2025-12-31-annual-report

THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN IRELAND

PRESBYTERIAN CH URC H

94th Annual Report & Statement of Accounts 2025

www.stormontchurch.org

618 Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast, BT4 3HH

Registered with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland NIC104334

CONTACT DETAILS

Minister:

Rev Albin C Rankin 9 Pembridge Court, Belfast, BT4 2RW Email: [e-mail] Mobile: [phone] Office: 02890 656642 Ext 21

Church Administrator:

Mrs Edna Bell Email: [e-mail] Tel: [phone] Ext 20 Church office opening hours: 9:00am to 1:00pm Monday to Friday

Key Leaders

Clerk of Session:

Mrs Linda Cardy Tel: [phone] Ext 20 Email: [e-mail] Congregational Secretary:

Mrs Frona Clarke Tel: [phone] Ext 20 Email: [e-mail] Congregational Treasurer:

Mrs Alison Wilson Tel: [phone] Ext 20 Email: [e-mail] Musical Director:

Dr Tim Crawford Tel: [phone] Ext 20 Email: [e-mail]

CONGREGATIONAL COMMITTEE

There are 8 elected members of this committee who, along with the members of Kirk Session, make up the Congregational Church Committee. The committee functions principally through two working groups; the groups are Buildings Maintenance & Management and Communications & Finance.

Dennis Boyd Chris Fenton

Niamh Brennan Jennifer Livings Thomas Brennan Suzanne McLachlan Johanna Burr Margaret McNeill

CHURCH ACTIVITIES

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SUNDAY AFTERNOON SERVICE

Sunday 3pm in Kirk Cara monthly Tel: [phone] Ext 20 Email: [e-mail]

CONNECT STUDY GROUPS

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Fortnightly Email: [e-mail]

Tel: [phone] Ext 20

MESSY CHURCH

SMES

Sunday 4:00pm—6:00pm monthly Email: [e-mail]

Tel: [phone] Ext 20

CRECHE

ae.nn a . + desus aiid Me

Sunday 11am in Kirk Cara Tel: [phone] Ext 20 Email: [e-mail]

J.A.M (Jesus and Me) a Sunday, during church + Tel: [phone] Ext 20 Email: [e-mail] desus

BADMINTON CLUB Tuesday 7:45pm-10:30pm Tel: [phone] Ext 20 Email: [e-mail] Ie

RAINBOW GUIDES

Tuesday 6pm -7:00pm Tel: [phone] Ext 20 Email: [e-mail] Feanvows

BROWNIE GUIDES

Tuesday 6pm - 7:15pm Tel: [phone] Ext 20 Email: [e-mail] Bromnies GIRL GUIDES Tuesday 7:30pm - 9pm @® Tel: [phone] Ext 20 Email: [e-mail] Girlguiding

SQUIRRELS v3 Wednesday 6:15pm - 7:15pm Tel: [phone] Ext 20 earences Email: [e-mail]

YOUTH CLUB

Friday 7:30pm fortnightly Tel: [phone] Ext 20 Email: [e-mail]

giergreen, mn ey aN

EVERGREENS

Wednesday at 10am-11:45am Tel: [phone] Ext 20 Email: [e-mail]

FIRST FRIENDS

(Babies, toddlers & carers) Wednesday 10:30am-12noon Tel: [phone] Ext 20 aN Email: [e-mail]

CHOIR

Wednesdays 7:30pm– 9pm as arranged Tel: [phone] Ext 20 Practices”2

Wednesdays 7:30pm– 9pm as arranged Email: [e-mail]

BEAVER SCOUTS

Thursday 6.45pm-8pm Tel: [phone] Ext 20 Email: [e-mail]

cubs

CUB SCOUTS

Thursday 6.45pm-8pm Tel: [phone] Ext 20 Email: [e-mail]

SCOUTS

Thursday 7:30pm-9pm Tel: [phone] Ext 20 Email: [e-mail] Scouts

Annual Report 2025

Presbyterian Church in Ireland

TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT

Stormont Presbyterian Church 618, Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast. BT4 3HH

Registered with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland NIC104334 The Charity Trustees who served during the year were

