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A HISTORY OF THE BREADY CONGREGATION In the mid eighteenth century the Scottish Reformed Presbytery often organised preaching for the Covenanters in Ireland. In 1759 John Courtess visited the Societies in Londonderry, Donegal and Tyrone and in 1761 John Fairlie had an extended preaching tour of Ulster, visiting especially Drummond, Tirkeevney and Ramelton. Later that year he received a call from these Societies, but he decided to remain in Scotland. The Covenanters in the North West did not have long to wait for a minister of their own. On 8 May 1765 William James was ordained in the open air near Cullion. From 1771 the Covenanters in the Bready district met for worship at their present site on the main Victoria Road in Bready, midway between Strabane and Londonderry. Mr. James was an able minister with a gift for controversial writing. He was born near Eglinton in 1741 and brought up in the fellowship of the Societies that later formed Limavady congregation. His varied gifts may be seen in the fact that, when he was a student at Glasgow University in 1761, he was not only an elder, but acted for a time as Clerk of the Scottish Reformed Presbytery. Several of his notebooks and manuscripts have survived and give evidence of the nature of his work. After a fruitful ministry of 14 years, Mr. James died in 1779 at the early age of 38, and was buried in the nearby graveyard at Grange. The second minister, Samuel Alexander, was a member of the congregation. Born at Tirkeevney in 1748, and educated in Scotland, he was ordained in Bready on 19 August 1783. His ministry encompassed a wide area, taking in Bready, Faughan, Londonderry and part of County Donegal. His promising ministry was ended by his early death on 17 July 1793, the result of an accident that happened when he was crossing the Foyle in a storm some years earlier. He was buried in the old churchyard at Glendermott.
Bready and Faughan then united for a time. In 1803 John Alexander was ordained at Faughan. He also ministered at Bready. In March 1809 Bready and Faughan requested to be separated. Both asked for the pastoral oversight of Mr. Alexander but he chose Faughan. The Minutes of the Congregational Committee show that there were eight Societies - at Tamnabrine (Tamnbryan), Culmaghry (Coolmaghery), Desertone (Disertowen), Tirkeevney, Belnaboy (Ballynabwee), Ruskey, Strabane and Bready. The names of the men who represented these Societies were Samuel Gormley Jeremiah Smith, John Keys, John Longwell, John Osburn, James McKinley, James McDougall, Samuel Mitchell, Robert Bates, John McFarland, Thomas Brown, Alexander Dick and Hugh Dennison. The next minister was a Limavady man, Alexander Britton, a farmer's son from Myroe. He was educated at Glasgow University, the R.P. Theological Hall, Paisley and licensed by the Western Presbytery. He was ordained in Bready on 21 September 1815 and served faithfully for 31 years until his death on 31 May 1846. He was distinguished in the community for his preaching and we quote a few lines from a poem written in praise of his pulpit work by Stewart Cooke, a member of the congregation:
Right
well the pulpit he became, In 1843 a number of Covenanters from Bready joined the Eastern Reformed Synod, congregation in Waterside, but the journey to worship in Londonderry proved inconvenient. They decided to build their own meeting house at Cullion near Bready. Although their numbers were small, the building they erected was capable of seating 300 and became known as 'Gormley's folly' after William Gormley, an enthusiastic member of the congregation. In 1860 differences arose between the congregation and the Rev. Samuel Patton, minister of Waterside. These were serious enough for Mr. Patton to refuse to conduct services at Cullion, confining himself to the Waterside congregation. Soon afterwards the congregation at Cullion ceased to exist and most of its members returned to Bready. The succession of gifted ministers continued when Josias Alexander Chancellor was ordained and installed as minister on 27 July 1847. Born in Dundonald, Co. Down on 14 November 1824, he grew up and became a member of Knockbracken congregation, where his father Ephraim was an elder. He was educated at the Old College Belfast and at the Reformed Theological Hall at Paisley, and licensed by the Northern Presbytery in 1846. Rev. Josias Chancellor was one of the ablest scholars and preachers that the Church has produced. His ministry