West Presbyterian Church New Hall was officially opened on Saturday, 22nd October 2016. Everyone connected with the Ballymena based Church was thrilled by the opening of the building.
Erected at a cost of £1.3 million, the complex was opened and dedicated by the Moderator of the General Assembly, Rt. Rev. Dr Frank Sellar. Also in attendance was the Mayor of Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, Mrs. Audrey Wales alongside other guests from the wider Church and business community.
The new hall was an architect led build and design project under the leadership of Mr David Rooney, of Kennedy Fitzgerald Architects LLP. The building contractors for this major project were Cleary Contracting Ltd.
Talking about why the fellowship decided to commission the building of the new Hall, West Church’s Minister, Rev. Daniel Kane, explained: “As an active and vibrant congregation in Ballymena, we desire to be growing in spiritual fruitfulness as we reach out to our members and beyond with the transforming compassion of Jesus. In the Autumn of 2013, to mark our 150th anniversary, we took the brave decision to demolish our existing Church Halls and construct a new, purpose built facility which includes a social area integrating the Church building, as well as providing a bespoke crèche facility along with meeting rooms and hall finished to a high specification.”
Revealing a little about what the new hall will be used for, Rev. Kane also said: “We commence our community outreach on the Sunday after the official opening with Hope Café – an informal, café-style Sunday afternoon gathering which is missional in its emphasis and created to engage with the people who live in the surrounding square mile. We have been greatly blessed to have the assistance of Mitch from Crown Jesus Ministries and we are praying for an abundant harvest of fruitful commitments as people trust in Jesus.”
“Other plans include creating a welcome space for parents as they wait for their children and young people attending GB and Scouts, a football academy with Coaching For Christ, clubs for Senior Citizens, and meals for foreign nationals living in the Ballymena area”, he added.
Importantly, the West Church family are giving all the glory to God for this latest milestone in their distinguished history and are looking to Him for the future.
Everyone connected to the church was thrilled as West Presbyterian Church New Hall was opened on 22nd October 2016. The new facility provides the church with a great space for their community outreach ministries.
Rev. Kane remarked: “As we open this new hall we want to celebrate God’s faithfulness and testify to the undiminished life-changing power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Since our spiritual DNA as a congregation is rooted in the glorious spiritual revival of 1859, we wanted to bring what is important from the past into the present, and this has been visualised through art work we commissioned from Ross Wilson to enhance our new facility. This includes two light boxes which incorporate motifs from our West Window, probably the only window in the world celebrating revival, and banners combining the art work of our Sunday School children.”
“It’s great to celebrate tremendous blessings which took place 150 years ago, but we are not people who live in the past and rely on our past experiences. As followers of Jesus we are people of the present with a rich heritage from the past, but also with a glorious future, and we have a living and up-to-date personal relationship with Jesus to-day. We want revival to happen again in our lives as individuals and in our town and our land”, he concluded.
To find out more about West Presbyterian Church in Ballymena, log on to their website here, or their Facebook page here.