Rev Norman Cameron conducted his final service at High Kirk Presbyterian Church Ballymena on Sunday 14th September 2025, ending a 19-year ministry to the Thomas Street congregation.
Along with his wife, Kay and their now grown-up children, Andrew, Suzanne, Niall and Juliet, Norman arrived at the thriving fellowship on 1st September 2006.
Amongst his personal highlights from a near two-decade long ministry are seeing a thriving church fellowship, a church with a strong and diverse worship team, fond memories of the men’s weekends at Castlewellan Castle and the launching of the Hope House project, which ran on the Doury Road for several years. Norman remembered: “Hope House was the vision of our late Outreach Worker, Lorraine McAlister. Although it is now closed, a great work was done there in terms of making inroads into the local community and building on the work of faithful prayer warriors who had prayed around the local community for many years.”
Organising bi-annual Word & Spirit Conferences at High Kirk was something Norman also relished.
He said: “We always want to be open to the work of the Holy Spirit. Usually, I would have invited a speaker from the New Wine network in England, and the six or seven conferences we have had over my 19 years have been really blessed times.”
Building a dedicated staff team at High Kirk has been a notable achievement of Norman’s tenure there:
“We have different Associates with responsibly for discipleship, worship, pastoral care, outreach and youth and children. We have had a great time over the years in fellowship as we work and laugh together. And I’m certainly going to miss that staff team very much as I move on in retirement”, he added.
Seeing the Spark summer outreach birthed at High Kirk under the direction of Matthew Boyd is something that also pleased Norman. The same is true of the Café Explore initiative which was launched by Richard Houston and continues to go from strength to strength under Willis McDowell with anywhere between 50 to 70 people attending each week.
Bags of Blessings, which is High Kirk’s food ministry, also continues to flourish under the watchful eye of Janice Colgan having been founded around ten years ago.
Pre-COVID, High Kirk was also a place were East European nationals who live in Ballymena were given the opportunity learn English at specially arranged classes. Help was also given with the completion of important forms, demonstrating that High Kirk is a beacon of compassion which shows Jesus’ love to every section of the community.
As he enters retirement, Norman is confident that he is leaving High Kirk in a good place. An exciting Church with around 800 communicant members, two services are held each Sunday morning at 9.30am and 11.30am and one at 6.30 pm, including ‘Open Space’ which takes place one Sunday evening in the month. Norman reflects that it is good to see the Church so busy with many young people coming up through its ranks.
Indeed, Norman is keen to say that it has been a ‘privilege to lead such a wonderful Church’ and he admits that he and Kay will miss everyone there. He went on to say: “We will continue to live in Ballymena so I am sure we will bump into people from time to time. And we will continue to pray for the Church during the upcoming vacancy and for the next person who leads them.”
Discover more about High Kirk Presbyterian Church by visiting their Facebook page.