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✝️ Report on the 50th Anniversary Meeting at Carryduff Free Presbyterian Church
Friday 20 February 2026 – “ The Little Girl Raised from the Dead ”
(Held in the Luther Hall, Carryduff Free Presbyterian Church – continuing the celebration of 50 Years of the Killynure Road Children’s Meetings)
💒 A Change of Venue, the Same Warm Welcome
With the Carryduff Primary School assembly hall unavailable, Friday’s anniversary meeting moved to the Luther Hall at Carryduff Free Presbyterian Church, 87 Killynure Road. Despite the change of setting, the warmth of fellowship and eagerness to hear God’s Word remained undiminished.
Rev. David McLaughlin opened the meeting with a hearty welcome. He thanked everyone for adjusting to the new venue and acknowledged the Lord’s hand of blessing seen all week during the special 50th‑anniversary services of the Killynure Road Children’s Meetings.
🎵 Singing Praises to the Saviour
The congregation began with that well‑loved hymn, “I Love to Tell the Story.” It was sung with both energy and meaning – a fitting reminder that the greatest story ever told is the story of the Lord Jesus Christ, His love, and His redeeming grace.
After prayer from Elder Lawrence Crawford, several choruses followed:
- “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus” — joyfully confessing loyalty to Christ.
- “I Have Been Redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb” — celebrating every believer’s spiritual riches.
- “Thank You Lord for Saving My Soul.”
Rev. McLaughlin smiled as he told the children that if they knew Christ, they were “richer than all the billionaires in the world,” because the Christian has eternal treasures — forgiveness, peace with God, and a home in heaven.
📖 Memory Verse – John 11 v 25
Mr. George Anderson led the memory verse for the evening, displayed on screen:
“The Bible says in John chapter 11 verse 25, ‘I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.’”
He reminded everyone that storing God’s Word in the heart can bear eternal fruit. He told of a man who was converted years after childhood because verses he had learnt in Sunday School returned to him in his dreams — a stirring proof that the Word of God never returns void.
💬 Testimony – Rev. David McLaughlin
Before handing over to the visiting preacher, Rev. McLaughlin shared his own personal word of testimony, fittingly linked to the theme verse “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so” (Psalm 107 v 2).
He told of his life before conversion — beginning heavy drinking at eleven and already nearly enslaved to alcohol by the age of eighteen. In those days he had little thought of God and no interest in church. But the Lord placed in his workplace a godly man named Andy Alexander, who spoke kindly to him and invited him to a Gospel Mission in a tent near Ballymoney, conducted by the late Rev. Stanley Barnes.
That night the message from John 10 v 10 — “I am come that they might have life” — cut deeply into his heart. He realised he was a sinner bound for judgment, yet by grace came to see that Jesus was the Saviour he needed. Within days, after reading a Gospel tract and kneeling beside his bed, he trusted Christ as Lord and Redeemer.
“If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature,” he testified. “The old desires were gone — the drink, the cigarettes, the bad language — and new desires came in: prayer, Bible reading, and love for God’s people.”
His story closed with a heartfelt question to the congregation: “What’s your story tonight? Have you come to Christ and been changed by His grace?”
📘 Bible Reading – Mark Stronge
Mark read Mark 5:21‑43, the beautiful narrative of Jairus’s daughter — the “little girl raised from the dead.” It tells of hope in the face of despair, faith in the face of fear, and Christ’s power to raise the dead to life.
✝️ Message – “The Little Girl Raised from the Dead”
Preacher: Rev. John Morrow
Rev. Morrow, welcomed warmly to the pulpit, preached a stirring gospel message centred on Mark 5 and the miracle of the raising of Jairus’s daughter.
He began by showing that the Bible gives great significance to little things — a little oil in a vessel, a grain of mustard seed, little foxes that spoil the vines, a little leaven that leavens the whole lump, and a little town called Bethlehem from which the Saviour came. God delights to use what is small and seemingly insignificant for His glory.
1. The Condition of the Child
Jairus’s daughter was “at the point of death” and soon dead. Rev. Morrow explained that she represents every soul without Christ — helpless and hopeless, “dead in trespasses and sins.”
Sin, he said, is man’s deepest sickness, and without divine intervention there is no cure.
“We don’t grow into sin,” he said, “we are born in it.”
But he reminded everyone that what is impossible with man is possible with God. There are no “incurables” with Christ.
2. The Concern of the Father
Jairus fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading earnestly for his dying child. Although a ruler of the synagogue, and once perhaps opposed to Christ, in his desperation he cast aside pride and sought the only One who could help.
His passion, humility, and faith were examples to every believer and every parent. Rev. Morrow urged parents and the church to share Jairus’s burden for the salvation of children:
“It takes the same grace to save a child as it does to save a prodigal,” he said.
“No young heart is too small for the grace of God.”
3. The Conquest of the Saviour
At the words “Be not afraid, only believe,” Christ entered the house, took the child by the hand and said, “Talitha cumi – Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.”
With that, the little girl rose and walked — a perfect picture of spiritual resurrection. Jesus still raises the spiritually dead today and gives them new life.
Rev. Morrow said:
“There’s no prayer too big for God to answer, no person too sinful for Him to save, and no child too young for Him to draw to Himself.”
He pointed to the compassion of Christ — speaking in language the child could understand — and the evidence of life seen when she rose and was given something to eat. True life in Christ, he explained, is seen in a new walk and a new appetite for God’s Word.
The sermon closed with solemn appeals: to parents to bring their children to Christ, to the church to pray for revival among the young, and to any unsaved soul to come to the Saviour without delay.
“Youth is no guarantee of tomorrow,” he said. “Today is the day of salvation.”
🎵 Closing Hymn and Prayer
The meeting concluded with Hymn No. 11 – “Come to the Saviour, Make No Delay.” The appeal was calm yet earnest, echoing the invitation that had just been preached.
Rev. McLaughlin closed in prayer, thanking the Lord for His presence throughout the week and for the faithful ministry of Rev. Morrow. He prayed that the Lord would “save the children of Carryduff, not one by one but by the handful,” and that the spirit of revival seen in 1859 would visit again.
He also looked ahead to Sunday night’s closing service when Rev. David McMullan would preach and sing in thanksgiving for the fifty years of children’s meetings.
Before dismissal, each child present received a bag of treats, continuing the long‑standing tradition of kindness and joy that has characterised this ministry from its beginning.
🌟 Summary
Friday’s meeting in the Luther Hall brought a tender stillness after a week of joyous celebration. Through Rev. John Morrow’s clear and compassionate preaching, listeners were once again reminded of the Saviour’s mighty power to raise the dead — both physically and spiritually — and of His enduring love for “the little ones.”
“Talitha cumi – Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.” (Mark 5:41)
He who gave life to a little girl in Galilee still gives life to every soul who believes today.
