History

Glenabbey Church had its official beginning in September 1988 when a small group of Christians who had been meeting together since Easter of that year responded to the New Testament challenge to be a local church. The desire then - as now - was not to compete with other local churches but to make whatever contribution we could to the spread of Christ’s message in Newtownabbey and further afield. The name ‘Glenabbey’ is a simple fusion of Glengormley and Whiteabbey, the two areas from which most of the members came at the time. (It was only later that we discovered it was also the name of a local petrol station!)

Meeting in a variety of private homes and public buildings, the church slowly consolidated as leadership was established and we took time to think through our core beliefs and values.

It was during the early nineties that the vision to be a church ‘with an open door’ (an image taken from Revelation 3:8) emerged. For us this meant, in particular, seeking to relate and communicate God’s Word to contemporary culture, developing a church ethos that was sensitive to the needs of those who had either struggled with church in the past or had little or no church background, and building genuine Christian community.

The relevant and contemporary teaching of the Word of God has played a central role in our church life and growth. Much hard thinking and work was done in the attempt to remove unnecessary barriers to people’s hearing and understanding of the Gospel: for example, barriers of religious jargon, dress, ethnicity, social status, religious background and music styles. During this period the church experienced rapid numerical growth, necessitating a move to the Courtyard Theatre at Ballyearl Arts and Leisure Centre in 1993. This was a great improvement on our previous location and, importantly, provided a neutral, accessible and attractive space in which people could hear the message.

The church continued to grow, almost trebling in size in a little over two years, and the need for a larger and more permanent home became apparent. In late 1995 a bid for our current Ballycraigy Road site was accepted, and during the following year we were able to adapt the site for a move in October 1996, using a warehouse as our main auditorium. The great advantage of the Warehouse was that once again it looked nothing like a traditional church building, and it has proved its worth as a “neutral venue” for people from all parts of the community.

In April 2006 the House was opened as the latest addition to the Church Centre, providing better facilities for the various ministries, especially Counselling, Crèche, Children’s and Youth. A year later changes to the warehouse were completed, including an extension, which increased seating capacity to 370, and the welcome addition of a foyer. Despite the increased capacity we continue to need to provide two largely identical services each Sunday morning to accommodate all of our people. Currently (2009) over 700 people of all ages make their way to Glenabbey each Sunday morning.

The history of Glenabbey is still being written. Much still needs to be done as we approach the end of the first decade of the new millennium. We recognise more than ever the need to equip the church for life and witness in an increasingly hostile environment; to develop godly and wise leaders; to empower more people to serve, to develop a more consistent outward focus, to engage more with the wider community, to develop self-replicating Home Groups and beyond that to work towards the multiplication of the church itself through the planting of new churches.