Our story
Now let us build. From prayer to possession — and the call that follows.Now let us build. From prayer to possession, nearly 190 years of inheritance, and the call that follows.
How we got here
Years without a permanent home.
Place of Victory for All Nations Belfast prayed and gathered for years without a house of its own.
Rooms were borrowed. Addresses changed. The people stayed. The longing for a place that could hold prayer, worship and the next generation never left.
The pivot
Before / after
Both are true on the same afternoon.
Empty. Quiet. Waiting.
A home for prayer, worship and generations.
The house remembers
1837 — now
First Ballymacarrett Presbyterian Church built and occupied this site from 1837 until 2010. Baptisms, marriages, working families and worship through the hardest periods in the city’s history are held in its story.
The purchase did not begin the story. It placed PVN Belfast in the care of one already being written by generations.
Surviving records of First Ballymacarrett Presbyterian Church begin. In a fast-growing industrial district of mills and manufacture, the church becomes part of the spiritual and social landscape of East Belfast.
Historical accounts record that Sir Edward Carson worshipped here on the day of the Ulster Covenant signing. Whatever one’s political perspective, it shows the building stood through significant moments in Belfast and Northern Ireland — offered as evidence of significance, never as political alignment.
A lecture hall and sexton’s house open at a cost of roughly £6,000 — a serious investment by people who would not see the whole future they were funding. The clearest historical parallel to what we are being asked to do now.
The congregation holds its final Sunday service in September and joins with Ravenhill. More than a decade of vacancy follows. The fabric pays the price.
PVN Belfast purchases 5 Paulett Avenue as its permanent home — receiving stewardship of a place that already carries the work and sacrifice of generations.
The purchase was the beginning. Now comes the rebuilding — so that those who come after us inherit a house alive with prayer, worship and welcome.
Heritage as a promise
The people the building is forThe restoration commits to sharing the story of 5 Paulett and Ballymacarrett through exhibitions, schools engagement, oral histories, heritage activities and public access.
That honours the congregation that came before while creating genuine public benefit for people who are not part of the church.
See the house in photographsA historic building brought back to life — for the street as well as the sanctuary.
The promise of 5 Paulett
This is our moment
We cannot build this alone. Every gift — into a pot or straight to the fund — lands in the same house.
