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Reverend Matthew Sullivan

Obituary of the Reverend Matthew Sullivan, Congregational Church minister; born October 14, 1929, died July 24, 2008.

The Reverend Matthew Sullivan, who has died aged 78 after a lengthy illness, was a truly great parish minister, writes Matt Vallance. Born in North Belfast, the son of a lamplighter, he was for nearly 50 years a guiding light to the people of Cumnock in East Ayrshire.

He organised and ran an annual Glasgow Fair Seaside Mission for Children in Ardrossan and, during the Troubles of the 1970s, his manse and church were a haven for the hard-pressed parishioners of associate churches in Ulster, while he himself would frequently arrange exchange visits with ministers across the North Channel.

His service to the Congregational Union of Scotland was recognised by that body's presidency in 1991. Further recognition was to come from Cumnock and Doon Valley District Council, who granted him the freedom of the district, while he was made MBE prior to his retirement from his charge in 1998.

In retirement he was always ready to answer calls to help out at other Ayrshire congregations, in particular filling in at Kilmarnock's Henderson Kirk during the Right Reverend David Lacey's term as moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

Full story at The Herald.