Movilla Presbyterian is situated approximately one mile outside of Newtownards on the Movilla Road. A Church Extension Charge was raised in September 1995 in a portacabin on the site, which had for 16 years laid empty, but for a sign saying, “Site for a New Presbyterian Church”.
All services including Youth and other activities were held in the portable Hall from September 1995 until May 1999 when the Rev. John Dixon (Moderator), opened and dedicated our newly built Sanctuary. The Rev. David Porter was appointed as our founding minister. He, his wife Norma and family worked hard together with an Interim Session made up of the late Rev. Dr Tom Reid and Elders from local congregations. Numbers in the Congregation, and particularly in the youth organisations, continued to rise and with membership at 182 families, Movilla was made a full congregation of the PCI in January 2001.
The Rev. David Porter received a call to 2nd Dromara, being installed there on the 3rd January 2001. As Convener, the Rev. Dr Bill Addley saw the congregation through to Constitution as a Full Congregation in January 2001; Election of the First Congregational Committee in March 2001; and the Calling and Installation of our new minister, the Rev. John Carlisle, on the 14th September 2001. We are pleased to say that the Rev. Carlisle remains with us to this day.
With Public and Private Housing developments continuing to grow both within and around our Parish boundaries, the congregation has now grown to 250 families. The GB and BB have also grown to 65 members each. Consequently, running out of space and the old hall requiring evermore attention, the Church realised we must grow our buildings accordingly. Work on the new hall complex started in March 2006 and finished in January 2007. The complex was opened and dedicated by the Rt. Rev. David Clarke, Moderator, on the 10th March 2007. The new Hall, which has now been named The Bailie Hall in memory of a faithful and tireless member of Movilla Church, is used by all organisations and for all Church activities.
Looking Forward To The Future
Movilla already has a firm footing in the community, sat, we believe, in the middle of a great Mission Field with new developments all around. The latest of these developments being Hawthorne Hill and Whitethorn Brae. There are good signs of continuing growth in the congregation with 250 families now claiming membership. We have a strong group of young people who have grown up within the congregation. This group is guiding and discipling the younger children, taking a lot of responsibility onto their young shoulders. The future looks good and we give all the praise and all the glory to God, praying that He will continue to bless Movilla as He has done over these past 16 years.
The cache is a micro cache and has a log book and a pencil at the time of placing. The cache is wheelchair accesable but is at ground level so it may not be reachable for some from a wheelchair. There is no parking in the imediate area but there is a small car park a few minutes walk away at the nearby Spar. If the church is not in use and the gate is closed it is possible to pull up at the gate for a cache and dash. Please respect local parking restrictions. If you take any kids with you please be cautious as the Movilla road is an extremely fast and busy road.
Happy caching.
The Church Micro IE series is open to everyone; if you have a church you would like to place a cache at then please contact THE_Chris through Geocaching.com. This is to keep track of the numbers of the churches and give you the general format for the cache page. In the UK there are ~1500 caches in the series so we have some catching up to do! Also, if you currently have a published cache at a church that you would like to include in the series, get in contact and we can add it.