Early records would indicate that the assembly now known as Larne Gospel Hall held its first meeting in the home of Mr Samuel Milligan in St. John’s Place East in the town on May 10, 1886. The Milligan family were joined by the Mitchell family and a few other individual sincere believers that first Sunday morning.
In the closing years of the 19th century the small assembly moved into the Good Templar’s Hall at the corner of St. John’s Place and Pound Street.
In the first decade of the new century Mr William Hugh Kane moved from Ballymena to Larne to set up a foundry. This business enterprise was to provide much needed employment in the East Antrim town, but it was also to prove beneficial to the small assembly. Mr Kane brought with him a number of respected Christian men to occupy key positions in his company and these men were to serve as elders in the assembly for many years.
When the former Parochial School building, on the opposite corner of St. John’s Place and Pound Street became available for sale in 1913, Mr Kane bought it for £100 and it became ‘Larne Gospel Hall’ for the next 60 years.
The Second World War years (1939 – 1945) saw an influx of service personnel to the town and the assembly members recognised this as an opportunity to reach out to these people in Christian kindness and with the Gospel.
An outreach to children became an important feature of the work with a very well attended and hence most encouraging Sunday School having been established. A weekly midweek Children’s Meeting was also started in the 1950s and big numbers attended.
The advent of the BTH factory (now Caterpillar) in the early 1950 s brought an influx of workers and their families to the town. Many of these settled in the newly-built and extensive Craigy Hill estate. A large site was purchased on the outskirts of this estate, a Hall was erected, and by 1963 there were sufficient Christians living in the estate for a new assembly to be established. This was done, with the full support and fellowship of the parent assembly in Larne Gospel Hall.
The assembly (church) met in the building at Pound Street until the early 1970s when they were forced to look for new premises when the local Council gave notice that it was intending to demolish the Hall to make way for road improvements. A suitable site was acquired on Curran Road in the town, and a new and much more spacious Hall was built there. This new building cost £40,000 to erect and furnish and was opened in September 1973.
In these more adequate facilities the Sunday School and Children’s meetings continued to grow. A Youth Group, a Men’s meeting, a Parent and Toddler Group and a Friendship Hour were also set up in an effort to reach out to various sections of the community.
The 1970s and 80s were a period of numerical growth and spiritual blessing in the church. Numbers have since declined somewhat but we still carry on our various activities, visiting in the community and inviting the local townspeople to attend our services. Our vision does not stop with our town either. There is a worldwide dimension to it. During the well over a century of our existence we have seen members sent out as missionaries overseas, to West Indies, India and South Africa and have recommended others to engage with Christian evangelical organisations in UK.