Christ Church, Kilkeel 
Welcome to Christ Church Online
Thanks for dropping in. Please take time to browse the site and do come and visit us in person if you’re in the Kingdom of Mourne. Read More…
Thanks for dropping in. Please take time to browse the site and do come and visit us in person if you’re in the Kingdom of Mourne. Read More…
Our vision statement is “To Know, Grow and Go” – To Know God more intimately, to Grow more Christlike and to Go and share his love with others. In a town with several churches, Christ Church is an evangelical Church of Ireland Parish which has experienced renewal. We are a family of faith and long to see others become part of our family as we worship and follow Jesus together.
Our vision has many different expressions including our Sunday and mid-week gatherings and the numerous organisations run by our parishioners. Another expression in the community is the Kilkeel Parish Bridge Association which governs the JIMS project. JIMS is a successful youth centre devoted to the well-being of all the youth of Kilkeel. Many of our parishioners are also involved in short term mission with, for example, Streetreach, Fields of Life and Through Faith Missions. We also support mission agencies such as CMSI, Mission Africa and Crosslinks.
The parish has two centres of worship, Christ Church and Carginagh, and each has its distinctive identity. We rejoice in our diversity as churches, but rejoice even more in our unity, as we seek to serve God and our community together.
The present church in Kilkeel was consecrated in 1818. By 1837 it was necessary to reroof the church and the gallery was lowered to give extra seating in 1853. A new gallery was erected along with a south transcept in 1857/8. The north transcept dates from 1886 and the apsidal chancel from 1903. The Pratt Memorial Hall at Carinagh was built in 1889 in memory of a former Rector of Kilkeel, the Revd E. O’B Pratt, incumbent 1883-1887. In 1991 at Christ Church, we completed an excellent suite of halls and rooms that are in constant use and we’re blessed with extensive car parking.
Kilkeel is a small fishing community situated at the foot of the Mountains of Mourne and the mouth of Carlingford Lough. The name comes from the 13th century church ruins in the centre of the town, Cill-Caol (Gaelic) meaning ‘The Church of the Narrows’, but there are references to Kilkeel as a Christian settlement in the 11th century. The harbour is the home port for the largest fishing fleet in Northern Ireland and there are fish-processing factories around it, pleasure angling off the piers and lobster farming along the coastline. The mountains sit behind the town with the craggy Sleive Bignian dominating the skyline. There are many opportunities for hiking, climbing and walking, eating and shopping and in the summer many visitors flood into the town from nearby Blue Flagged Cranfield Beach.
