Great James Street Church closing....

....Kilfennan Church will soon be ready

Great James' Street Church Closing....

Mr. T.S. Mooney (now deceased), then Clerk of Session of Great James’ Street Congregation and a member of several Boards and Committees of the General Assembly, wrote this piece in June 1982:

Great James’ Street Presbyterian Church in Londonderry, which will shortly be out of use, was built in 1836 and its first Minister, Rev. James Denham, was installed on May 4 1837.

At that time Great James’ Street Church was on the very outskirts of the city.  Green fields lay beyond and neither Queen Street nor Clarendon Street was in existence, yet it was reported that “there was a floating population of 250 Presbyterian families in the city and liberties without accommodation for Church attendance.”

The Presbytery took action and a committee of 19 lay-men and five ministers was appointed to take the matter in hand.

Many of the people for whom the new church was required had come from Scotland in connection with Londonderry’s shirt factories and the church was known for a long time as the “Scots Church”.

At that time there were two Presbyterian Synods in Ireland, the older body was known as the Synod of Ulster and the other the Secession Synod, to which the congregation, now known as Strand Church, belonged.

Rev James Albert Donaldson photographed after his installation in Gt James Street in 1939. He is seen here on the church steps with the elders and visiting clergy.The front row includes Prof. Woodburn, President of Magee University College, John Whittington, Wallace Edmiston & R.A. Cunningham.

(Reproduced by kind permission of W.E.& L.B./Bigger-McDonald Collection)

The two Synods united in 1840 to form the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

Great James’ Street had hitherto held the designation of “Second Derry” but, as Strand Church had been built by the Seceders some time prior to 1837, it now became “Second Derry”, and Great James’ Street was known as “Third Derry”.

In 1869 Reverend James Maxwell Rodge, of First Kilrea, was installed and began a ministry of 30 years.  Notable alike for his influence on the congregation and in the community.

In 1884 the General assembly met in Londonderry, and the Minister of Great James’ Street was called to the Moderators’ chair.  In 1892, he received the degree of D.D. in acknowledgement for his work for the church, not least his outstanding services as Convenor of the Jewish Mission.

In 1869 Reverend James Maxwell Rodge, of First Kilrea, was installed and began a ministry of 30 years.  Notable alike for his influence on the congregation and in the community.

In 1884 the General assembly met in Londonderry, and the Minister of Great James’ Street was called to the Moderators’ chair.  In 1892, he received the degree of D.D. in acknowledgement for his work for the church, not least his outstanding services as Convenor of the Jewish Mission.

In 1893, a memorial to the General Assembly resulted in its name being changed to Great James’ Street Church, by which it has ever since been known.

The congregation prospered under its first minister until his retirement in 1869.  His worth had previously been recognised by the Theological Faculty who had conferred upon him its Doctor of Divinity Degree.  Dr. Denham died in 1871.

On Sunday, January 29, 1899, the Sacrament of the Lords’ Supper was observed in Great James’ Street Church.  Dr. Rodgers conducted the services, both morning and evening, and also took the Thanksgiving Service on the Monday.

Thereafter he presided at a meeting of Session and Committee and seemed to be in good health and spirits, but early next morning, he passed away after a short heart attack.  His funeral was the largest the city has seen for many years.  The whole community was shocked and saddened by the loss of one who was, by common consent, an outstanding citizen as well as a beloved minister.

A wedding at Gt. James Street Presbyterian Church in the 1920s.

(Reproduced by kind permission of W.E.& L.B./Bigger-McDonald Collection)

On January 16 1900, Reverend James Thompson of Sandys Street, Newry, was installed as Great James’ Street’s new minister, and for 38 years, proved himself a faithful pastor.  A scholarly minister, the Theological Faculty conferred upon him its D.D. Degree in 1914 and in 1927 the church called him to the chair of the General Assembly.

Dr. Thompson died in 1938 and was succeeded in 1939 by Reverend J Albert Donaldson, who exercised a most acceptable ministry until he was called to Dunmurry in 1946.

 Great James’ Street then departed from its traditions and, instead of calling a ‘placed’ man, its choice fell upon a licentiate, Reverend David Burke, the assistant minister in Seaview, Belfast.  Mr Burke fulfilled the hopes centred on him, and although he had special gifts for work amongst young people, he was beloved to young and old alike.

To the regret of the whole congregation he accepted a call to Hamilton Road, Bangor, in 1955.  Since then he has been Moderator of the General Assembly, and is well known in religious television to which he has rendered signal service.

As Mr Burke’s successor came Reverend G.F.H. Wynne in 1956.  An outstanding preacher and an excellent pastor, Mr Wynne crowned an outstanding ministry by being elected Moderator of the General Assembly in June 1975.

To the great loss of the church and the heartbreak of his friends, Dr. Wynne, who had received his D.D. Degree but a few weeks before, and who gave promise of being and excellent Moderator, died suddenly on July 23 1975.

To cover Dr. Wynne’s year of Moderatorial office Reverend J Patton Taylor had been appointed as his assistant in Great James’ Street.  He undertook the heavy responsibilities which now came his way and fulfilled a year of ministerial duty with great ability.

As Dr. Wynne’s successor, Reverend W.M. Campbell, another Seaview assistant, was called to the vacant pulpit, but after a short two-year ministry he felt the call to serve as an Army chaplain.

By this time Londonderry had seen great population changes with large numbers of the Protestant people moving to the Waterside area of the city, to the numerical detriment of the churches on the city side of the Foyle.

The General Assembly’s Church Extension Committee, convinced of the need of a new church in the Kilfennan area of the Waterside, persuaded Great James’ Street to ‘port’ over there.

Great numbers of the congregation were now living in the Waterside and they were finding it difficult to replace losses, either due to deaths or removals, and so, with great reluctance, they agreed to leave the building “whose very dust to them was dear” and commence church extension work at Kilfennan.

As a result they will worship for the last time in the old church on Sunday, June 20, when their former minister, Rev. David Burke, will preach at both services.

After two months united services with Claremont – July in Great James’ Street schoolroom, and August in Claremont Church – they hope to worship for the first time on Sunday, September 12, in their new church which will have been opened the previous day, Saturday, September 11, by the Moderator of the General Assembly, Right Reverend Dr. Eric Gardner.

As we move to our new location our confidence finds expression in the words of a Psalm – “The Lord of us hath mindful been and He will bless us still.”