Minister of Priesthill (Zion) Methodist
Rev. Colin Gracie
... is the question I always dread the most! To say “I’ve been around” never quite explains it all, so here goes….
I was born near Stirling in 1969, not far from where my dad grew up. At the age of 11 months, my parents, my older sister and I moved to Glasgow. It was there that I attended primary school and had many holiday trips to East Belfast where my mother is from. We all moved to Cork in 1981, where I went to secondary school and we joined the Methodist Church there (mind you, I spent the first three years there as a chorister in the Anglican cathedral!) After graduating from University College Cork and then a masters degree at Durham University, I pursued a career as a field archaeologist working on many of the road projects around the Republic.
All changed in 1998 when I began testing God’s call by spending a year as a Lay Worker on the Dungannon Circuit. The following year, I was accepted as a ministerial candidate and began studying at Edgehill. In June 2000, Anita and I were married in her parish church in Dublin. Her teaching commitments meant that it was another year before we were able to live together in Hillsborough.
In 2002, I was stationed on the Birr, Athlone & Tullamore Circuit and Eleanor was born that September. I was ordained in 2003 and Alex joined us in 2005. As we settle into Dromore, we look forward to our time serving God here and calling this circuit “home”.
Colin Gracie
