New Presbyterian minister keen to get up and running

Service of Ordination, Installation and Induction of Wallace Moore

Jessica Thompson

The weekend was a particularly important one for the local Presbyterian community, who witnessed the ordination, installation and induction of Minister Wallace Moore to the congregations of Corboy and Mullingar, after a year without a minister.

Minister Moore was ordained at the Mullingar Presbyterian Church on Saturday and gave his first two services on Sunday in Corboy and Mullingar Churches.

“There’s obviously a bit of nervousness, but I’m excited about it,” said the enthusiastic Derry man ahead of his ordination.

“I know there’s a lot of anticipation and they’ve been waiting for over a year, so the congregation are excited, and we are too. We just want to get started and get involved, and we’ll be able to settle in quickly.

“And I think we will,” he added. “The people are lovely. They’ve made us feel welcome – not just those we’ve met at church, but anybody else we’ve met around the place has made us feel really welcome.” Minister Moore and his wife, Jane, moved to Mullingar just a week before his ordination and have been getting to know the Westmeath town and Longford, and they have plans to get more involved in the community as they settle in.

Their two children, 22-year-old Leah and 19-year-old Zach are currently attending university in Cardiff, beginning lives of their own as their parents enter this new chapter in a new community.

“You’ll probably find me in some coffee shops, so I can be more accessible to people,” said Minister Moore, with an encouragement to anyone to “come and say hello” and get to know him.

“I do a wee bit of running, so I might get involved in the parkrun too, just to meet people there. And to try and keep myself fit, because I have discovered ministers do a lot of drinking coffee and eating buns,” he laughed.

Minister Moore is originally from Derry, where he was brought up in a Christian home during the times of the troubles in the 1970s.

“When I came to 16, I had the opportunity of escaping and I got an apprenticeship in Belfast in Bombardier Aerospace, or Shorts as it would’ve been known, as an engineer. So I took that and moved away from Derry at 16,” he recalled.

“I was excited about that move and I ended up staying with a Christian couple and I think that kept me grounded. In one sense, the Christian faith really grew from there. I got involved in the church in east Belfast, in the youth group.”

Following his apprenticeship, he became an aerospace engineer and worked at Bombardier for three decades.

“I thought that would do me until I retired. But in the meantime, I was involved in children’s work, I was a scripture reader and I worked in summer camps and that’s where I met Jane. We got married six years later, in 1997 and she moved to Belfast then as well.”

In 2000, the couple moved to Newtownards and settled in a small community, where they became involved in the local church.

“In one sense, the church in Mullingar and the church in Corboy are small churches and Mullingar especially is a nice wee community,” he said.

“In the church we were involved in at Newtownards, we were in the community as well, in a housing estate and we loved it.

“We learned a lot and got involved in the community a lot. And that’s why coming here is ideal, because we want to get involved in the community and the churches. We just want to be part of that and be a Christian in that community.”

The Presbyterian community is small in this part of the world, Minister Moore noted. He and his wife have come from a community that had seven Presbyterian churches, to a single church in Mullingar, which is the only Presbyterian church in the whole of County Westmeath.

Similarly, the church in Corboy is the only Presbyterian church in the whole of County Longford.

It’s a very different experience, but what’s also quite different for Minister Wallace is the move from a career as an engineer to a completely different calling as a minister.

“I worked as an aerospace engineer for 30 years and really enjoyed it, but I left five years ago, and in one sense I don’t miss it,” he said.

“Because I know this is God’s calling. I had to go to college, obviously, for three years. And then I spent two years as an assistant in Newtownards, like an apprenticeship. So this is now our first charge in a church.

“We’re excited about it,” he added.

“We’ve seen the mission plan for the two churches. You’d nearly think it was written for us because it is one to learn, study more in the Bible, but also the churches want to engage more with the community and have the confidence to do that. That’s what I want to be able to do.

“It is a big responsibility, obviously, being called to be a minister. I know people in good times in life and bad times in life will obviously want to come and seek help. I want to love people that way and care for them in good times and bad times as well.

“There are many Presbyterian churches that are vacant and looking for a minister, but I feel this is really where God wants us and we are excited about it. It’s different, but different is good,” he concluded.

New minister hopes to grow Presbyterian community

The Presbyterian Churches in Mullingar and Corboy are the only churches of that denomination in Counties Westmeath and Longford.

But, while the Presbyterian community is a small one in the midlands, it is by no means a new one.

“Corboy church is 350 years old, so Presbyterians have been here for quite a while,” said newly-ordained Minister Wallace Moore.

“And the church in Mullingar is 200 years old. They built a new church 10 years ago, but there has been a small Presbyterian community here.

“A lot of Ireland, north and south, has become secular over a lot of years. But I feel that God is doing things again, and people have become more open again to the Gospel, and are searching for something. And that’s when I would obviously point them to Jesus.

“The Presbyterian Church probably hasn’t been all that prominent around here. But our prayer is that, as we get involved, as we bring that good news, that hope of the Gospel to people, it will grow.”

And, as Minister Moore and his wife, Jane, get settled in to their new community, he welcomes members of both the Corboy and Mullingar congregation – as well as members of the public at large – to introduce themselves.

“If you see us, come and say hello,” he said, “we’re happy to talk to anybody.”

On behalf of the local congregation, Jason McKevitt said: “I would like to welcome Rev Wallace Moore, his wife Jane and children Leah and Zach to our great town of Mullingar. All the congregation are delighted that he feels a calling to serve as Presbyterian minister in the town. The Presbyterian church has been part of Mullingar for more 200 years and we really look forward to the next chapter under the guidance of Rev Wallace.”

Presbytery of Dublin and Munster

The Congregations of Corboy and Mullingar hosted the Service of Ordination, Installation and Induction of Mr Wallace Moore to the congregations of Corboy and Mullingar Presbyterian Churches on Saturday, January 11, at 2.30pm, at Mullingar Presbyterian Church, at Raithín.

Rev Moore was also installed and inducted into the Dublin and Munster Presbytery.

The local Presbyterian community have been part of Mullingar for more than 200 years, and the old Presbyterian Church building or Presbyterian Meeting House (now Grace’s café) on Castle Street was constructed between 1821 and 1825.

The adjacent Minister’s Manse was constructed in the 1860s.

This year, 2025, marks the 200th anniversary of the former Presbyterian Church Building in Castle Street.

In the early 2000s, the popular Rev Stephen Lockington became the Minister of Mullingar Presbyterian Church and during his time here, a new Presbyterian Church building was constructed at Raithín.

Rev Wallace replaces Rev Daniel Reyes-Martin, who transferred to Monaghan in 2023, as the local Presbyterian minister.

– Historical details courtesy of Jason McKevitt