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Church History
Boyle church, otherwise known as Boyle Federal church, is the result of an early co-operation agreement between the Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church in the town of Boyle. The small congregations in the two separate churches agreed in 1948 to join together and to meet for worship in the Presbyterian church, since it was the one in better repair. Since then, services there are conducted on alternate Sundays by Methodist and Presbyterian preachers. Meanwhile, the old Methodist church was sold in 1965 and has since been demolished.
Boyle Methodist church and its successor, the Methodist & Presbyterian church, were part of the Drumshanbo Methodist circuit, which later amalgamated with the Sligo circuit to form the Sligo & Drumshanbo circuit (renamed the North Connacht circuit in 2002). The minister residing in Drumshanbo was responsible for the Boyle Methodist members, and preached in Boyle on alternate Sundays. When falling numbers resulted in the withdrawal of the Drumshanbo minister, the responsibility passed to the minister residing in Sligo. He still travels to Boyle to conduct worship every second Sunday, or arranges for an alternative Methodist speaker if he is not available. The services on the alternate Sundays are still the responsibility of the Sligo Presbyterian minister.
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