Mrs Niamh Brennan (ordained & installed 6th April 2026) Mr Colin Kirkwood Mr Thomas Brennan (ordained & installed 6th April 2026) Mr Brian Millar (reinstated May 2025) Ms Johanna Burr (ordained & installed 6th April 2026) Mrs Elizabeth Millar (reinstated May 2025) Mrs Diana Byrne (ordained & installed 6th April 2026) Mrs Christine Patterson Mrs Linda Cardy Ms Elizabeth Pollock Mrs Frona Clarke Ms Joan Pollock (retired 31st August 2025) Mr Stephen Duffield Mrs Julie Power Mr Chris Fenton (ordained & installed 6th April 2026) Mr Brian Robinson Mrs Pamela Fenton (retired 17th January 2025) Mr Ross Reed Dr Rosemary Hamilton Mrs Alison Wilson Mrs Rosemary Hunter Mr Brian Wilson (ordained & installed 6th April 2026) Mr Colin Keers Rev Albin Rankin

STRUCTURE AND MANAGEMENT

The Kirk Session

congregation’s governing document, The Code, the book of the constitution and government of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Kirk Session seeks to watch over and promote the spiritual interest of the congregation and of persons not connected with any congregation who are within its bounds. It ensures pastoral care is in place in the congregation and seeks to further the contribution of the Church to Christian witness and service in the local community. The Kirk Session has delegated to its Congregational Committee the temporal affairs of the congregation including administering all funds and property belonging to the congregation. Members of the Kirk Session are ex-officio members of the Congregational Committee. The Kirk Session consists of the ordained minister and the ruling elders of the congregation. All members are entitled to propose, speak and exercise equal votes at meetings, except that the Moderator, the minister in active duty in the congregation, has no deliberative but only a casting vote.

Stated meetings of the Kirk Session are held normally at two-monthly intervals with additional special meetings as the need arises.

member and a regular attendant on its ordinances. The selection of those proposed to be called to office can be either by the congregation or by the Kirk Session. Members are elected if they obtain two-thirds of those who vote.

Presbytery

congregation is the responsibility of a Presbytery, which superintends generally the spiritual and temporal affairs of the congregations assigned to it by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. Stormont Presbyterian Church has been assigned to the East Belfast Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. The membership of the Presbytery consists mainly of the active ministers of the congregations assigned to it by the General Assembly, ministers who have retired from active duty and an elder appointed by the Kirk Session of the congregation.

The General Assembly

The General Assembly is the supreme court of the Church, representing in one body the whole Church and acting as its supreme legislative, administrative and judicial authority in dealing with all matters brought before it. The General Assembly is normally constituted during the first week in June for worship and to conduct its business. At the end of business it is dissolved. The membership of the General Assembly consists mainly of the active ministers of each congregation, retired ministers and a representative elder appointed by the Kirk Session of each congregation.

DESCRIPTION AND PURPOSE

Stormont Presbyterian Church is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. The Presbyterian Church in Ireland, as a Reformed Church within the wider body of Christ is grounded in the Scriptures, and exists to love and honour God through faith in His Son and by the power of His Spirit, and to enable her members to play their part in fulfilling God’s mission to our world.

The congregation’s mission statement is:

Stormont Presbyterian Church seeks to share with all, the accepting, forgiving, caring love of God shown in Jesus Christ.

This brief description of our purpose attempts to answer the question, “Why do we exist?”

From our Mission Statement we have identified four Aims:

To be a fellowship of worshipping Christians whose learning results in responsible living

To be a fellowship of worshipping Christians committed to one another under God and filled with The Holy Spirit

To be a church that ministers unselfishly to persons in the community in Jesus’ name

To be witnesses for Christ in the community and throughout the world

The essence of our mission statement is captured in our Purpose Statement:

Showing People Christ

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

Worship, Prayer and Mission

As the congregation of Stormont Presbyterian Church we also use the letters SPC to represent Showing People Christ, and whether we have faced challenges or encouragements in 2025 this is our focus and the aim of everything we do.

