St Patrick's Ballymacarrett
On 20 June 2024, Bishop David McClay announced a bold and exciting initiative to breathe new life into the worshipping community of St Patrick’s, Ballymacarrett.
A history of growth and expansion
The parish of Ballymacarrett was created in 1825 and its first church, Christ Church, was consecrated in 1827. As industrialisation in Belfast spread to the east of the Lagan, there was a rapid increase in the population in Ballymacarrett during the mid-19th century. Christ Church was doubled in size in 1860, but the enlarged building was still unable to cope with an ever-expanding congregation.
The construction of a much larger new church building was completed in 1893 to accommodate a congregation of 1,500 parishioners and dedicated to St Patrick. The tower was added in 1903.
The 1920s to the 2020s
By the 1920s, 15,000 people were living in Ballymacarrett parish, in the shadow of the shipyards, including many of the poorest inhabitants in the city. The church reached out to these socially and economically deprived people who would not come into the church building “on account of the condition of their clothes”. In response, the church built 5 “iron” mission halls where “men and women in the surrounding streets could come as they were without any special clothing and feel at home”. In the 1920s, the rector was assisted by five other clergy and 1760 children were attending parish Sunday schools taught by 115 teachers. On a Sunday evening, there were six services, one in St Patrick’s and the others in their 5 mission halls.
The church building was severely damaged as the result of a direct hit by a Luftwaffe bomb during the Belfast Blitz of 1941. The church was reconstructed after the war and rededicated in 1952.
The parish suffered greatly during “The Troubles” which drove many people away to other communities in Northern Ireland. These population shifts resulted in a considerable decline in the size of the worshipping community.
New vision
Due to its history as a vibrant East Belfast church community and its iconic building strategically located close to the city centre, major rail and road networks and the Titanic Quarter, Bishop David, with the support of Holy Trinity Brompton, plans to develop St Patrick’s into a “Resource Church”.
The concept of Resource Churches is based on the missional approach of the early church in Ephesus who acted as a teaching and training hub, sending out missionaries and church planters across all of Asia Minor. The contemporary understanding is that resource churches engage with and serve those who have little or no connection with church, train leaders to resource and support mission, renewal and revitalisation across a diocese and plant new churches.
Holy Trinity Brompton, a national resource church in the Church of England, has successfully planted new churches in many cities in England and Wales. Holy Trinity Brompton leaders are generously sharing their experience of planning for, launching and supporting the establishment of resource churches. The new St Patrick’s resource church will be a Church of Ireland church within the Diocese of Down and Dromore.
The vision is for St Patrick’s to be a reinvigorated, Spirit-filled worshipping community on the lower Newtownards Road. St Patrick’s will serve the local community, engage student populations and young families, proclaim the gospel, offer points of entry to a journey of faith (alpha), teach the Bible and energise churches across East Belfast and the diocese. Over the next year, refurbishment and reordering work will be carried out to upgrade the seating, heating, lighting, sound and visuals to create a warm, comfortable, well-equipped and welcoming building suitable for contemporary, vibrant worship, varied ministry and discipleship programmes and missional outreach. A dynamic, visionary leader will be appointed who will be supported by a staff team including a worship leader, children’s and youth worker and operations manager with the aim of launching the new worshipping community in September 2025.