On St. Patrick's Day 1951 a new Biblical witness for Christ was born in the village of Crossgar, County Down, Northern Ireland. As a result of the high-handed actions of the Presbytery of Down, the elders of the local Presbyterian church were prohibited from using their church hall for a gospel mission. When the elders refused to acquiesce in the decision, they were immediately suspended. All this took place less than twenty-four hours before the mission was due to commence. Those elders had no doubt as to their duty. They could not go back to their church without denying or compromising the gospel. That was something they refused to do. So they decided to leave a denomination that had no difficulty permitting dances and parties of various kinds in its church halls but that, in this case, banned the gospel of Jesus Christ.

They proceeded with the help of Rev. Ian R. K. Paisley, their guest evangelist, and Rev. George Stears, a Presbyterian minister who had labored for the Lord for some years in Brazil, to form the Presbytery of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster. The Crossgar people were quickly joined by Dr. Paisley's independent congregation. In the months that followed two more congregations sprang up as the result of Dr. Paisley's evangelism and secessions from the Irish Presbyterian Church. The growth of the new church continued through the years until its witness spread to all the counties of Northern Ireland.

The new church was Presbyterian in doctrine and government, though it departed from usual Presbyterian policy by recognizing that baptism is variously understood by good men equally committed to Scripture. This being so, the Free Presbyterian Church believed that Christians should not be kept apart by baptismal views, as long as no one held to baptismal regeneration. It was called Free Presbyterian to indicate its liberty from any affiliation with a liberal church hierarchy or organization.

The church was unashamedly Protestant. It gladly identified with the great Protestant Reformation. Throughout its history it has stood opposed to the ecumenical movement's efforts to promote union with the Church of Rome, because that church still holds to every dogma that caused the Reformation in the first place. In theology the church is Reformed. It stands foursquare in the great Geneva tradition of Calvin, Knox, the English and American Puritans, and some of the most used revival preachers in history.

The church has always tied its Calvinism to evangelism. It is a praying church with a burden for the salvation of sinners. Its growth has been through unremitting evangelistic outreach, preaching the gospel "in season, and out of season."

Great prayer meetings have been the secret of the church's life. We do not merely pay lip service to prayer. We recognize that we have a long way to go in the experience of power in prayer, but we are seeking to follow on to know the Lord in prayer that will be gloriously effective.

Today there are over one hundred Free Presbyterian churches and extensions in various parts of the world -- Northern Ireland, South of Ireland, England, Scotland, Germany, Australia, Canada, and the United States. The church also has missionary works in Spain, India, Cameroon, Kenya, and the West Indies. The spirit of family fellowship among all these far-flung churches is deep and sweet. We hope you will feel something of it as you visit one of our local churches.