Victory Praise Community Church are celebrating 25 years in the Pennybridge Industrial Estate, Ballymena, having moved to premises there in March 1999.
To mark the occasion, two special meetings will be held on Saturday 16th March at 7pm (refreshments served afterwards) and on Sunday 17th March at 11am. Guest Speaker for both services will be Pastor Trevor Hill (River of Life Church, Athlone.) Everyone is welcome.
Originally known as Victory Praise Centre, Victory Praise Community Church grew out of a series of house-meetings run by Robert McAuley and his late wife, Rosemary which began in the mid-eighties.
Recalling those early years, Robert said: “The first meeting we had in the house was in early 1987; we never advertised. People came and brought others along. God said: “Do not advertise. I will send people.” The meetings continued to grow and by the end of the eighties, we thought: “God is doing something here but there is a limit to how many people we can put in the house. What is next?” With the core group of people that we had alongside us at that time we prayed and sought God. We felt that He was directing us to bring a mobile classroom-type building on to the farm. We had room on edge of the farm to accommodate that and we were able to get planning permission for it.”
Eventually however, even that became too small a space to accommodate everyone who was coming. After failing to get planning permission for a new building on the farm, Robert and Rosemary began to look at other locations to continue their work.
One day, as he drove passed the former BT yard which was in the process of becoming Pennybridge Industrial Estate, Robert saw an opportunity. After speaking to the new site owners, he, Rosemary and their team put together a plan and outline of costs involved in moving to the new location.
Members of what was to become Victory Praise quickly got onboard with the plan and the new premises were secured for rent. A special offering amongst the people raised £33,000 – a remarkable amount for a small fellowship.
More funds were still needed but as Robert remembers, the Lord provided in an amazing way.
He said: “A few days later a man who recently re-committed his life to God had set his tithe aside during his backslidden years and gave it to Robert for the new premises – the amount was well over £15,000!”
“Consequently, we were well on the way to reaching our target at that time. Various other gifts also came in and as with most building projects, our budget expanded and £50,000 became £70,000 and on the opening night in the new premises we took an offering. The place was packed that night as people came to support us from all over the place and when the offering was counted at the end of the evening, we were debt free through God’s wonderful provision”, added Robert.
Since relocating to Pennybridge, God has used Victory Praise to change the lives of countless men, women, and children through various initiatives, including a Community Action Programme which operated in Ballee for many years and the Clubreach initiative which showed God’s love to people on the streets of Ballymena on Friday nights for well over a decade.
In 2007, Robert and Rosemary, having led the church for 21 years, felt the call of God to the wider church to support and encourage church leaders. At that point they handed over the leadership to the associate Pastors, Willis McDowell and his wife Angela, who led the Church with distinction and vigour until 2018.
At that point, the mantle passed to Stephen and Pamela Johnston who are today looking to the future with optimism.
Stephen said: “At this point in our history, it is important that we pause to reflect and give God thanks for all that He has done. We are excited about what He is doing now in the lives of our growing membership and the community of which we are part.”
“Our hope is to see lost, hurting and broken people in our community transformed by Christ as they find true hope in the Saviour.”
