About Us
Glenavy Parish is made up of three local churches which together make one unit - parish - in the Church of Ireland. The Church of Ireland is a part of a family of churches with common roots, called The Anglican Communion. It emerged out of the reforming work of such English churchmen as Thomas Cranmer way back in the troubled days of the 1500s, and drew encouragement also from the reforming of the Church on the continent by such leaders as Martin Luther, Jean Calvin, and Martin Bucer.
So much for where we came from. These days in our churches you will find some who live next to the church, others who live in Lisburn or Antrim. Some have grown up in our tradition from baptism, others have joined us as adults.
We are ordinary people who have realised our need to make peace with God, and have put our faith in Jesus Christ first as our saviour and then as our adviser. That doesn't mean we think we are better than other people. Far from it! As we listen to the Bible each week together, we see how flawed we are.
About 150 people, on average, from age 1 to 90, join in the Sunday services. Some of us also meet up during the week, and there are many other activities in the parish's life. We realise that God made human beings to serve, and so we are trying to see how we can serve our community as well as each other. Always in our minds are Jesus' tough but wonderful words: 'Love your neighbour as yourself'. As our strapline says, we are 'finding out what pleases the Lord.'
As we have reflected on our aims as a parish, the following 7 principles have emerged. They will tell you something of what we are about today:
- The Church is people - so we will hear God's word together, encourage one another, and ask God's Spirit to work among us. The place we do all that matters less.
- The Bible is God's Word - so it comes before the traditions of our church as our guiding authority.
- Christians are free servants - freed by Christ from God's judgment, and sent to serve the community rather than separate ourselves from it.
- Unity was given by Jesus - so we seek to join other Christian churches in bearing witness to our Lord.
- christians are witnesses - so we will try o equip ourselves so that each member can explain to others the way of salvation.
- All are gifted by God - so we want everyone to be able to use and develop their gifts.
- Family resemblance - we encourage personal prayer and holy living, as God's will for all Christians.