Harvest Thanksgiving Services and special collection
Our Harvest Thanksgiving Services will be on Sunday 21st October. Our morning worship service is at 11:30am and will be conducted by the Very Rev Dr Ian McNie. The evening service is at 7pm and the convener of the vacancy, Rev Kenneth Crowe, will officiate. At the evening service we will have representatives from the Ballymoney Foodbank.
Due to the on-going installation of our new heating system, we will continue to meet in the church hall.
At our Harvest services, we will have a special collection for our Building and Repair Fund. The cost of installing our new heating system (as a result if the breakdown of our old system) is estimated to be in the region of £60,000. We barely have this amount in our current funds and we urgently require money to ensure that our Building and Repair Fund is not depleted to such an extent that we are unable to maintain the upkeep of our buildings in 2019 and beyond.
If you do not already do so, we encourage members to consider regular giving to the Building and Repair Fund using the envelopes supplied along with the weekly free will offering envelopes. Alternatively, donations can be made via the special envelopes that will be available from 14th October.
UK taxpayers can maximise their giving by completing a gift aid declaration form. Please speak to John Michael, our treasurer, if you have any questions
Young adults Lifegroup
Attention all Youth/Young adults!! There will be a brand new Lifegroup starting soon, especially for you if you're aged 16/17 - 25 (or thereabouts!).
We plan to meet up about once a month, in a coffee shop (where else would you find us!) to read the Bible, chat and chill out together.
If you'd like to be involved, if you're interested, or if you just want to ask a question about it, please contact Megann on 07871693452.
Looking forward to seeing you then!
Morning worship services in the church hall
Change of venue
As a result of the boiler breakdown and the colder weather, we have decided to re-locate our morning worship service to the church hall. The hall will be easier to heat with portable heaters. This arrangement will continue until further notice.
Same time - new arrangements
Our service will start at the same time, but children and young people should come directly to Creche, Jigsaw or Toast (our young people’s ministries) in their usual rooms. These will start at 11:30am. Parents can collect their children from these groups after the service in the hall finishes.
Our services will meet at the usual time
Lifegroups
Lifegroups will start again for the Autumn term in the week beginning 1st October. There are groups meeting on Tuesday evenings, Wednesday mornings, and Wednesday evenings. We plan to meet on the first and third weeks of each month.
This term we plan to use the Discipleship Explored course which takes us though some studies in the book of Philippians. It promises to be very practical and relevant to the everyday, as we live out our faith in whatever circumstances we find ourselves.
If you haven’t been involved in Lifegroups before, why not come along and try it out, or make contact by clicking here.
Encounter - refreshing our experience of worship
It is the greatest invitation any of us will ever get. Come and meet with the living God in worship.
It arrives every Sunday. We take it up, and yet the wonder of encountering God in worship can pass us by through distraction, just going through the motions or boredom.
Yet, God promises that as we draw near to him, he will draw near to us (James 4:8). How can that become more of a reality in our worship Sunday by Sunday? One answer to that question is cultivating a greater appreciation of what happens in worship.
Although the order of service looks different in every church, sometimes from week to week in the same congregation, certain things remain central to worship. We gather together as the people of God at his invitation; we confess our sin before him and receive his assurance of forgiveness; we set our hearts and minds to receive light from his Word; we respond to God with our lives; we are blessed and sent back into our everyday lives to live for him. Becoming more aware of these movements in worship and entering into them with heart, soul, mind and strength helps us focus and participate more fully in meeting with God.
Worshipping God week by week with the familiar faces of our congregation around us is an intentional act of putting ourselves in a place where we can meet with God. His grace flows to us in words heard, sung, prayed, spoken – sometimes out loud, at other times silently uttered deep within. The privilege of all of that is something we need to treasure and recapture in an age when increasingly we ‘go to church when it suits us’.
The Encounter sessions offer a mix of biblical pictures of what it is to meet with God, a way of refreshing our experience of worship and practical suggestions for approaching each Sunday with anticipation and expectation.
More information about 'Encounter' is available on the PCI website: http://www.presbyterianireland.org/Resources/Prayer/Encounter.aspx
"Taking Care" refresher training
"Taking Care" is the basic Child Protection training that all youth and children's leaders must attend before they can assist with these programmes. The training will address the need for policies, guidelines and procedures in keeping children safe within church youth organisations. The training will also instruct leaders, on a step-by-step basis, how to deal with, and report, any incident or concern relating to a child or young person.
Those who are trained must attend refresher training every 3 years.
Trinity Presbyterian Church is hosting the next training event on 14th September at 7:30pm.
Proximity - a new PCI resource
First Presbyterian Church, Ballymoney will be one of 5 centres in Ireland hosting a launch night for a new PCI resource called "Proximity". The event will be held on Monday 24th September, 2018.
Proximity is a series of small booklets providing relevant and challenging content for the context of relational discipleship. This resource is designed as coffee conversations ideal for either one-to-one or smaller discipleship groups and will provide biblical content and practical questions on a wide range of key discipleship themes.
