Our Story

The story of the Church of the Nazarene in East Belfast is a story of faith and sacrifice over many years. The Nazarene church in East Belfast started off in the humble surroundings of Cuba Street. A tent mission was conducted by Rev John Crouch in August 1951, assisted by Cyril Frame, Alex Silcock, Don Evans, Samuel Doctorian and Warren Kurten Vaughan. After this tent mission ended, a small group indicated that they would like a Nazarene church to be established in East Belfast.

In August 1951, a young man by the name of Raymond Spence became the first pastor of this infant church and the church was officially organised in September 1951.

Eventually a site was located for a building on a vacant piece of land on Glenmore Street. The land was soon cleared, and the building work soon began. The cost of the building was met by the sacrificial giving of the members through a wide range of money-raising schemes including selling clothes and food and individuals purchasing a brick for the building through the “Back-a-brick” campaign. The members bought a hundred chairs for the congregation and their own hymnbooks. The Nazarene British Isles North District, under the leadership of Dr George Frame, gave a substantial grant towards the building work.
The building was constructed in only five months and was opened on 6th August 1955 by Dr Frame, in what was an inspiring service.

These leaders included Ella Hamilton, Kathleen Curry, Audrey McClelland, Margaret Cairns, Agnes Hutton and Dr Graham Greenlee. They returned from the mission field in 1972 to take up the pastoral ministry in Glenmore Street, where they were much loved by the congregation; leaving a legacy and impact which is still meaningful today. There has been a strong emphasis on raising funds through the Alabaster offering, which goes towards building homes, schools and hospitals on the mission field. Alabaster was a very personal offering for Nazarene’s in East Belfast, in part because Rev Edward and Margaret Cairns had lived in an Alabaster home when they were missionaries in Belize in the 1960s and 1970s.

As the church congregation grew in size, the Glenmore Street building was proving to be too small and the search for new premises began once again, this time under the leadership of Rev David Hands. In the late 1970s the church tried unsuccessfully to purchase land in Glenmore Street beside their existing building to develop an extension. In 1987 the Unionist Hall beside the church was put up for sale. However, the church was outbid in their attempt to purchase this property.

• Rev Raymond Spence (1951-1956)
• Mr Earnest Allen (1957-1958)
• Rev Eric Lucas (1959-1962)
• Rev Hugh Gorman (1963-1967)
• Rev Winston Leask (1968-1971)
• Rev Edward Cairns (1972-1975)
• Rev David Hands (1976-1982)
• Rev Peter Grogan (1983-1987)
• Rev David Trump (1987-1990)
• Pastor Kevin Mackey (1990-1993)
• Rev Norman Patterson (1994-2000)
• Rev Ivan Miles (2001-2014)
• Rev David Evans (2015-2018)
• Rev Sammy Robinson (2018-Present)