Larne Methodist Church

HISTORY

John Wesley first visited Larne on Monday 15th May 1758 and a plaque was erected in 1947 at the house in Mission Lane where he preached.  Mission Lane has since been redeveloped and the plaque can now be seen in the porch of Larne Methodist Church.  John Wesley again visited Larne in 1760 and finally on July 4th 1771 when he preached in an upper room in premises in Main Street, presently owned by the Apsley Family.

However it was not until the year 1804 that Methodism became a settled cause in Larne and it’s first preaching house was an upper room in Pound Steet.  In November of the same year a small chapel was erected in Mission Lane. 

On August 18th 1811 a Sunday School was formed and the number of scholars enrolled was 149 and this was the first and only Sunday School in Larne for many years. In 1827 a new church was built in Pound Street, Larne.  At Conference in 1882 the corner site at the junction of Glenarm Road and Curran Road was acquired by Mr. James Chaine, M.P.  The Foundation Stone was laid on Easter Monday 14th April 1884

The Opening Ceremony of the Church took place on Wednesday afternoon 23rd September 1885.  The Lecture Hall adjoining the Church was erected in 1904.  

In 1911 the Centenary of the Sunday School which was founded in 1811 took place and the Larne Sunday School had the privilege of enrolment in the first consensus of Sunday School scholars throughout the world in 1827.  

In January 1969 a Minor Hall extension was added to the Lecture Hall.  The building was formally opened in 1970.