Loughaghery, Magheragall, Maze, Moira.

Lisburn - St. Columba’s Presbyterian and Methodist Church
 

 

Killaney Avenue, Old Warren, Lisburn.

Minister Emeritus: Rev. Dr. Malcolm Scott

The convenor of the vacancy at St Columba’s
will be the Rev Brian Gibson,
minister of Railway Street Presbyterian Church.

Sunday services:
Morning: 11.30am.
Evening: 6.30pm.
During July & August services are at 11.00am

Web site: www.columbas.net

HISTORY

The growth of Lisburn on the Moira Road side of the town was such that in 1964 the Kirk Session of Railway Street, in whose parish the area lay, requested Dromore Presbytery to invite the General Assembly's Church Extension Committee to undertake the establishment of a new charge in the area.  In consequence the congregation of St. Columba’s first met in a temporary wooden building on the Moira Road.  The Rev. David Malcolm Scott of Irvinestown and Pettigo was installed as its minister on 2^nd June 1965, and the first Sunday Services were held on Whit Sunday, the 6^th June 1965.

A scheme of joint working with the Methodist Church was agreed on in Conference and Assembly in May and June 1967.  The congregation since then serves both Presbyterians and Methodists, both being represented on the Congregational Committee, and with Methodist representatives being present at and deliberating in Kirk Session.  The Rev. Desmond Morris was Methodist minister at the time, being succeeded in July 1971 by Rev. Winston Good.

The building of the church was commenced on 20^th September 1968 when the Rev. A. H. Graham the General Assembly's joint-convener of Church Extension, cut the first sod.  Foundation stones were laid on 8^th March 1969 by Very Rev. Dr. Wm. Boyd and Rev. Howard Cromie representing the Presbyterians, and by Rev. Dr. R. D. E. Gallagher and Rev. R. D. Morris representing the Methodists.  The Church building, Minor Hall and ancillary rooms were declared open and dedicated on 5^th September 1969 by the Rt. Rev. Dr. J. T. Carson, Moderator of Assembly. Another hall, the Oliver Brown Hall was opened in March 1970.  Mr. and Mrs. Brown had been missionaries in India for many years and were members of St. Columba’s after their retirement.

The Rev. Malcolm Scott retired in 1998 and is now the Minister Emeritus in St. Columba’s.

The Rev. John Honeyford, previously in Magheragall Presbyterian Church, was installed in St. Columba’s on Friday 1^st September 1999. Mr Honeyford preached his farewell sermon at St Columba’s Presbyterian and Methodist Church on Sunday 8th April 2007 and was installed as the new minister of 2nd Castlederg and Alt Presbyterian Church in the presbytery of Derry and Strabane at an installation service in 2nd Castlederg on Friday 13th April 2007. The convenor of the vacancy at St Columba’s will be the Rev Brian Gibson, minister of Railway Street Presbyterian Church.

Loughaghery Presbyterian Church
 

 

Loughaghery Road, Anahilt.

Minister: Rev Leslie Patterson
Telephone: 079 77 039769

Minister Emeritus: Rev. David McConaghy

Sunday services:
Morning: 11.00am.
Evening service as announced.

Presbyterian Church in Ireland Website:
www.presbyterianireland.org

HISTORY

One Sabbath day in August 1750 the Rev. John Semple of Anahilt was absent from his pulpit, assisting at a Communion elsewhere.  The Seceders seized the opportunity of conducting a service within the bounds of Anahilt congregation, and accessions followed.  Really the prime cause of disaffection was distance from Anahilt, for Mr. Semple was strictly orthodox and evangelical.

The Rev. Andrew Black, lately installed in Boardmills, conducted services occasionally at Loughaghery, and was assisted from time to time by the Rev. Thomas Mayne, Drumgooland.  A meeting-house was erected near the lough, and the first minister, Mr. William Knox (lic. Down) was ordained in Aug. 1755.  In 1762 by a movement unrecorded we find Mr. Knox installed in Scarva and the Rev. William Ronaldson, the minister of Scarva installed in Loughaghery.  There is also evidence which appears to nullify this. Mr. Ronaldson was born, educated and licensed in Scotland, and was a friend of Mr. Knox (see Scarva and Glascar).