Our congregation meets for worship each Sunday at 11am with the focus on meeting with God as we listen to reading and teaching from his Word and as we speak to him in prayer. It is also a time of preparation for living out our faith during the week by caring for one another as a church family and showing God’s love to our community and wider world in mission and service. Members of our congregation help to read and provide prayers for others. One or two singers lead from the front each week, alternating with the choir, which also prepared special music for our Easter services, Harvest, Remembrance Day and Christmas. Our music has been led by our musical director Tim Crawford until his resignation from this position in October. As a congregation we have been blessed for almost four years by Tim’s ministry and wish him and his wife Karen and daughter Amy well as they continue to worship in First Holywood congregation.

We are grateful to Barbara Hume and Jonny Ireland for helping with our music between the months of October and December. We have also been supported in Sunday morning worship by worship teams from Knock Presbyterian church. Our pre-school-P7 children leave during the service for JAM (Jesus and Me) for their own Bible stories, songs and craft. A Bible Class for year 8-year 14 met monthly from January to June. Communion has been celebrated six times this year. Fellowship time with tea and coffee takes place after the morning service. Sunday afternoon services for the elderly and less able in our congregation are held monthly. This is a short thirty minute time of worship and teaching followed by a cup of tea and time for conversation and keeps people connected who might otherwise feel isolated. Our Sunday morning teaching began in January under the title “Re-set”, looking at the book of Haggai, and in March we commenced a series “Grace and Truth” based on four passages in the book of Acts. In January and February our morning services were held in the main hall, providing a warmer and more cost effective place to heat. We resumed meeting in the main sanctuary on Sunday 2nd March. On 6th April we held a special afternoon service for the ordination and installation of six new elders by a commission of the Presbytery of East Belfast. The theme for Easter was “Risen”, and communion was celebrated on Palm Sunday and also at our midday service on Good Friday. On Easter Sunday we welcomed back the neighbouring congregation of Knock Presbyterian as they joined us for morning worship. In April and May our teaching was based on the book of Galatians, about what the Gospel is and is not, and a short series in June looked at being present to God and present to one another. During July and August Knock Presbyterian joined with us on Sunday mornings at the earlier time of 10.30am. Once again this was a wonderful opportunity to share leading, prayers, preaching and worship with another congregation and to build partnership between the two churches while Knock continues with its building project. During the month of September we reverted to our usual Sunday service time of 11am, and began a new teaching series, “Unstoppable”: a journey through the book of Acts. Our harvest service in October welcomed guest speaker Aidan McCartney from Storehouse, and in December Knock Presbyterian returned to share morning worship with us, exploring the theme “The Missing Peace” based on the book by Sam Chan which was also distributed to every family in the congregation. Our Christmas Eve family nativity service was a joyful and vibrant re-telling of the Christmas story. There were some special morning services throughout the year. In February we welcomed our Scout and Guiding groups to a youth service where the speaker was Nicky Orr, youth and children’s worker from Knock Presbyterian. In March it was encouraging for us as a congregation to welcome a former member of SPC Rev Neil Stewart and his wife Jenny as they shared with us their missionary vision and calling to help set up a church plant in the north of Spain under the auspices of PCI, and we will continue to support them and their young family in prayer and receive regular updates about their work. Our Christian Aid service in May was led by Suzanne Simpson, church fundraising officer for Christian Aid Ireland, and in October a special all age service aimed to reach out to our own congregation and young families in the neighbourhood. We had an enjoyable musical evening during the year with our “Not the Youth Club” band. This was a wonderful time of worship bringing together church members and friends, and included tea and cake. There were several opportunities to engage with other events during the year. On 12th October Stormont was delighted to host an evening service celebrating twenty five years of the work of Scripture Union in East Belfast. Also in October, four ladies from SPC attended a livestream of the Irish Women’s Convention which was being hosted by Scrabo Hall, with the topic, “Faith in a chaotic world”.

Our small Connect groups have continued to grow in numbers with three groups totalling almost thirty people meeting fortnightly. These small groups give opportunity to share life, think about what living out our faith looks like in the everyday, and support one another pastorally in prayer. At the start of the year we used the Bible Course, an interactive resource which gives the big picture of the Bible story and helpful tools to read the Bible for ourselves. In September we began Tony Merida’s book “Love your Church”.

