Abbey Church is a congregation affiliated to the Presbyterian Church in Ireland through the Dublin & Munster Presbytery. We have been meeting at our present site in Parnell Square right at the heart of the city for almost one hundred and fifty years, although our history can be traced back much further.
In the course of a century and a half we have gone through several name changes: Rutland Square Presbyterian, Abbey Presbyterian, and colloquially as ‘Findlater’s Church’ (after the Dublin merchant who paid for the construction of the building); and through seismic shifts culturally, historically, socially and economically. Indeed the reconstituting and renaming of the congregation came as a direct result of the 1916 Easter Rising and its aftermath. Throughout these changes we have tried to remain faithful to God’s purposes for this age and for the age to come, responding as best we can to the needs and opportunities afforded us. Consequently preaching, teaching, social involvement and ecumenical interaction have characterised our worship and mission. Previously we have been responsible in whole or in part for establishing Lindsay Road National School, St. Andrews College, Abbey Day Nursery, Dolebusters Project, and the Horticultural Workshop.
Due to the significance of Dublin as the capital city and our strategic position in the city centre, we believe that God is calling us to lay hold of the purpose for which He has laid hold of us: to be a people anticipating the resurrection life of the New-Heavens-and-New-Earth, pointing those around us to share that vision and this life.