The demission of Mr. Ronaldson and the ordination of Mr. Samuel Edgar (lic. Down) were announced to the Synod in May 1771, the date of each not being stated. Mr. Ronaldson removed to America in 1773, and from 1774 to 1781 acted as stated supply at Long Cane, S. C. Poplar Springs and Joppa, Ga.  It is noteworthy that he was succeeded at Long Cane by the Rev. Thomas Clark, formerly of Ballybay.  At the Revolution Mr. Ronaldson remained loyal to Great Britain, and was banished as a Tory.  He returned in 1783 to Charleston, S. C., and died there of ship-fever the same year.  The Rev. Samuel Edgar erected a new meeting-house on the site which still remains in the possession of the congregation.  Like many of his brethren, he conducted a classical school to eke out a scanty livelihood.  He died at the age of thirty-eight on 9^th May 1785.  His widow survived him for upwards of forty years.  Rev. Samuel Oliver Edgar, Armagh, was his son, and the Rev. Samuel Edgar, Brookvale, a grandson.

The next minister was the progenitor of a succession of ministers who have served in Loughaghery for upwards of a century and a half. Mr. William Moorhead was ordained on 27^th October 1786 at a stipend of £36 with oats.  He was a son of Mr. William Moorhead, farmer, Drum.  In 1796 Mr. Moorhead was a candidate for the chair of Divinity in connection with the Burgher Synod.  He retired in 1829 and on 2^nd June the same year his son, Robert Moorhead, was ordained as his assistant and successor.  As no provision was made for the support of Mr. Robert Moorhead, his father said that it might safely be left to the congregational committee.  The Rev. William Moorhead died on 23^rd January 1837.  The Rev. Robert Moorhead built the third and present meeting-house.  His death occurred on 13^th March 1877.  He was succeeded by his son, the Rev. John Nesbitt Moorhead, who was installed in July 1877.  He had been ordained at Cloughey in 1872.  The Rev. J. N. Moorhead resigned on 6^th May 1938 after a ministry of sixty-six years and died on 22^nd September 1939 at the age of ninety-five.

The Rev. John Nesbitt Moorhead was succeeded by the Rev. David John Creelman who was called on the 6^th March 1939 from the congregation of Glenhoy, Co. Tyrone, and installed on 19^th April 1939.  His ministry in Loughaghery was interrupted for a short time in 1943 when he served as an Honorary Chaplain to the Forces under the Y.M.C.A.  Mr. Creelman resigned his charge on 27^th November 1946 to go to the united congregation of Wexford and Enniscorthy, and soon afterwards in 1947 he married Miss Bessie Moorhead who was the daughter of Rev. John Nesbitt Moorhead, and a sister in the Banbridge Hospital.

The next minister was Mr. John Hendley Rankin (lic. Tyrone) who was ordained on 7^th May 1947.  He remained as minister until September 1963 when he accepted a call to 1^st  and 2^nd Markethill.  A short time before the end of his ministry the church roof was re-slated and the interior of the building re-decorated.

Rev. Andrew Crooks of Bethany Church, Belfast, was installed on 2^nd April 1964 and during his ministry a new Church Hall was built across the road from the Church.  In 1970 the Presbytery of Dromore appointed Mr. Crooks as stated supply in the neighbouring congregation of Cargycreevy and he retired from the ministry on 30^th June 1971 and went to live at Ballygally, Co. Antrim.

In the year 1971 Loughaghery and Cargycreevy congregations were happily and harmoniously united and on 23^rd February 1972, the Rev. David McConaghy was installed as the first minister of the united charge.  He was brought up in the congregation of Toberkeigh, near Bushmills, and served as a missionary with the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian from 1963-1971. 