began in the lean years of the Great Famine. He saw the brighter days of the 1859 revival, in which he took an active part. Rev. John McDonald of Airdre said, 'He threw himself heart and soul into the movement and in such a way that he was enabled by the blessing of God to prevent the follies and extravagances that disfigured it elsewhere.' During August 1859 services were conducted each evening in Second Presbyterian Church in Strabane by the congregation's minister and Mr. Chancellor. Together they agreed that only Psalms should be sung, only ministers could preach and physical prostration was discouraged. In addition to these services Mr. Chancellor met with the young men of the area between 7 and 8 a.m. each morning. He also conducted additional meetings at Bready and its mission station at Mulvin. A large number of his letters have been preserved and give us a good picture of conditions prevailing in his day. In 1865 he moved to Belfast to become the minister of College Street South (later Grosvenor Road) congregation. Charles Kirk Toland, son of Rev. William Toland of Kilraughts, was the next minister. He served the congregation from 19 April 1866 until he was received into the General Assembly in June 1886, completing his ministry in the neighbouring town of Strabane. In the vacancy, Bready turned again to Kilraughts and called a licentiate, Archibald Holmes, who was ordained on 13 October 1887. He was born on 2 July 1862 near Kilraughts, grew up in that congregation and graduated from Magee College and the R.P. Theological Hall. He bore a name highly honoured in the Covenanting Church, and though his ministry was less than six years before he moved to Creevagh, and later to Paisley, Kellswater and Ballyclare, he left a marked impression on the congregation. His wife, Mary Marshall, came from one of the families in the congregation. There followed a brief ministry from Rev. Robert Adams McFarlane, who came from Stranorlar. He was installed on 13 July 1893 and returned to Stranorlar on 28 December 1896. His successor was Joseph McEwen, a licentiate of the Glasgow Presbytery, who was ordained on 24 August 1897. For twelve years he gave of his best in the service of the congregation. His genial disposition and gifted exposition of the Scriptures was long remembered in the congregation. His five sons, born in the Bready Manse, proved to be an ornament to the Church. Rev. Joseph McEwen later served for twenty years at Fairview and lived in retirement but giving valuable service as a ruling elder in Newtownards until his death in October 1944. John Knox Dickey was the next minister. A member of Drimbolg, he was ordained on 26 September 1911. His ministry continued until February 1919. He later ministered at Stranraer, Londonderry, Cregagh Road and Drum, Co. Cavan and died in November 1955. His successor, Thomas Hanna, was the third of Bready's ministers to come from Kilraughts. Ordained on 9 October 1919, he led the congregation in building a new meeting house. He saw his heart's desire completed, but a few weeks before the opening services were conducted by Rev. J. A. Lyons, Belfast and Rev. J. G. McElhinney, U.S.A., Mr. Hanna was called to his reward on 5 February 1924. His memory was cherished for a long time among members of the congregation. The longest ministry in the history of the congregation began on 14 October 1924 with the ordination of James William Calderwood, a member of Cullybackey. He laboured with great ability and faithfulness for almost 50 years until his death on 18 April 1971. He will always be remembered as a preacher with gifts well above the average and as a well-loved pastor and friend of the people. In 1977 the congregation made a joint call along with the neighbouring Clarendon Street church to Mr. Malcolm Ball, a member of Dromara congregation and licentiate of the Eastern Presbytery, educated at Queen's University and the Theological Hall. On 1 September he was ordained and installed as minister of the two congregations. After 8 years of faithful and devoted service, he accepted the call of the Foreign Mission Board on 28 November 1985 to serve as a missionary in France. On 3 May 1989 Presbytery approved the sale of Clarendon Street church buildings in Londonderry and approved the full union of this congregation with Bready. The final worship service in Clarendon Street was 25 February 1990. On 21 October 1990 the first united communion of Bready and Clarendon Street took place with 56 communicant members. At the