Welcome

Welcome to your (new) parish. . .

Great to see you here! Thank you.

I’m Stephen Lowry, your local rector, and I’m sure you will find the people in our local church friendly, open and welcoming. That is certainly how we found them when we came as newcomers to the area!

If you are just new to life here, then we hope you will feel at home very quickly and will consider making Carryduff Parish or Killaney Parish your spiritual home and community resource!

When we meet in person:

Our Services page will help you plan to attend worship when it is most suitable for you. Currently we meet three times a week at least.

Each Sunday at Carryduff we gather for a short early communion service at 8:30 am, then our main service at 10:00 am. We also meet weekly on Wednesdays at 10:00 for a midweek communion service where up to twenty people enjoy a cuppa afterwards: a very friendly place to meet each week..

Our 10:00 services are always followed by refreshments.

Services take place in our sister parish, Killaney, at 12:00 midday each Sunday. St. Andrew’s, Killaney is a rural church with a warm-hearted community worshipping God together.

Our Home page will keep you up to date with notices, changes and special events taking place.

Our Facebook Feed is available from the parish site as well. It sometimes reflects – and sometimes adds to – what you see on this website. Formerly published video messages are accessible both from the Facebook page and our YouTube channel

Our Magazine archive shows current a recent editions of an online version of our printed monthly magazine. You can sign up for a free emailed version of this each month (and cancel whenever you wish: it is in your control).

Our History page will give you a sense of the place our church building holds in our spiritual journeys.

You may not know, but Carryduff became a significant suburb to 1950’s Belfast as the city centre homes were renewed and became larger with more ‘breathing’ space around them. The town has seen sustained growth with new developments being built each decade. As development continues all around us here, we are glad you are part of this up and coming area. When the new parish was formed it was linked to the older parish of Killaney, a few miles further on the road to Ballynahinch.

There are a couple of leading figures in Christian history called St Ignatius’.

The saint after which is our Carryduff church is named was one of the early Christian leaders who served the world church well: he was Bishop of Antioch from 69 AD to around 109 AD, and wrote several letters which have been studied by scholars for many years. In them he encourages churches to respect their bishops, be courageous in the face of suffering, live in Christian freedom, and preserve the unity of the church.

St Andrew was one of the first apostles of Jesus Christ. The gospels record how he brought his brother Simon to meet Jesus. In St Andrew’s Church at Killaney, we seek to introduce one another to the Lord’s love and life as we worship him together. People often drop in for a visit, and then stay! You have been warned/invited!!

In an age when often people withdraw into their own little space, be it their home or immediate family circle, we believe the community is stronger when we loosen our boundaries. We want our church to be a place where we meet and greet all sorts of people, and support other churches around us as we do so.

If you want to find out about the other worshipping churches in the area we are very happy to help you do so. We are in this together for the glory of God. Contact Stephen by phone email or maybe even pay a visit on a Sunday and ask us for help in person!!