During Mr. McConaghy’s ministry a new Church Hall built on the site of the previous wooden hall, was opened on 3^rd June 1989 by Mrs. Elizabeth Meikle.  The Pipe Organ, which had been installed in 1950, was replaced with an Electronic Organ in 1999.

Mr McConaghy retired on 30th April 2002 and is now the Minister Emeritus of Loughaghery and Cargycreevy. During a long vacancy, the Convenors of the vacancy in turn were - the Rev. David Porter, minister of Second Dromara (May 2002 - May 2003), the Rev. Gary Glasgow, Minister of Anahilt and Drumlough (June 2003 to January 2005) and the Rev Dr Bert Tosh, Senior Producer, Religious Programmes - BBC (February 2005 - October 2007).

The present minister, the Rev Leslie Patterson, formerly assistant minister of McQuiston Memorial Presbyterian Church in the Presbytery of East Belfast, was ordained and installed as minister of the united charge at a Service of Installation in Loughaghery Presbyterian Church on Friday 19th October 2007.

A full history of the church entitled “OUR HERITAGE”, 1750-1988, can be seen on this website.

Magheragall Presbyterian Church
 

School Lane, Magheragall, Lisburn.

Minister: Rev. Angus McCullough
Telephone: 9264 8202

Minister Emeritus: Rev. Robert Larmour

Sunday services:
Morning: 11.30am
Evening: 6.30pm
Morning Service only during July and August at 10.30am

Presbyterian Church in Ireland Website:
www.presbyterianireland.org
 

HISTORY

This Secesion congregation started before 1763 when Moira was linked with Hillhall (Lisburn).  Services were held in a barn, situated on land owned by Mr. J. McCollum who came from Hillhall. Hillhall became independent in 1763 and Magheragall was then joined with Moira.

The minister of the united charge was Rev. James Hume, a native of Aberdour, Fifeshire, who had been ordained in Moira on 30^th January 1753, and it would appear that Moira took on Magheragall in 1763.  Mr. Hume died on 12^th October 1782 to be succeeded by Mr. Adam Gilbert.  He was ordained on 16^th June 1784 and died on 15^th September 1804, “Deeply versed in Divinity and possessing a considerable fund of other useful learning”.

The next minister of Moira and Magheragall was Mr. William Moffatt, a Lanarkshire man, ordained on 19^th June 1806.  He was the father of Rev. Walter Moffatt of Saintfield (1831-38), the “McCheyne of the Irish Seceders”.  In 1841 the congregation was given leave to call an assistant and successor, but this was not done before Mr. Moffatt retired in 1843.  He died at Ashley Place, Ballymacarrett on 25^th October 1853 and was buried at Moira.

It was many years before Magheragall became strong enough to go it alone.  When it did so the first minister was Mr. Joseph Kelso.  He was Moderator of the Anti-Burgher Synod in 1811 and came from Taboyne.  He was ordained on 8^th August 1809.  In 1828 he petitioned Synod, seeking to be disannexed and to be certified to the American Church.  The Synod replied by appointing the Presbytery to hold a visitation, which was done in due time, and in 1829 Mr. Kelso was suspended for intemperance and for celebrating marriages in an irregular manner.  He died at Lisburn and was buried in Magheragall Burying Ground.

Mr. Kelso was succeeded by Mr. John Smith Brown (lic. Down), son of Mr. Joseph Brown, Burren, Ballynahinch.  He was ordained on 30^th September 1829 and the following year he married the youngest daughter of the Rev. Samuel Edgar, Ballynahinch.  He retired in 1877 and died on 5^th August 1880 aged seventy-five.  One son, Rev. Samuel E. Brown, was minister of Ballywalter, Athlone and Clough (Co. Antrim), and another, Rev. Wm. Wallace Brown, was a missionary to India.  A daughter, Miss Susan E. Brown, was the first Zenana missionary to India of the Irish Presbyterian Church.  The present church was built on the site of McCollum’s barn in 1840.

