increased to include a new location in a new community centre in the centre of a large new estate. Some of those whom the team had known from the first estate moved to the new houses and through their influence the team were allowed to use that new community centre for children’s clubs. As children progressed through the clubs it gave a basis to start a youth work.
The team organised evenings where children from the clubs could come and bring their parents. These Family Fun Nights were a great way to get to know some of the parents and as well as the games there was the opportunity to share a simple gospel message for both parents and children.
The team began meetings in Enniscorthy, first of all on Sunday evenings and were joined by a few others including some teenagers who had come through the children’s clubs. However, when two families moved down to Enniscorthy from the greater Dublin area John & Linda sensed that this was the right time to begin meeting as a church in Enniscorthy. Having had children’s and youth clubs in a local community centre for a number of years they were granted the use of this building for the church meetings. The church in Enniscorthy was formally established in March 2004 and Magdalene Burt also joined the work later that year.
Having gone to Enniscorthy with the vision of seeing a church established, it was a privilege for John and Linda to have been part of what God has done there.
In April 2008, they felt God’s call to go and serve alongside Mallow Street Christian Fellowship, in Limerick City. Here they are working with Berny and Michaela Tuccillo (GLO) and David and Kay Stevens and their role is as church based evangelists. They are involved in literature distribution, children’s and youth work, street evangelism, friendship evangelism and running special outreach events.
John & Linda’s vision is to see more people changed by the gospel, discipled and incorporated into a local church with a burden to reach others for Christ.
