Our church premises are situated at 5 Brown Street, Port Glasgow, behind the Port Glasgow Tesco Extra supermarket, with parking just across the road. We are a small but active congregation, always ready to welcome a new face to our services, which are at 11.30 every Sunday morning. Please do make contact with us if you would like some more information. Obviously what we are doing now is of great importance, but for those who like a little history, please read our story below. A church and its congregation should never be static, we need to make ourselves accessible to the needs of the times, all the while sticking to our basic Biblical beliefs.
The congregation of Port Glasgow URC originally belonged to the old Evangelical Union founded in 1843 by the Rev. James Morrison of Kilmarnock. The church was first formed as a mission station of the Evangelical Union in June 1879 and consisted of about a dozen families who had been attending one or two of the Greenock E.U. Churches.
It was the Rev. Alexander Davidson of Nelson Street E.U. Church, Greenock who was instrumental in the forming of the Port Glasgow Church. Under his guidance and enthusiasm, the mission station began in July 1879 in the Oddfellows Hall, Gillespie Lane, under the Leadership of the Rev. J. L. Hill.
Unfortunately, Mr Hill suffered a breakdown in health in October 1880 and had to resign from his charge. The following month the mission was formed into a church and in December Mr A. D. Anderson, a student, was appointed by the Glasgow District to take charge for three months. Mr Anderson, who had just completed theological classes, was then given a unanimous vote to become the Minister before his three months expired.
His ordination and induction social was held in the Town Hall on Thursday 12th May 1881 with the Rev. Alexander Day of Nelson Street E.U. Church, Greenock in the chair.
Mr Anderson was very popular with the congregation. The church prospered under his zeal and it wasn’t long until the thought of establishing a permanent building materialised. This new venture was a mammoth challenge to such a small congregation, but a central site was acquired in Balfour Street and work began on the new building in September 1882.
On 27th April 1883, Principal Dr Morrison of the Theological College, dedicated the Port Glasgow Evangelical Church and on the following Sunday opening services were conducted by the Rev. James Davidson, President of the Union and the Rev. Alexander Davidson of the “Mother Church”, Nelson Street, Greenock.
Little time was lost in trying to clear the church of debt and in October 1883 a bazaar held in the Town. Hall raised more than the £1000 cost of erecting the new church.
In 1962 the church was due to be demolished to make way for a new housing development. The closing farewell service was held on Sunday 14th January 1962 and the following week services began in the nearby Masonic Hall. The hall was used as a temporary place of worship until alterations were completed to the former Temperance Institute which became the present church.
The Evangelical Union, after a lengthy negotiation was incorporated into the Congregational Union of Scotland in 1896. The Congregational Union of Scotland joined the United Reformed Church in the year 2000.