Mr. Brown was followed by Rev. Hugh Hastings of 2^nd Killymurris.  He was installed on 15^th May 1878, retired on 1^st July 1913 and died at the Manse on 19^th July 1928.  Then came Mr. Hugh Jordan Lilburn, a licentiate of the Presbytery of Long Island, U.S.A.  He was received as a licentiate and ordained on 23^rd October 1913.  He emigrated to New Zealand on 17^th September 1928 for work under the Mission Board, resigning his charge here on that date.

The Rev. Thomas Rodgers of Ulsterville, Belfast, was installed on 9^th April 1929 and made a notable contribution.  The Rev. Andrew Rodgers of Dungannon is a son. Rev. Thomas Rodgers retired on 30^th September 1942 and died on 19^th October 1949.

Mr. Gilbert David Smith (lic. Derry) was ordained as Mr. Rodger’s successor on 25^th January 1943 and resigned in order to emigrate to Canada (St. Giles, Peterborough) on 15^th March 1953.  His successor was Mr. Robert Dickson Larmour (lic. Belfast) previously assistant minister in Newington Presbyterian Church, Belfast, who was ordained and installed in Magheragall on 2^nd September 1953.  Mr. Larmour retired on 2^nd September 1988 and is now Minister Emeritus of Magheragall. On 1^st November 1988 he was appointed Minister for Pastoral Visitation at Hillsborough Presbyterian Church.

Mr. Larmour’s successor, the Rev. John Honeyford, previously assistant in First Comber, was installed in Magheragall in 1989.  He resigned on 31^st December 1995 and is now minister of St. Columba’s Presbyterian and Methodist Church, Lisburn.  Mr. Honeyford was followed by the Rev. George McClelland, previously minister of Lislooney, Knappagh Presbyterian Churches and stated supply to Middletown Presbyterian Church.   Mr. McClelland was installed here in May 1999 and resigned on 30^th April 2004 to take up a position as National Director for The Boys’ Brigade in Northern Ireland.

The present minister, the Rev. Angus McCullough, previously in Second Ballybay and Rockcorry, Co. Monaghan, was installed in Magheragall on 8^th April 2005.

Maze Presbyterian Church
 

Kesh Road, Lisburn.

Minister: Rev. William Henry
Telephone: 9262 1269

Minister Emeritus: Rev. Alec Parker

Sunday services:
Morning: 11.30am
Evening: 6.30pm (1st Sunday in month)

Presbyterian Church in Ireland Website:
www.presbyterianireland.org

Maze Church Website
www.mazepc.org
 

HISTORY

In the early days Presbyterian families living in the Maze area worshipped at Anahilt. This continued until 1833 when the Church at Hillsborough had its first minister ordained.  To it Maze families resorted until about two decades later the Rev. Edward Stevenson rallied round him a little band of worshippers on the Cockhill Road.  The story of the beginning of Maze Church is largely the story of Mr. Edward Stevenson, a licentiate of the Dromore Presbytery (1842).

Dromore Presbytery opposed the new movement at Maze and refused to recognise it.  Mr. Stevenson applied to the Belfast Presbytery and helped by Drs. Cooke and Houston got the projected congregation brought under its care, and it remained under this Presbytery until 1877.  Mr. Stevenson accepted a call to the new congregation on 4^th December 1854 and was ordained by Belfast Presbytery on 20^th June 1855.  The foundation stone for the Church was laid on the 24^th March 1857, and the building was opened for public worship on 1^st July 1859.  Mr. Stevenson died on 12^th December 1890.

The next minister was Mr. Hugh Alexander MacKenzie (lic. Route) who was ordained on 15^th November 1889.  His stay at Maze was brief, for he accepted a call to Balteagh on 24^th March 1891 and was succeeded by Mr. Robert Whan (lic. Dungannon) who was ordained by the Presbytery of Dromore on 16^th September 1891.  His ministry was cut short by his death on 14^th November 1899.

