Killead Congregation has a long history. Its origins lie in the Six Mile Water Revivial (1625-1634) and the fiery evangelical preaching of the Rev. James Glendinning, Minister at Oldstone. The meeting house was first erected at Killead somewhere about 1680 and the present building dates from about 1750.

The T-shaped building with three entrances and a large gallery was designed to so that the people sat around the pulpit in the middle of the long wall. The reading and the expounding of the Word of God was central to their worship – a feature which remains unchanged today. In the 18th & 19th centuries, Killead was one of the largest congregations in the area. During the ministry of the Rev. Henry Mecredy the 1859 Revival swept through Ulster. In that year forty new communicants were added to the role of Killead and over one hundred more people than usual attended the sacrament. During the remaining years of his ministry and that of his successor the Rev. William Baird (1891-1903) the congregation grew and ‘enjoyed much blessing in matters spiritual and material.’

Although there had long been a school attached to the congregation to provide an elementary education to the children of the area, it was in 1916, under the leadership of the Rev. Dr Jack Irwin that a new school and Master’s residence were constructed. Unfortunately due to Dr Irwin’s strong political views and his support for a United Ireland, a significant number of families left the congregation in the following years. Slow growth followed during the rest of the twentieth century and various renovations were made to the church building and other property so that in its visitation of 1971 (five years after the installation of the Rev. Derek Weir) the Templepatrick Presbytery noted “many evidences of growth and progress both in the spiritual and temporal in the life of the congregation.”

In 1976 the congregation was linked with the neighbouring congregation of Loanends and since then the two congregations have worked closely together. In 1978 a special week of Mission Services was organized by both congregations and a Joint Bible Study Group was formed out of it. In 1979 the Presbytery recorded that it “rejoiced in the knowledge that both congregations have developed a very successful partnership in meeting the spiritual and pastoral need of their respective areas. The two congregations celebrated the fortieth anniversary of this linkage in October 2016 by holding a dinner in the Templeton Hotel at which Rev. W D Weir, Minister Emeritus, spoke warmly of his time as Minister of both churches.

A new church hall was opened in June 2006 and is much used by church organisations and by others from the community. Then, in 2010 the interior of the church building was renovated. To give more room at the front of the church the 1950s Choir Box was removed along with the ailing pipe organ and a new Phoenix digital instrument was installed.

While membership and attendance at worship have remained fairly constant we cannot be complacent and recognize the need to continue to reach out to the community around us.