Our church programmes are all underpinned by prayer. Prayer points are sent out each week with the church email and prayer cards which can be used as bookmarks are available each month. In the summer we launched a new prayer initiative. The Prayer Space meets each Monday evening for thirty minutes and is a quiet reflective space which is open to our own church family and community. Following the pattern of the early church which gathered together every day for worship and prayer, we began a forty day period from 5th March-9th April meeting in person every morning to take time to be still, to listen to God’s Word and share breakfast and life together. This “Lent Together” time not only encouraged a regular pattern of prayer but was also an important way of building community together. In March we recommenced our 2024 initiative “Praying for your Street” with the focus on loving our neighbours by praying for them.

A small team delivered prayer promise cards to houses in our neighbourhood letting people know that in the following week we would be praying for them and offering a way for them to get in touch with the church with specific prayer requests. We completed this distribution to all those within our parish boundaries in June 2025. Our small prayer room in the church is available as a quiet space for prayer and reflection.

Pastoral care continues to be an important way of connecting and supporting all members of our congregation and also an important way of keeping our Minister up to date with particular needs within families. Our pastoral care teams endeavour to visit where possible in person and were able to deliver Easter and Christmas cards giving details of these seasonal services. A large focus for pastoral care this year has been seeking ways to connect with and encourage those who are not involved in our congregation in any meaningful way, to become more active. In April two facilitators from PCI, met with pastoral visitors to discuss possible ways of taking this forward, and various follow up meetings to this have taken place. During the year two of our long standing pastoral carers, Jim Irvine and Joan Pollock stepped down from this role and we are grateful for their many years of faithful service in this capacity.

Following on from a Presbytery event attended by some of our members in 2024, we organised a training morning for our Welcome Teams in March looking at the Biblical basis for being a welcoming church and how we can develop this welcoming ethos not only at the door, but across the whole of our church family.

Cultivating community is a key part of mission and during the year we continued our Messy Church partnership with the neighbouring congregation of St Molua’s. Messy Church is held monthly on Sunday afternoons with each church taking turns to host. A typical Messy Church has drinks and biscuits on arrival, crafts and activity around a theme and celebration time with stories, songs and a meal together to finish. The number of families attending Messy Church this year has been encouraging and the partnership with St Molua’s has been successful in linking two churches of different denominations involving enthusiastic volunteers of all ages and building relationships with families in the local community. A Messy Church fun day was hosted by Stormont in September.

We continued to act as a supporters’ hub for the Belfast marathon which took place on Sunday 4th May. We opened our doors early giving the opportunity to attend a short pre-marathon service, and runners and supporters were able to use our toilet and changing facilities. Bottles of water were distributed to the runners as they made their way past and a group of volunteer marshals covered the route near the church building. Hot dogs and hot drinks were available throughout the morning with donations going to the Air Ambulance service. Many church members came along to cheer on the runners at the start of the race and share in the service. Marathon runners and members of the public have been appreciative of our visible support for this event. In April, members of all ages joined with St Colmcille’s in Ballyhackamore to do some maintenance on the hundred trees that were planted in 2024 in Tullycarnet Park, and to plant fifty additional trees. Belfast City Parks Department supported this by providing all the equipment needed.

Mission support at home and abroad continued throughout the year. Christian Aid week took place from 11th-18th May, supporting indigenous farmers in Guatemala. Fundraising included a street collection at Ballyhackamore and house to house delivery of Christian Aid envelopes with the option to donate online. Our Christian Aid service on 18th May was led by Suzanne Simpson from Christian Aid Ireland, and was followed by a celebration of tea and cake. Our church has been supporting Storehouse for over fifteen years with weekly donations of food and special contributions for harvest and their Christmas hampers. Individual members also give regular financial support. Several of our members also volunteer with Storehouse on a regular basis throughout the year, helping in the Storehouse warehouse and with deliveries of furniture. Members have also helped volunteer with the weekly Storehouse Home mornings which serve the most vulnerable in our community, cooking and serving breakfast and chatting with those who come. In 2025 Stormont congregation committed to being part of a new partnership programme and is now a Storehouse Partner Church. We commit to donate £100 per month and in turn receive regular updates from Storehouse and have access to their training courses. The Belfast City Mission Christmas Appeal was supported again this year with donations of selection boxes, tins of biscuits, grocery vouchers and toys, and a returning offering was taken after our Remembrance Day service for the UDR Benevolent Fund. Once again our Evergreens group co-ordinated the annual Shoebox Appeal and seventy six boxes were filled and passed on to the Blythswood Trust.

