Church celebrates £160,000 refurbishment; Updated History of Drumbeg Parish; 400th anniversary of congregation; Church members walk out in protest; Parish completes a week of 24/7 Prayer
Church celebrates £160,000 refurbishment
A C of I parish church in the Roe Valley Country Park in Co Londonderry put out the welcome mat for visitors last weekend.
Carrick Church near Limavady held an open day as part of a celebration of significant £160,000 refurbishment work recently carried out.
Built in 1846, the little church stands on a cliff edge, in a picturesque location high above a wooded gorge on the River Roe, three miles south of Limavady, on the Ballyquin Road.
The open day is an opportunity for members of the community to visit the church and see the renovations. The refurbishment includes reroofing the church, extending the vestry as well as improving disability facilities. It has been no small undertaking for a parish of 60 families.
The rector, Canon David Ferry, said: “We are celebrating a significant achievement in our small parish.”
Alongside support from the local community, the parish also received help from the Heritage Lottery Fund and other funders.
A spokesman for Derry and Raphoe Church of Ireland diocese said: “The success of Carrick Parish Church in completing this refurbishment is an illustration of what teamwork can achieve. The open door is a statement of one of the values we hold dear – an open door to all.”
Updated History of Drumbeg Parish
Recently at morning service at Drumbeg Parish, former Archdeacon of Down, Gregor McCamley joined Revd Willie Nixon and the congregation for the launch of ‘Ecclesia De Drumbeg’, a concise and informative history of a Parish that dates back as far as 1306. The book was authored by Mr Matt Neill, typed by Mrs Clara Crookshanks, and published by Revd Stanley Gamble of Slieve Croob Press.
Mr Matt Neill is a well known and respected local historian, parishioner, sexton and long time friend of Drumbeg Parish. At 95 years of age he has a unique perspective on the history of the Parish and, blessed with a great memory, Matt informs the story with his own recollections, giving it a ‘real life’ dimension.
Mr McCamley enthused about the book during his sermon, pointing to the past, but reminding the Parish of the need to press on in order to build on the past for the glory of the Kingdom of God. He took Philippians 3:14 as his text: ‘I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus’.
Revd Willie Nixon, noted that this was ‘an historic moment in the life of Drumbeg, and a day when memories of those who had gone before were called to mind, at a time when through the new SPACE Praise Band and SPACE services, the Parish is very much looking to the future’.
The Revised and Updated edition of ‘Ecclesia de drum’, (the only available history of the Parish Church of St Patrick’s Drumbeg) is on sale at £10 from Drumbeg Parish by emailing: sexton@drumbegparish.org or by phoning 07702063412.
400th anniversary of congregation
A special service of thanksgiving and celebration was held in Ballycarry Old Presbyterian Church this weekend.
The service – being held on Sunday, September 8 at 7pm – is in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the congregation and of Presbyterianism in Ireland.
Carrick Times – Special guest speaker for the occasion was Rev Dr ADG Steers and praise was led by the North West Gospel Choir.
The story of Presbyterianism in Ballycarry begins with the arrival of Rev Edward Brice in 1613.
Brice was a Church of Scotlan minister, out of favour in Scotland because of his opposition to the effotts by King James to introduce bishops into the church.
He was brought over to Ireland almost certainly by the Edmonstone family of Duntreath in Stirlingshire who had recently become the landlords of Broadisland or Ballycarry.
On arrival in Ireland, Brice found that the Church of Ireland was desperately shor tof manpower and that several bishops were prepared to accept ministers even knowing full well that they were Presbyterians.
In this way, Brice was appointed as rector of Templecorran or Ballycarry in 1613 and indeed, six years later, was promoted to become Prebendary of Kilroot.
When Brice came to Ballycarry the old church was in ruins and the local population chiefly made up of newly-arrived Scots settlers. He organised the congregation and made arrangements for the church to be rebuilt.
In 1622 the walls had been rebuilt and the building was about to be re-roofed.
However, within a few years Brice’s ministry was to be ended by factors that he had no control over.
Because of a shift in national politics the Church of Ireland was no longer so willing to tolerate these Presbyterians within its ministry. In 1635 Bishop Echlin died and his replacement, Bishop Leslie, who passed sentence of ‘perpetual silence’ upon Brice and several other ministers.
This blow was too much for the aged Brice and returning to Ballycarry he died there a few weeks afterwards.
He was buried within the walls of his church where his grave may still be seen.
After this followed a vacancy of almost 10 years in which Ballycarry had no minister. However, during that period, in the aftermath of the great Irish insurrection of 1641, a Scots army was sent over under Major General Munrol which established its headquarters at Carrickfergus. It was the chaplains of this army, who together with elders from each regiment, formed the first Presbytery in Ireland which met on June 10, 1642.
These same chaplains preached in neighbouring churches where there was a Scots community and the people were well disposed to Presbyterianism and Ballycarry was doubtless amongst the first to be visited.
In 1646 a number of young ministers came over from Scotland to be settled in these congregations, one of whom Robert Cunningham.
He served 51 years as minister of Ballycarry.
Since him there have been 11 ministers, including the present minister Rev John Wallace Nelson, who was ordained and installed in Ballycarry on September 10, 1983 – the 13th minister since the days of Rev Brice in 1613.
Church members walk out in protest
At least 60 members of a County Down church have walked out of a Sunday service in protest, as a bitter row over its minister continues.
BBC – The dispute over the position of the Reverend George Speers has split Ballynahinch Congregational Church.
Sunday’s protest followed on from angry scenes inside the church last weekend, when police were called to the scene.
Officers attended after reports that one member of the congregation was head-butted as a result of the dispute.
Seven days after those angry exchanges, police were again in attendance for Sunday service.
Read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-24006843
Parish completes a week of 24/7 Prayer
If you wandered into St Mary’s Ballybeen last week and thought you saw a tent at the front of the church you did indeed see correctly – it was the parish’s 24/7 Prayer tent.
For the past number of years, St Mary’s has set aside the first week of September to pray for the year ahead. Usually, this has involved an early morning prayer time and another one in the evening.
So why 24/7 Prayer this year?
Revd Mark Harvey, rector of St Mary’s gives us the answer:
“As usual, the parish had set aside the week for prayer, but as I was sitting listening to Tash Creaney from 24/7 Prayer at Diocesan Synod, I immediately thought that our September week of prayer should be 24/7.
I brought it to the Select Vestry a week later and there was unanimous support. By the end of June a large timetable for the week had appeared and by the time I returned from holiday in the third week of August, it was nearly full! The week of prayer began on Sunday 1 September at 8.00 am and finished this Sunday 8 at 8/00 am.
It has dovetailed perfectly with the launch of Mission 2015, with the ‘For Him’ call to pray and prepare starting last Sunday. We are excited about what this week will birth in our church and community in the year ahead and look forward with expectation.”
Prior to the Year of Mission 2015, the diocese plans a year of 24/7 Prayer in 2014. It will start in The Dock, Titanic, at midnight on 31 December 2013 and continue as we pass the baton throughout the diocese for every single minute of the year 2014, morning, noon and night.