US-born Tim called here to spread God’s love

City Lives – Denise McNamara talks to Tim O’Toole of the Foursquare Pentecostal Church 

The quintessential image of the zealous missionary man he ain’t, but Tim O’Toole certainly is a man of extraordinary faith.

“God loves the Irish and Ireland,” he tells me solemnly, dressed casually in shorts and t-shirt, leather man bag strung over his shoulder.

“How do you know that?” I enquire as we sip our coffees on a rainy June afternoon.

Why else would he have given up his job in Connecticut where he laboured on nuclear submarines, he responds. Why uproot his wife and family to Galway despite being unable to work because of visa restrictions and why would he want to be reliant on the generosity of his American brethren to pay his subsistence?

“Right now God is telling me Ireland is your place. You’ll stay till I want you to go elsewhere. Right now I hope he says to stay,” he smiles.

Tim and his wife Kristina are both pastors in the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, commonly referred to as the Foursquare Church, of which there are 1,687 in the US, with 6,551 credentialed ministers serving at churches and in the field. Figures from 13 years ago estimated the evangelical Pentecostal Christian denomination had a worldwide membership of over eight million, with almost 60,000 churches in 144 countries. While the couple are committed to “planting” new churches, for the moment their focus is on volunteering in Galway, holding prayer meetings and showing God’s love “in a practical way with no strings attached”.

The decision to move to Galway from Connecticut, where they had “planted” their own church based in a simple cafe, germinated from a feeling Kristina always had about Ireland.

“My surname is O’Toole but I never had it in my mind to go to Ireland. My wife sent an email to other Foursquare churches in Europe asking if anyone was interested in an exchange in Ireland; she was seeking to establish a relationship to see what we could do to help,” he explains. “The reply we got was they would like us to come to Ireland to help plant churches. We thought it was an opportunity that maybe we should consider.”

They came to Ireland in 2008 and travelled around. They soon learned that Galway had a university, and was bursting with music and culture. As they pulled into a carpark in Tuam they both prayed for an indication they were on the right track.

“We immediately saw the sign from God. There was a notice, ‘Welcome to O’Toole’s’, on the side of this store. I thought it was an interesting way to confirm that God was bringing us to the West.”

They returned to the US to train as missionaries and raise money for their mission. They spent over two years raising $100,000 (€75,000), which they needed to prove they could support themselves in order to secure a visa.

In September 2011, Tim, Kristina, their children, Elijah, 16, and Madison, 13, moved to Salthill. The two home-school their teenagers, who have adjusted very well to their adopted home. Elijah plays for Salthill/Devon, while Madison is involved in a performing arts school.

“Home-schooling helps us travel. We are able to be take the work with us without much interruption. We don’t have a church set up here. We realises there’s a lot we have to learn about Ireland. We don’t even want to pastor or even lead a church here. We believe it should be someone Irish,” Tim explains.

“Unfortunately it’s happened, although not always American pastors, where people come and set up churches and it ends badly. We have a prayer group which meets in our home, we meet on a Monday night, share a meal, pray and sing and read something from the Bible. We have had up to 30 at the meetings, but usually it’s five or six.”

The main thing the O’Tooles do since they made Galway their home is set up a branch of the international volunteer group, Serve the City.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.