Our weekly contributions for fellowship time on Sunday mornings are currently distributed to Storehouse and projects supported by PW.

Stormont Presbyterian is one of over five hundred congregations within the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, and one of the ways in which we can demonstrate our unity and commitment to the wider church family is through the United Appeal for Mission. This is a partnership in which each congregation plays a vital role in sustaining and expanding the work of Christ’s kingdom at home and abroad. This generosity of God’s people enables mission and ministry to flourish, supporting the work of PCI through its councils in different aspects of Gospel work, including youth and children’s ministry, social action and training of leaders. Each congregation has a target of honour for United Appeal and we are pleased to report that in 2025 Stormont has been able to reach its target of giving. We also gave generously to the World Development Appeal, supporting the “Hives for Hope” project being supported by Christian Aid in Honduras.

We are grateful to all those who have provided preaching cover for our Minister’s periods of leave during the year. These included Rev Marty Gray, Rev Stephen Moore, Rev Jimmy Warburton, Mr Colin Neill and Mr Thomas Brennan. We are also grateful to Rev Stephen Moore, Rev Marty Gray and Rev Jimmy Warburton for providing cover for emergency pastoral needs. Other guest speakers have included Mr James McClure, Ms Nicky Orr, Rev Neil Stewart, Mr Aidan McCartney and Ms Suzanne Simpson.

We continue to give thanks for our Minister, Rev Albin Rankin, for his faithful shepherding of this congregation, for his teaching and for his pastoral care. During the year we have been grateful to those who have served on our Welcome Teams, led singing, served at fellowship time, provided audio-visual and technical support and helped to set up our church halls for activities during the week. Our church personnel and activities continued to be supported by our very able administrator Mrs Edna Bell and we are very grateful for this important contribution she makes to our church family. As at 31st December there were 273 communicant members and 223 families connected with the congregation. The average weekly attendance at morning service is seventy five.

The Kirk Session

The work of our Kirk Session is to develop the church’s mission and purpose. This year it met five times. A co-ordinating group consisting of our Minister, Clerk of Session, Hon Secretary, Hon Treasurer, Committee Chair and Pastoral Care Convenor also meet to help order the business for Kirk Session and Committee. The church committee continues to operate under two working groups; Buildings, Maintenance and Management, and Communication and Finance. In 2025 the church committee initiated the Daily Bread project, designed specifically to generate financial giving to the life and work of the congregation. The response to this has been excellent, through pledges of regular or one off donations and through larger organised events such as the Stormont Quiz Night in October. We continued to explore our five year Mission Action Plan as we seek to reach out into our community, setting targets which aim to increase presence at morning worship, welcome new people to our congregation, increase financial giving and increase partnerships with other churches or agencies. Two smaller Task Groups within Kirk Session also met during the year, one to look at practical responses to our Mission Action Plan and one to look at strategy going forward for youth ministry. With a focus on prayer being of first priority in relation to mission, Kirk Session agreed to provision of a weekly Prayer Space, both for our church family and also for the community, to be held on Monday evenings, and this has been running since summer 2025. Youth strategy has aimed to consolidate resources, as lack of sufficient leaders has meant discontinuation in the autumn of our youth fellowship, and discontinuation of Bible class due to lack of young people. A “faith slot” has been trialled in our fortnightly youth club which has seen an increase in numbers, and Messy Church and family friendly services such as the Christmas nativity continue to be our main focus to encourage and engage young families.

