Our history

Mountain Lodge Pentecostal Assembly (as it was originally known) was founded in the 1950s by Thomas John Hunniford who bought Mountain Lodge House & Estate. Being of a Pentecostal background, he started some meetings in the large house and as numbers grew transferred them to the gate lodge on the estate. Within a short time, the gate lodge was too small and so he added an extension to accommodate the increasing numbers who attended each week.

One of the first missions run in the gate lodge was by two evangelists, Bob Mullen and David Greenow. Bob Flanagan, a local man from the village of Darkley, attended the mission one night. These preachers were preaching signs, wonders and miracles. After the meeting, he went up and challenged the preachers, “Do you believe what you are preaching?” “We certainly do”, they said. “Well then prove it to me” said Bob, “I have a girl at home dying of asthma. If you pray for her and she is healed, I will believe”. The two men followed him to his house, just as Jesus would have done. The men entered the room and saw the girl gasping for breath. They laid hands on her, rebuking the asthma and the next breath went straight to the bottom of her lungs and she was perfectly healed. Bob and his wife were amazed. The following Sunday they were both at the Mountain Lodge meeting, where they remained as members for many years.

A local man, Robert Bain, known to everyone as Bob, was invited to the mission, not knowing that these meetings were to change his life and that of his family forever. Many more testimonies were given at the mission and it shook Bob’s faith to its foundation because he was brought up to believe that these things died with the apostles. After the mission Bob, his wife and family joined Mountain Lodge. (In later years Bob would take over the role of Pastor).

The gate lodge by now was too small so during 1959 a larger hall was erected a short distance away on Mr Hunniford’s land. Bob Bain was a man that loved singing and there was plenty of that in Mountain Lodge. When he was only there about a year, Thomas John Hunniford put a book in his hand and said, “You go up and lead the singing”. Everyone will always remember him leading the meetings with a big tambourine. Eventually Mr Hunniford decided to move away and he appointed Bob to lead the flock. Pastor Bob had the gift of divine healing, as taught in the scriptures and so people came from near and far for prayer. The work continued to flourish under his ministry, with people travelling from far and near for prayer.

Although the Assembly was still small, visiting preachers regularly came to speak at the Sunday evening meetings. In 1969 a man with a prophetic ministry gave a message to the Assembly: “I am going to visit this place with my power and will bring a people that you do not know and a people from across the border, and will plant them in your midst and you will have fellowship together, saith the Lord”. A few months later it started to happen; people came without any invitation and large families came from across the border and Mountain Lodge experienced its first real revival.

However, when revival hits, the devil is not far away. In 1971 an arson attack meant this new hall was burned down. (The building was by now too small anyway). The following year a new cedar-wood building was erected on the site which served the growing congregation until 1990. A tank for baptism by immersion was installed in the open air behind the church. What a blessing came to those who were baptised in water and who received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Many a young couple walked the aisle and took their vows before God in this building.

God’s hand of blessing was on the meetings in this hall and Sunday nights saw an influx of young people come into the church. What a shock it was therefore, when on 20th November 1983 terrorists entered our church during the Sunday evening service, killing three elders and wounding seven others. This was during the height of 'The Troubles' in Northern Ireland.

It was all over in a few minutes and the gunmen fled. Pastor Bob was praying for the wounded when he noticed a young man in the back seat badly injured. This young man had been shot through the door and a number of bullets were lodged in his stomach. It looked like he wouldn’t make it as he was bleeding very badly. Pastor Bob laid hands on him and commanded the bleeding to stop which, to the astonishment of the medics, it did immediately! During the dark days that followed, the saints were strengthened by the word of God and the prayers of God’s people and were convinced by God’s Word that this door would not be closed because God had opened it.

Eventually a new larger church building was built on the same site which was opened on 18th August 1990. This building cost £180,000, a vast step of faith for a small congregation, but with the support of friends, and sacrificial giving by the fellowship the church cleared the debt in just four years!

At this time, Pastor Bob's son-in-law was ordained as an assistant pastor and new elders were installed, and for the following four years this new building would remain the meeting place of the congregation.

The church had settled comfortably into this building when on 13th May 1994, Pastor Bain, who had faithfully served the church for over thirty years, was called Home. David Bell, the assistant pastor, then accepted the senior position and continued to lead the work forward under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. However, later that year on 4th September 1994, the church suffered another arson attack and the new building was gutted by fire, completely destroying the interior of the building. The interior was gutted out and two additional levels were incorporated into the design, providing a balcony and a church hall at an upper level. The enlarged and refurbished building was reopened to the glory of God on 18th August 1995.

For many years the church had a two day convention at Christmas and Easter. Those meetings were a tremendous blessing and people came for miles to attend. The meetings started at 3 pm and often didn’t finish until 10 pm! In 1998, we felt led of God to change the format to an Easter Camp instead, a place where we could accommodate the whole family and have a weekend of church ministry.

These camps have become a source of great blessing with new people and visiting speakers from around the world coming every year. A cross-community children’s outreach became an integral part of the weekends. Accommodation became a problem owing to the increasing numbers attending Camp each year and therefore a new purpose built chalet was erected in 2002 with twelve bedrooms, showers etc. at the rear of the church.

In 2012, five acres of land with a derelict cottage came up for sale, adjacent to the church, which we were able to purchase and four years later Mountain Lodge obtained planning permission for a church cemetery on part of this land. The remainder of the land and the site of the old cottage will be used to fulfil the vision for future church development.

As part of our continuing vision for the future, in 2021 a new extension was added to the main building, to include a passenger lift, Sunday School suite and enlarged church hall and kitchen. These additional facilities will be of particular benefit during camps.