On 2^nd May 1900 Mr. Thomas Dunn (lic. Glendermott) was ordained and remained here for forty years.  He retired on 7^th May 1940 and died on 6^th March 1951.  He was succeeded by Mr. Thomas Alexander Noble Parker (lic. Derry), who was ordained on 11^th September 1940.  For 6 years he was Chaplain to the RAF at Long Kesh, 27 years as organiser of Religious Education in day Schools and Chaplain to H.M. Prison, Maze for 12 years.  He retired in October 1981 and on 16^th January 2006 celebrated his 90^th birthday.  He is now Minister Emeritus at Maze.

The Rev. James Hughes was installed on 5^th January 1983 and died in November 1989.  He was succeeded by the Rev. Robert S. McMullan who was installed on 24^th September 1990.  During his ministry a new church hall was opened in February 1995.  Mr. McMullan resigned in May 1996 to take up an appointment as General Director of Scripture Union in the Republic of Ireland.

The present minister, the Rev. William Henry who was previously Assistant Minister at Whiteabbey Presbyterian Church, was installed here on 24^th January 1997.  In addition to his ministerial duties at Maze, Mr. Henry has been Stated Supply minister at Ballinderry since June 2001.  During Mr. Henry’s ministry, new stained glass windows depicting the ‘Means of Grace in the Christian Life’ were dedicated in 2000 by the Very Rev. Dr. Andrew Rodgers.  Major renovations took place in 2004 linking the new hall and enlarging the seating capacity of the church.

A full history of the church by the Rev. Thomas Dunn (Published 1949) is shown on this web site, click on: History of Maze Presbyterian Church.

Moira Presbyterian Church
 

Meeting Street, Moira.

Minister: Rev. Howard Gilpin
Telephone: 9261 1252

Sunday services:
Morning Worship: 11.30am
Monthly Evening Worship: 7.00pm
(1st Sunday except during July and August)

Web site: www.moirapresbyterian.org.uk

 

HISTORY

This is an old congregation.  It existed at the Revolution but it is not known who was the minister then.  It was vacant in 1692, when the people called Rev. Matthew Hartridge, of Ahoghill, but the Presbytery would not let him move. Mr. Samuel Ferguson (lic. Antrim) was ordained towards the end of 1693 and died here on 21^st Nov. 1703.  In 1706 the congregation asked the Synod to strengthen it by adding some families adjacent to Lisburn and Glenavy. They were still vacant in 1708 but on 17^th May 1709 Mr. James Blair (lic. Antrim) was ordained as their minister.  He was called to Derry in June 1713 and was succeeded by Mr. Samuel Harpur (lic. Belfast) who was ordained on 13^th March 1717.

Mr. Harpur appears to have had non-subscribing sympathies and in 1727 he joined the Presbytery of Antrim. In 1731 an application came to the General Synod asking for help to build a new church as they “had been deprived of their meeting-house”.  What the cause of this was is not clear but it certainly did not strengthen the cause which was vacant until 27^th May 1734, when Mr. Thomas Creighton (lic. Antrim) was ordained.  Under him the new meeting-house was erected in 1738, but when Mr. Creighton died on 29^th December 1741, he left “a poor and indebted congregation”, which remained vacant for years.

The Seceders had come into the area and the majority of the congregation appeared to adhere to them.  They therefore approached the Seceders for supply in April 1747 but were not able to obtain a minister until Mr. James Hume, a Scotsman from Aberdour, Fifeshire, was ordained in February 1752.  He died on 12^th October 1782.  The Seceders, being in the majority, apparently took over the building and the Synod of Ulster section, having obtained a minister in Mr. Joseph Mitchell (lic. Route) on 29^th October 1751, complained that their meeting-house was seized by the Seceders and that they had been at considerable expense in a law-suit for its recovery.  Two congregations now existed side by side and apparently so continued until the problem solved itself in 1830.