Annual General Meeting on 30 January 1992, held in Bready, the Clarendon Street members were received into membership in Bready and the two ruling elders, William J. Davis and W.B.C. Warnock were elected and installed in the Bready Session. A new committee was also elected and discussions took place about a new hall. Meanwhile, on 12 October 1990, a licentiate of the Western Presbytery, Samuel McCollum, a member of the Limavady congregation and a licentiate of the Western Presbytery, educated at Queen's University and the Reformed Theological College was ordained and installed minister of the congregation. Characteristics of Mr. McCollum's ministry were his concern to spread the Gospel into the immediate community and beyond and a desire to have the congregation Biblical in its practice. During his ministry the congregation held two periods of special services, an annual Holiday Bible Club as well as other children's work. A broadsheet called The Anvil was distributed throughout an area stretching from Donemana to Castlederg. Seven people from outside the denomination came into membership and four elders were ordained and installed and a fifth installed. Rev. Samuel McCollum accepted a call to the Glenmanus congregation and was installed there on 27 August 2004. On 29 December 2007, Rev. Blair McFarland, having recently returned from missionary service in France, was installed as minister of the congregation. The roll of elders in the Bready congregation is a long and distinguished one. The earliest Session book dates from the late eighteenth century and records that there were 24 elders supervising a widely scattered congregation, twelve for Bready, seven for Faughan, and five for Londonderry. Their names are James Allen, Thomas Allen, Samuel Arthur, Jacob Alexander, John Davies, - Galbraith, John Guy, Andrew Henry, James Lawrimore, Robert McKinley, Joseph McMorris, John McNaught, Thomas Marshall, John Mathers, Robert Mathers, John Mitchell, James Richmond, Samuel Rodgers, Simon Robinson, James Salters, Moses Speers, Andrew Stevenson, Robert Stevenson, Samuel Willock. The elders in the middle of the nineteenth century were John Bates, Robert Brigham, Alexander Britton, William Cook, Alexander Dick, John Gormley, Edward Hall, Samuel Jack, Joseph Lewis, David Marshall, Robert Moorhead, Thomas Logan, John MacDougall, James Salters, William O'Neill, James Buchanan, James McIntosh, Joseph Sayers and James Gibson. Since then the following men have served the congregation as members of Session: Alexander Parkhill, James Armstrong, John O'Neill, Stephen Buchanan, John A. Buchanan and W.J. Gibson and James Throne. In recent decades the ruling elders have been Robert Stevenson, Andrew O'Neill, John H. Throne, James S. Throne, W. John Buchanan, William Davis, Carson Warnock, Alistair Buchanan, Liam O'Neill, Rodney Gamble, William Lynch, Stephen Davis, William Roulston and Oliver Throne. The first meeting house was erected on the site of the present building in 1771. In a day when dissenters had the greatest difficulty in obtaining permission to erect buildings, it is to the credit of the landlord, the Earl of Abercorn, that he not only gave such a choice site, but also gave it free of rent. The first meeting house was hastily erected and lasted only I5 years, collapsing at the close of a Sabbath service in 1786. The church was renovated during the ministry of Mr. Dickey (1911-1919) and then rebuilt and opened in 1924. A new hall, named the Clarendon Hall, kitchen and toilet facilities were built during 1995 and opened on 2 September 1995. This hall has enabled the Holiday Bible Club and Youth Club to take place.
The congregation has provided eleven ministers for the Covenanter Church: Samuel Alexander (Castlemellon), John Alexander (Tirkeevny), John Stewart, Josias Alexander, James Peebles Sweeney, James Dick, William Sweeney, Thomas Conn Britton, James Buchanan and James Graham Buchanan. As with other rural congregations, the congregation has seen some decline in its numbers. However, in recent years, the local community has trebled in size and the congregation continues to witness through its Good News Club, Holiday Bible Club, Saturday night youth club, Book Fair and Psalmody festivals, praying that the Lord of the harvest will move with His Holy Spirit and will awaken many from the deadness of their sin into disciples of Christ.
Ministers of Bready Congregation - History of the RPC of Ireland |
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