Rev Colin Darling, the current Rector
In November 2015, the church was full as 375 years of worship on the same site was celebrated. It’s amazing to think that God has been worshipped faithfully in the one place by so many people for so long and more importantly, God has been unceasingly faithful and loving to his people.
25 years earlier, on 28th November 1990, the 350th anniversary of the church consecration was celebrated with a service of Thanksgiving, with the Archbishop of Armagh, the Most Rev Dr Robin Eames preaching.
And an article in the Belfast Telegraph of 13th September 1940 gives an account of the 300th Anniversary Thanksgiving Service, when, amongst many gifts dedicated, were new Choir Stalls.
December 2016 was another momentous occasion as the old Sunday School Building, which had stood and served as a community hub for almost 150 years started to be demolished to make way for a new all-purpose two-story hall on the same site.
Before the current Rector was instituted, Rev Jerome Munyangagu served in the parish from 2000 – 2015. Rev Munyangagu was a native of Rwanda in Africa and joined the parish from Bangor Abbey where he served as curate. At his retirement in 2015, he and his wife Mary returned to Africa to continue their ministry, running a residence for the elderly in their homeland of Rwanda. The 4 rectors immediately before then were:
Rev Mark McConnell 1995 - 1999.
Rev Cecil Mitchell 1989 – 1993
Rev Edwin Conn 1963 - 1988
Dean Stanley Mann 1935 - 1963