Big thank you from Lisburn.com

Legacurry Presbyterian Church

Legacurry Presbyterian Church, opened in March 1844. 
Legacurry Presbyterian Church
opened in March 1844. 
Rev. Robert Liddle Minister   Rev. John McCaughan Minister Emeritus  Student Assistant, Mark Proctor and his wife Zoe. 
Rev. Robert Liddle
Minister 		 Rev. John McCaughan Minister Emeritus Student Assistant, Mark Proctor and his wife Zoe.

Ballynahinch Road, Lisburn.

Minister: Rev. Robert Liddle

Telephone: 9267 9824

Minister Emeritus: Rev. John McCaughan

Sunday services:

Morning: 11.00am.

Evening: 7.00pm.

Evening service as announced.

Web site: www.legacurry.org

Notice Board
 Notice Board

HISTORY

In March 1840 a number of Presbyterian families in the neighbourhood of Legacurry memorialised the Belfast Presbytery for afternoon services.  The prayer of the memorial was granted and services were held in a primitive school house.  The next year the Minutes of the General Assembly record – “Belfast Presbytery report that after supplying with preaching a number of Presbyterian families residing in the neighbourhood of Legacurry, they have formed them into a congregation”.

On 19th August 1841 Mr. Phineas Whiteside (lic. Tyrone) was ordained the first minister.  The services were held in the open air in a field near the present church building.  On 28th July 1843 the first stone of the church was laid by William Graham, Esq., of Lisburn, and on 27th March 1844, the new Church was opened by Rev. Dr. Henry Cooke.  The Rev. Phineas Whiteside died suddenly on 7th September 1865.  He was succeeded by Mr. William Browne (lic. Magherafelt) who was ordained on 31stMay 1866.  The congregation was transferred from the Belfast Presbytery to the Dromore Presbytery in 1877.  Mr. Browne retired in 1907 and died on 5th December 1914.

The Rev. Andrew Frederick Moody, who had been minister of Waterford till ill-health compelled him to rest, and who was then doing temporary duty at Chester Avenue, Whitehead, was installed on 28th August 1907.  His short ministry of two years and three months saw the Church renovated and all round progress before he resigned on 29th November 1909 when called to Cliftonville, Belfast.  He became Moderator of the General Assembly in 1935.

The congregation then called Mr. Thomas John Kinnear Rankin (lic. Letterkenny) and he was ordained on 27th July 1910.  He had a lifelong interest in and influence upon the educational trends and policies of the time.  He died on 24th April 1949.  His successor, the Rev. John McCaughan (lic. Route), formerly minister of Cremore and Tyrones Ditches, was installed here on 6th October 1949.  His daughter Mary McKay (Kay) is the wife of the Rev. Ivan Hunter of Trinity Church, Letterkenny, and his son is the Rev. James McCaughan, ordained assistant in Emmanuel congregation, Belfast.  Mr. McCaughan retired in 1983 and is now the Minister Emeritus in Legacurry.  For many years after his retirement he was Churches Correspondent for the Ulster Star.

Mr. McCaughan was followed by the Rev. William Campbell, previously in Great James Street and later Chaplain to the Forces - 1979 to 1984.  He was installed here in 1984 and resigned in 1990 when called to the Shankill Road Mission.  His successor, the Rev. Charles McMullen, previously assistant in Harmony Hill was installed in 1991 and was called to West Church, Bangor in 1999.

The present minister, the Rev. Bobby Liddle, previously Associate Minister in West Church, Bangor, was installed in Legacurry in February 2000 and introduced the church mission statement ‘Legacurry - Looking to the Lord in all things’. During Mr. Liddle’s ministry a new youth hall was opened in 2002. Student Assistant, the Rev. Kenneth Nelson, who was licensed at a service in Hill Street Presbyterian Church, Lurgan, on Sunday 21st May 2006, was installed in Mountjoy and Drumlegagh Congregations in Omagh Presbytery on Friday 28th September 2007. Raymond McKibben, a third year ministry student at Union Theological College in Belfast became student assistant at Legacurry at the end of September 2007.

A full history of the church by J. M. McGowan (Published in 1993) is shown on this web site, click on: Legacurry Presbyterian Church Our Story

Brief history as recorded in a book ‘Lisburn’s Rich Church Heritage’ by John Kelly

The congregation dates back to 1840 when services were held in a primitive schoolhouse. On 19th August 1841 Mr Phineas Whiteside was ordained the first minister and services were held in the open air in a field near the present church building. The first stone of the church was laid in July 1843 and the church was opened in March 1844 and renovated in the early 1900s. The Rev John McCaughan (now Minister Emeritus) was installed in 1949 and retired in 1983. For many years after his retirement he was Churches Correspondent for the Ulster Star. The present minister, the Rev Bobby Liddle, was installed in February 2000 and during his ministry a new youth hall was opened in 2002. Mr Raymond McKibben, a third year ministry student at Union Theological College, Belfast, became student assistant at Legacurry at the end of September 2007.