Re-configuration of Ministry. Re-configuration of Ministry is a project which will have widespread implications for every congregation, Presbytery and council within the denomination, with a view to finding the best way to take forward ministry and mission within each Presbytery so that it makes best use of our resources. An initial data capture exercise was required to be completed by every congregation in 2025. A small representative group from our Kirk Session formed a working group to draft responses, and with the approval of Kirk Session this was submitted to East Belfast Presbytery in February.

This was followed in November by a meeting of our Minister, Clerk of Session and Convenor of Pastoral Care with a small re-configuration of Ministry working group from the East Belfast Presbytery. We were able to share the challenges and encouragements of this congregation and receive their responses to our questionnaire. The working group commended our willingness to be flexible in relation to the future shape of ministry in SPC and commended the partnership with another congregation which we are already engaging in.

Another major consideration for Kirk Session this year has been safeguarding awareness and the updating of our safeguarding policies. There is a requirement from PCI that all those working with young people or vulnerable adults refresh their safeguarding training regularly, and several leaders undertook safeguarding training throughout the year. In June 2025 the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church approved new safeguarding policies and guidelines, some of which have already been implemented by PCI. We will update our policies in line with these and review them on a regular basis. All groups hosted by SPC will provide us with a copy of their safeguarding policy, and we will keep a list of our organisation leaders and records of their most recent Access NI checks. Access NI policy is also changing and those applying will need to renew every three years. We will continue to review the size of our safeguarding team. In September Diana Byrne was appointed by Kirk Session to serve on our safeguarding team alongside Julie Power.

A PCI Special Assembly relating to safeguarding issues within the Presbyterian Church in Ireland was held on 18th December, which was attended by our Minister and Clerk of Session, and a follow up Special Assembly will take place in February 2026.

There is a requirement by PCI to review our Communion Roll every three years. Kirk Session have undertaken to update this in view of the fact that a significant number of those in our pastoral care groups do not come to church regularly or are now young people living away from home. KS is also looking at options for reaching out to those who are not connecting with SPC. We are also able to offer communion in a number of different formats to those who are housebound or in nursing homes. We have an “open table” policy for communion, but are also encouraging members to fill in communion tokens when attending communion.

Presbyterian and led by Rico Tice.

Six elders elect had been nominated by the congregation at the end of 2024 and they began their training in January. On 6th April 2025 Niamh Brennan, Thomas Brennan, Johanna Burr, Diana Byrne, Chris Fenton and Brian Wilson were ordained and installed by a commission of the Presbytery of East Belfast. They are now members of the Kirk Session of Stormont Presbyterian Church and registered as charity trustees of SPC. We welcome them and look forward to having them as part of our team in SPC.

considered as an applicant for the ordained ministry in the Presbyterian Church, fully supported by the Kirk Session. This application was approved in October by the East Belfast Presbytery and his training continues, overseen by PCI Council for Training in Ministry. This has included a four week placement in Comber Presbyterian Church with a further six week placement to come in the New Year. We continue to pray for Thomas, his wife Niamh and their baby daughter as he explores this call to ministry. In 2025 Thomas also completed his training to become an Accredited Preacher in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and has since had several opportunities to preach both in SPC and in other congregations.

reinstatement of full elder duties after their three year period of temporary release to Grace and Hope church plant.

In 2025 two elders retired from Kirk Session. Pamela Fenton retired on 17th January and Joan Pollock on 31st August. We give thanks for their many years of faithful service to this congregation in their capacity as elders.

Presbytery

The congregation is represented at the regular meetings of Presbytery by our Minister and one other elder. This provides an important link between the congregation and the wider structure of the church.

This year, alongside a focus on re-configuration of ministry, safeguarding has been a major topic for discussion and safeguarding roadshows have been organised for designated people in congregations. Session’s nominated representative to the Presbytery is Mrs Julie Power. As part of East Belfast Presbytery, our Minister is currently serving as Acting Clerk to a special commission of Presbytery, is a member of the re-configuration working group and sits on an ad hoc panel of ordination.

General Assembly

Presbyterian Church which this year took place from 10th-12th June in Assembly Buildings. Stormont’s representative elder at General Assembly in 2025 was Thomas Brennan. Our Minister Albin Rankin continues to act as the Convenor for the General Assembly’s Council for Congregational Life and Witness, which involves chairing a number of committees and helping to present the Council report at General Assembly. He is also a member of PCI’s General Council and is currently serving on a Task Group of the General Council in relation to a review of the position of Clerk of the General Assembly.