After Rev. James Hume, who died in 1782, the Seceders called Mr. Adam Gilbert who was ordained on 16^th June 1784 to the United Secession charge of Moira and Magheragall.  He died on 15^th September 1804 and was followed by Mr. William Moffett, a Scotsman, who was ordained on 19^th June 1806.

After the Synod of Ulster minister, Mr. Mitchell, died on 5^th October. 1774, Mr. William Stitt (lic. Bangor) was ordained on 10^th October 1775, and apparently “the seceders still had the house” (1760).  Mr. Stitt moved to Dungannon in September 1777 to be followed by Mr. Andrew Craig (lic. Dromore), ordained on 30^th June 1778.  A succession of short ministries ensued.  Mr. Craig, a non-evangelical, moved to Lisburn in 1782 and was ordained on 23^rd June 1783. He resigned to go to Summerhill where he was installed on 1^st October 1791.

Mr. John Cochrane Wightman (lic. Bangor) came next, ordained on 20^th March 1798, and he removed in 1801 to 1^st Holywood (O.C.).  Mr. Hamilton Dobbin (lic. Bangor) was ordained on 10^th June 1801, and resigned in 1802 when he was installed in Lurgan (1st) on 26^th January 1802.  Then came Mr. John Mulligan (lic. Armagh) who, ordained in November 1802, withdrew with his congregation from the General Synod and joined the Remonstrant Synod in 1830.  He died on 12^th October 1836.

The Secession congregation, already established, received those members of the “old congregation” who remained loyal to the General Synod, and the Rev. William Moffatt was the minister at the Union of the Synods in 1840.  In 1841 he was given leave to have “an assistant and successor” and died on 25^th October 1853.  He was buried at Moira.  His successor was Mr. Robert Moorhead, ordained on 7^th November 1843.  For some reason his stay was short; he resigned on 23^rd September 1844 and he was followed by Mr. Robert Scott Ervine (lic. Down) who was ordained on 2^nd April 1845.  He did not stay long either, the congregation being “from various causes in a weak and declining state”.  He accepted a call to Cargycreevy where he was installed on 7^th June 1846, and was ultimately followed in Moira by Mr. Andrew Morrow (lic. Rathfriland 1846) who was ordained in 1847.  The Rev. Andrew Morrow resigned from the ministry on 26^th December 1848 “with a view to engaging in a secular occupation”.  Then there followed Mr. Samuel Graham (lic. Down 1847), ordained on 2^nd January 1850.  He ended the short ministries, remaining here till his death on 21^st January 1903, aged 79 years.  The Rev. David Graham of 3^rd Armagh was his son.

On 24^th June 1903 Mr. Robert George McFarland (lic. Strabane) was settled in Moira and on 14^th March 1929 he was installed in Ballinderry as an extra duty.  He continued as minister of both charges until his death on 26^th August 1937.

The union of Moira and Ballinderry congregations took place in 1929 when the Rev. Robert George McFarland, minister of Moira, was also installed in Ballinderry on 14^th March 1929.  For twelve months prior to this he had oversight of Ballinderry with a view to such a union as that which later took place.  Mr. McFarland died on 26^th August 1937.  The second minister of this united charge Mr. William Leathem McCombe (lic. Glendermott) who was ordained in Moira and installed in Ballinderry on 24^th March 1938.  He served as Chaplain in World War II and was Presbytery Clerk from 1950-76.  A new Church Hall was opened at Moira on 24^th March 1973 to meet the needs of a growing community.  Mr. McCombe retired on 31^st July 1977.  His successor, the Rev. Joseph Frederick Crawford, who had been a missionary in Jamaica, was installed on 11^th January 1978.  The Rev. W. L. McCombe died on 2^nd April 1982.  Mr. Crawford resigned on 5^th October 2000 when called to Newtown and Bowden, Scotland.

The present minister, the Rev. Howard Gilpin, previously in Redrock and Drumminnis, Co. Armagh, was installed in Moira on 7^th September 2001.