Proximity will be available from this September and will be launched in several different locations across the denomination. These launch nights will happen in the locations where the “Disciple Makers Network” has taken place, aiming to follow up this training by putting a specific and practical resource into people’s hands.
The events will take place from 7:45pm - 9:30pm (with the exception of the Dublin event, which runs from 10.30am - 12.30pm) at the following dates and venues:
- Tuesday, 18 September - Assembly Buildings, Belfast
- Thursday, 20 September - Ballygawley Presbyterian Church, Ballygawley
- Monday, 24 September - First Ballymoney Presbyterian Church, Ballymoney
- Thursday, 27 September - Ballydown Presbyterian Church, Banbridge
- Friday, 5 October - Lucan Centre, Dublin - (note this event begins at 10.30am)
The purpose of each launch night is to share the vision of Proximity, make the resource available and share some helpful ways of using it.
More information on the resource can be found on the PCI website by clicking here.
Rev Kenneth Crowe becomes convener of the vacancy for First Ballymoney
Rev Kenneth Crowe becomes the convener of the vacancy for First Presbyterian Church, Ballymoney from today - 19th July 2018.
Rev Kenneth Crowe becomes the convener of the vacancy for First Presbyterian Church, Ballymoney after Rev Gareth MacLean was installed as the new minister in Orangefield Presbyterian Church Belfast last night (19th July). Rev Crowe is currently the minister of Bushvale Presbyterian Church and will be assisting the kirk session and the congregation as we move through PCI's agreed procedure of seeking leave to call and finding a new minister for our congregation. The pulpit will be officially declared vacant at our next morning worship service on Sunday 22nd July.
Rev Crowe and his wife Honor. (Source: http://www.bushvalepc.talktalk.net)
Rev Kenneth Crowe was born in Co. Armagh and educated in Armagh Royal School. He studied languages at Edinburgh University, followed by Teacher training at Stranmillis College, Belfast. He entered the ministry in 1990, serving as an assistant in Kilbride Presbyterian Church, before coming to Bushvale in 1992.
Rev Gareth MacLean bids farewell to First
Having just returned from a church mission trip to Johannesburg on Saturday 7th, Rev Gareth MacLean conducted his last service of morning worship as minister of First Presbyterian Church, Ballymoney on Sunday 8th July.
While Gareth acknowledged the import of the occasion, he reminded the congregation that the focus of the service was to meet with and worship God.
During the service, Grace Lee, who had also been on the mission team, brought an update about the team’s activities.
Gareth then preached a sermon based on Acts 2, comparing the positive elements of the work and witness of First to the early Christian church, encouraging the members to continue to model the early church. He recalled the progress that the church had made in terms of faith and outreach but he also used the opportunity to deliver a gospel call - to invite those who had yet to make a commitment of faith to accept Jesus as saviour.
Rev Gareth MacLean shaking hands with clerk of session Neil Robinson (right) flanked by Lara MacLean (far left) and Helen Murray (far right). (Photo: Andrew Robinson)
Following the worship service, Neil Robinson, clerk of session, spoke fondly about Gareth’s time as minister of First before Helen Murray, church secretary, presented Gareth and Lara with a gift.
After the presentations, the congregation moved to the main hall to enjoy a bring and share lunch.
Gareth had this to say in a prepared statement on the church bulletin: "On this our final Sunday in First Ballymoney, we wish to express our love and gratitude for every member, for every conversation and for every experience that we have shared with you in our time here. It has been a privilege to serve here in First Ballymoney and see how God has been at work in us as a community as we have listened to His voice and stepped out in faith with Him. We are forever grateful for the grace, kindness, love, patience and generosity which you have shown to us as a family. With much love, Gareth, Lara, Karis, Archie and Lily."
Bring and share lunch in the main hall
Bring and share lunch in the main hall
Warwick Smart Open Golf Competition
The annual 'Warwick Smart' memorial open golf competition will be held on 27th June at Ballycastle Golf Club. To book a tee time, contact the Pro Shop at Ballycastle - 028 2076 2506, or John Michael - 077 1833 8909.
Rev Gareth MacLean's installation at Orangefield Presbyterian Church
On Thursday 19th July, Rev Gareth MacLean will be installed as minister of Orangefield Presbyterian Church in Belfast. Members of First Presbyterian Church, Ballymoney are invited to attend this event at 7:30pm in Belfast.
Rev Gareth MacLean's final service at First
Rev Gareth MacLean’s final service as minister of First Presbyterian Church, Ballymoney will be on Sunday 8th July.
Sunday 8th July sees Rev MacLean take charge of morning worship for the last time as minister of First Presbyterian Church, Ballymoney. Following this, he will have a short vacation prior to taking up his post in Orangefield Presbyterian Church, Belfast.
Following the service, we are having a 'Bring & Share' lunch in the hall after morning worship. If you are planning to attend, please sign the attendance sheet in church stating what you intend to bring.