The Kirk of Kildaire, Presbyterian was started by lay people living in Cary with worship services beginning in late 1977. The first service was held on December 4, 1977 at the MacGregor Downs Youth Center. In mid-1978, the Kirk started meeting in the real estate sales office for the Kildaire Farms Planned Unit Development here at 200 High Meadow Drive.
The meeting place had to be set up and ready for the 10:30 am worship service, and then dismantled and prepared for commercial use by 12 o'clock.
Preachers for these Sunday services were recruited from the Greater Raleigh Area churches. The first full-time Kirk minister was called and installed in mid-1979 for the purpose of organizing the church.
A meeting was held for the purpose of naming the church. Several names were considered, but none generated much enthusiasm until the name, Kirk of Kildaire, was introduced. It was adopted by unanimous vote. "Kirk" is the Scottish word for church.
The Kirk of Kildaire charter was granted October 28, 1979 with 92 charter members. In January 1980, the Kirk purchased the Kildaire Farms sales office and 5.7 acre property. The building was renovated numerous times and expanded twice to add classrooms. In 1986, a new building was completed that included a sanctuary, classrooms, offices, kitchen, and storage space. The first worship service was held on Christmas Eve of that year.
The Kirk completed a major facilities expansion in the spring of 1998. It began with the groundbreaking for a new 600-seat sanctuary, fellowship hall, kitchen, classrooms, administrative offices, choir rehearsal room, and shower facilities on Palm Sunday 1997. The first worship service in the new sanctuary took place on Palm Sunday 1998.
In 2014, a renovation added an office, storage space, and more classrooms.
In 2015, we began Phase One of a Capital Campaign. The campaign for building an education facility to replace aging and damaged buildings and to provide space for future mission and ministry was a success. Over 3 million dollars was pledged to the new building. In February 2017, the congregation voted to move forward on this building project. Demolition began in the fall of 2017 and the new building should open by Thanksgiving of 2018.
Though our buildings are important and widely used by nonprofit and community groups as well as Kirk groups, our work and Christian witness continue well beyond this campus.
Worship at 8:45 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.