Buildings and Maintenance

replaced with PVC doors at a cost of £3,500. PW funded the upgrade of the main hall server, with new cupboard doors, new flooring and painting. This upgrade cost £2,951. The renewal of the main hall entertainment licence required a fixed wiring test for the electrical circuits throughout the church premises. No major issues were identified and Belfast City Council Building Control issued the three year licence in June 2025. Essential repairs were required to the Sanctuary roof following storm damage at a cost of £600. The computer in the church office was also replaced at a cost of £837.41

Organisations

A wide range of organisations use our buildings and serve our community. Guiding and Scouting are well established organisations and during the week six different groups meet in our church halls, catering for all ages. A Youth Fellowship which aims to encourage faith and share fellowship met on alternate Friday evenings from January to June, but was discontinued after the summer due to lack of available leaders. We appreciate the faithful leadership of those who have worked with our YF during the last few years and pray that God will provide for this activity in the future. A Youth Club for P5 and above, meets on alternate Fridays and numbers here have increased greatly this year. We would love to see more volunteers coming forward to help with this so that the existing leaders are not overstretched. First Friends is our tots group which meets weekly and brings together parents, carers and toddlers to build early friendships. For our senior members, Evergreens meets weekly with lifts provided, and members can enjoy a cup of tea and chat and listen to a various speakers on a variety of topics. A badminton club meets weekly. Stormont hosts an active playgroup which is attended by forty pre-schoolers each week day, and the Julie Dorman School of Dance holds classes in our building each week. Jo-Jingles which had been meeting in our halls on Friday mornings for several years discontinued this class in the autumn. All user groups completed risk assessments and were compliant with all health and safety and security and kitchen protocols.

PUBLIC BENEFIT STATEMENT

The Presbyterian Church in Ireland meets the public benefit requirement by providing benefit to its members and the general public by making known the Christian Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ through the advancement of religion.

The direct benefits which flow from the purpose of the Church include the gaining of an understanding in Christian beliefs as set out in the Bible and in the Church’s subordinate standards (the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Shorter and Larger Catechisms) leading to spiritual and moral development and opportunities for response to Bible teaching. In turn, this framework leads to practical expressions of Christian beliefs and standards in the local community such as through the care of those in need, (including the sick, disabled and bereaved).

Generally the above benefits are delivered locally by congregations and their members, or are facilitated through presbyteries or are organised and delivered locally. Public access is made known through the use of noticeboards, printed material, press advertisement, websites, social media or in other ways.

The benefits are demonstrated through regular evaluation of the services, and informal ad-hoc feedback from members, their families and members of the public.

The purpose does not lead to harm. The only private benefit flowing from our purpose is related to Ministers, Missionaries, Deaconesses, Irish Mission workers and Lay Agents who receive benefits as a result of their holding office or employment. However this is incidental and necessary in order to further our charitable purpose. There are no other private benefits. The beneficiaries of this purpose are members, their families, other individuals that the Presbyterian Church in Ireland is in direct and indirect contact with, the community in which pastoral services are provided and other communities throughout Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and worldwide, which benefit from our engagement and support for both Christian and other secular organisations, charities and individual members of the public. The Kirk Session has had regard to the Charity Commission’s Public Benefit requirement statutory guidance.

Congregational Register 2025

Marriages

August 30 Thomas Jack Bushby & Jennifer June Stewart

Baptisms

March	23	Phoebe Grace Brennan
Deaths
March	30	Mrs Thelma Johnston	Towell House, BELFAST
April	29	Dr Ian Corry	Woodgarth, 59 Belfast Road, NEWTOWNARDS
May	06	Mrs Gwen Moir	24 Castlehill Drive, BELFAST
May	14	Mrs June Isherwood	11b Knockdene Park North, BELFAST
June	20	Mrs Edna Erwin	Richmond Nursing Home, HOLYWOOD
June	23	Mrs Valerie Dickson	Dunlady Nursing Home, DUNDONALD
July	10	Mr Cecil Williamson	3 Crawford Park, BELFAST
July	18	Mrs Hazel McDaniel	Cranley Lodge Nursing Home, BANGOR
October	04	Mr Stephen Galway	90 Earlswood Road, BELFAST

FINANCIAL YEAR 2025

The following is a simplified version of the church accounts which has been prepared by the church finance committee and is not part of the audited accounts. This has been prepared to help the congregation better understand our financial position. Please note the organisations each manage their own finances and organisational income & expenditure included in this report are not part of the church finances and therefore do not appear in the church year end accounts which follow this summary.

