WEEKLY Presbyterian Sunday service is set to return to the Falls Road for the first time in over 40 years.
Having begun with a single monthly service at An Chultúrlann back in September 2024, from this Sunday the local congregation who meet at the Irish language cultural centre, will “take things to the next level” with a new weekly service. Up until 1982 the iconic Cultúrlann building on the Falls Road was the home of Broadway Presbyterian Church.
Rev David Moore leads An Tionólann at the Cultúrlann. An Tionólann, meaning ‘The Place of Assembly in Irish), is the Presbyterian Church in Ireland’s (PCI) special ministry in the west of the city. Rev Moore says he is excited about the move to regular Sunday worship.
“After an absence of many years, PCI began to re-engage with West Belfast in September 2022,” he said. “Since then, we have arranged a number of historical, linguistic, cultural, sporting and spiritual events, like last summer’s ‘Between the Sticks’ with Antrim GAA and Scottish Shinty teams, and have been delighted with the great response from the people of West Belfast, whom we have come to serve.”
Mr Moore continued: “Having started monthly services in September 2024, we now have around 40 regular attenders, so we feel that the time has come to take things to the next level and establish a regular pattern of Sunday services. To kick us off, is my colleague, Rev Moore Casement, who will preach this Sunday. Moore has a familiar surname, and is actually a distant relation of the former diplomat and Irish patriot, Sir Roger Casement.”
Services starts at 4pm and last just less than an hour, he said.
“We follow a simple order of service which includes reading from the Bible and Blessing in Irish, with English translation, singing together as a congregation, which everyone enjoys regardless of how good a singer they are! The heart of our time together is spent listening and thinking about what God says through the Bible and what it means for our lives today.”
The minister said that he is treating February as a trial run for what he hopes will become an established weekly service. “Over the course of the month we are looking at some of the “I AM” sayings of Jesus found in John’s gospel, as he tells us who he is in his own words. For example, ‘I am the Resurrection and the Life’ and ‘I am the way the truth and the life’, all of which reveal a different facet of who Jesus is.
“Everyone is welcome and if this initial month of Sunday services goes well, we will be following our Lord on his journey to the Cross in the later chapters of John’s gospel during Lent, which will take us up to Easter.”
The Rev Moore Casement, the speaker this Sunday, runs the Belfast-based Cornhill Training Course, a non-denominational course which trains men and women of all ages how to understand the Bible for themselves and teach and preach it to others. He also teaches preaching to PCI’s ministry students at the city’s Union Theological College.
Looking forward to taking part in the service at An Tionólann, Mr Casement said that, when it comes to his surname, “In some places it has more resonance than others. My connection to Roger Casement, is, I think, that we share my four times great grandfather, which makes us very distant cousins.”
Talking about this coming Sunday, Mr Casement said: “I really want to give thanks to God for what David and his team are doing in building this community of believers, here in West Belfast. I really appreciate the invite and I’m looking forward to joining them.
“This Sunday I will be preaching on John chapter eight, when Jesus said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’ It is an awesome and profound statement, and if you want to know more, please join us,” Mr Casement said.
Thinking about Sunday, Rev David Moore concluded by saying: “As we seek to reconnect and engage with this part of the city, we are excited about our trial of weekly worship services in Cultúrlann, a place that could not have been more welcoming to us from the start. If you are someone who is searching for answers to life’s big questions, or are just curious about what the Bible has to say, you would be more than welcome to join us, and stay for a cup of tea or coffee afterwards.”
