The Church of God in Newtownards was the vision of the late Pastor Tom Pinkerton who served God for many years as an Elder in the Strandtown Church of God. Pastor Pinkerton felt an urgency in his heart to come to Newtownards and evangelise in the name of his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Assisted by other volunteers who shared his vision, a room was rented at the Newtownards Leisure Centre for the purpose of conducting childrens evangelism services. The success of this venture not only saw the salvation of children, but many parents and whole families were added to the church through this outreach.

As the congregation started to grow there was a need to find more suitable accommodation. The church met together once a week for worship and fellowship and to facilitate the growth of the congregation a large room was rented in the Town Hall. Thursday night meetings were held there and this met the needs of the new church for about six months. The Lord added musicians to the church at this stage and the congregation started to really become fitly framed together.

Manor Court Community Centre was our most comfortable rented property to date. The centre offered a great opportunity for enhancing the fellowship of the local congregation. For the first time the church had the facility of a good fitted kitchen which was a luxury not enjoyed in any of our previous temporary homes. More families joined the church at this stage and inter church fellowship was possible because of the more suitable facilities.

The building we now call home was purchased from the Church of Christ, and came on to the market at just the right time. Pastor Pinkerton was very keen to secure a property for the Newtownards congregation to worship in, and he moved quickly to negotiate the purchase. The building required extensive renovation which was undertaken mostly by volunteer labour from church members to control costs, and partly by contractors to carry out specialised repairs such as a partial collapse of the front part of the roof structure. The original building was built in 1837 as a Methodist Church and served the Methodist congregations for many generations. John Wesley was known to have visited the town as part of his preaching circuit, but it is commonly regarded that the church building was constructed after his visit.

With the renovation work duly completed, the date for the opening of the newly refurbished sanctuary was fixed, and a united Churches of God convention day was scheduled where members from all the Churches of God came and packed the sanctuary to the glory of God. To celebrate the great opening event, members of the Newtownards congregation marched with a police escort, through the main thoroughfare of the town, singing praises, and playing musical instruments from Manor Court Community Centre to Zion Place.