Year Ended 31 December 2025 Stormont Presbyterian Church

List of Contributors for 2025

Mr & Mrs T Adams Dr & Mrs C Holland Mr & Mrs D Allen Mr J Hooks Mrs E Allen Mrs B Hume Mr & Mrs W Beattie Mr & Mrs J Hunter Mrs M Bingham Mr & Mrs R Hutcheson Mrs W Blacoe Mr & Mrs J Irvine Mr D Boyd Mrs E Johnston Mr & Mrs T S Brennan Mrs K Johnston Mr & Mrs G Browne Mr & Mrs P Johnston Mr & Mrs A Burr Mr & Mrs D E Johnston Miss J Burr Miss I Jordan Mrs D Byrne Mr & Mrs C Keers Mrs D Campbell Mr & Mrs J Kelly Mr & Mrs R Campton Mrs E Kenny Mrs M Cardwell Miss S Kenny Mr & Mrs P Cardy Mrs J Kerr Ms J Carmichael Mr C Kirkwood Mr & Mrs I Clark Mrs J Livings Mr & Mrs A Clarke Dr R Loughridge Mr & Mrs G Clarke Mrs M Manson Mrs J Coates Mrs A McBride Mrs B Coburn Mr & Mrs P McClelland Mrs M Cole Miss S McDowell Mrs A Colhoun Mr G McIlhagga Dr & Dr I Corry Mrs A McKechnie Mrs P Cousins Mr & Mrs I McLachlan Mr G Craig Mr & Mrs T McMath Mrs S Crawford Mrs J McMeekin Ms N Darnbrook Mrs M McNeill Mr T Dick Mr & Mrs B Millar Mr & Mrs I Donaldson Mr & Mrs D Millar Mr & Mrs L Dorman Mr & Mrs A Millar Mr & Mrs L Downey Dr & Dr C Miller Mr & Mrs S Duffield Mrs G Moir Mr & Mrs C Fenton Mr S Murray Mrs J C Ferguson Mrs E Neill Mr & Mrs S Galway Mrs D Nelson Mrs B Gill Mrs J Newberry Miss S Gill Mrs I O'Prey Mrs H Gillanders Mr G Owens Mrs G Gowdy Mr & Mrs J Paterson Mr D Graham Mr & Mrs D A Patterson Miss V Gray Mrs C Patterson Dr & Mr R Hamilton Mr & Mrs D Pickett Mr & Mrs V Henry Mrs A Pinkerton Mr D Henry Miss E Pollock Mrs B Henry Miss J Pollock Mrs P Hill Mrs J Power Mr C T Hogg Mrs E Price-Stephens

Mrs A Pugh Rev A Rankin Mrs A Rankin Mr & Mrs R Reed Mrs E Reid Miss P Reid Mrs L Richardson Mrs J Roberts Mr & Mrs J Robinson Mrs M Robinson Mr & Mrs B Robinson Mr & Mrs A Robinson Mr & Mrs H Rolston Rev Dr & Mrs R Savage Mr & Mrs J Sayers Mr & Mrs G Scott Mrs B Sharpe Mr & Mrs J Speers Dr & Mrs M Stafford Mr & Mrs R Stephenson Mr & Mrs N Stewart Mr & Mrs J Stewart Mr & Mrs C Stewart Miss J Tener Mr K Tener Mrs A Valentine Mrs I Williams Mr & Mrs B Wilson Mrs E Wilson Miss R Wilson Miss A Wilson Mr & Mrs C Wilson Mr & Mrs R Wilson Mr & Mrs J Young