Rev John McCaughan

7 November 1918 – 14th August 2010

On 14th August the Minister Emeritus of Legacurry Rev John McCaughan went home to be with the Lord he loved and served so faithfully.  The funeral service took place at Burnside Presbyterian Church, Portstewart and was conducted by Rev David Johnston.  The Moderator Rev Dr Norman Hamilton brought the greetings of the General Assembly and Rev Liddle brought the condolences of the Dromore Presbytery, which Rev John McCaughan served as Clerk for 13 years, and also of Legacurry congregation which he served for 34 years and in which he concluded his ministry.

John was a faithful and able Clerk of Presbytery, firm but also humorous.  On one occasion he announced that the Finance Committee of Presbytery would meet at Legacurry Manse at the scraik-of-dawn – which, he explained, meant 10 o’clock in Legacurry.

He was well known throughout the churches in the Lisburn area for writing the Churches page of the Lisburn Star, even after retirement, for a total of 40 years.

John, Molly, Kay and Jim were and are held in the highest regard at Legacurry.   Both Boys’ and Girls’ Brigade Companies were formed during his ministry.  He pushed the Church to take a huge step of faith in purchasing the land our halls are now built on.  He formed and taught local Sunday Schools and promoted a Stewardship Campaign in the 1960’s that had a significant impact on the Church and his own ministry. 

As a warm-hearted pastor John could appear in a house with a small bar of chocolate for a child off school through illness and be out late at night to visit someone who needed him.

He wasn’t a weak man and was known to stop a service to tell some of the ‘back row boys’ to be quiet.  Yet the pastors’ heart came through in his sermons, one of which has been painted onto a hanging in our Old School room. It is taken from Philippians Chapter 4.

• Be anxious for nothing
• Be thankful for anything
• Be prayerful for everything

That was John McCaughan, a very human and practical man with a commitment to hard work, a great love for the countryside and for his people.  He also had a great passion for sport and one time missed a Presbytery Conference to take Jim to a football match in England.

It was a delight to the congregation that John was able to end his pulpit ministry in Legacurry where he had served for so long.  His last service was after Easter 2000. 

As he lived so he promoted at all times “an attitude of gratitude.”   It is with gratitude that we remember him, giving thanks for his life and ministry and commending Kay and her husband Ivan, Jim and his wife Alison and their families prayerfully to the Lord.

CD copies of Rev McCaughan’s Funeral Service are available and anyone who wants one should add their name to the list in the vestibule.