Dan and Kim Irvin
Glasgow, Scotland | 23504
Our Story
Our little family started in 2007 when we married, and several years later we were blessed with Lily and Willow. We spent the first decade of our marriage serving the church in Arlington, Texas in various capacities and hosting Bible studies in our home. Hospitality was a huge part of our life and brought us tremendous joy. In 2016, we felt a desire to serve as missionaries and began to pray and seek counsel from our pastor and church family about this massive change. A couple of years later, we were commissioned as missionaries and began to make our way to Scotland. We hoped for a thriving hospitality ministry in a quiet village in the Scottish countryside and had a good laugh when we moved to Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland, during the COVID lockdowns in which no one was allowed out of their home, much less into in ours, for nearly a year. Our plan was seemingly failing, and we were floundering. So we took up any opportunity we could to be involved in the lives of the people around us. That has taken many different forms such as sharing baked goods, attending random clubs and outdoor activities, and slowly our persistent presence has built up trust with people that has led to continued gospel conversations. Through our years in ministry, we have developed a deep passion for Scripture and nurturing a love for sound doctrine in Christ’s church.
Where We Work
We live and work in a small community in the south end of Glasgow. Daniel is an elder at Darnley Mill Church, a thriving church plant started a couple of years before we arrived in the UK. Together we are involved in leading Bible studies in our home, teaching an in-depth course for youth on how to study the Bible, running a free weekly art club for the kids in the community, discipling many different young believers, and are regularly in the community sharing the gospel with unbelievers. Our community is very diverse; our neighborhood is predominantly Pakistani Muslim, and we have friends from all over the world in our friend and community circle. There are many challenges in Glasgow, and it’s full of broken families and hurting people. Poverty is staggering, with more than 30% of the city’s children living well below the poverty line and 25% of all children here live in single-parent homes. Drug and alcohol abuse is some of the worst in all of Europe, and the average life expectancy of Glaswegians is 10 years below the UK average. Religion is more associated with your favorite football team than personal faith, and most people are entirely secular in their beliefs despite either being brought up in church (protestant or catholic) or attending a religious school as a child. Many churches here neglect discipleship entirely, and churches are dying rapidly because of this mentality. The hopelessness here is palpable, and we long to share the hope of the gospel with as many as we can.