Killarney Methodist Church, left virtually without a congregation just decades ago, has reopened - and has had to build an extension to accommodate its growing numbers.
The church has two Sunday services and now regularly sees 100 in attendance.
Thirty years ago, when the last of its members emigrated, the church on the edge of town alongside the golden gates to the national park closed. It opened for services only during the summer to accommodate visiting Methodists, with the support of the Cork Methodist congregation.
But this weekend an extension incorporating meeting rooms, kitchens, toilets and other facilities was officially opened by the president of the Methodist Church in Ireland, Rev Dr Brian Fletcher.
The highlight of the dedication ceremony was the hymn All things bright and beautiful, sung to an African rhythm by Sunday schoolchildren made up of local and immigrant members.
The church was revived following the appointment of lay pastors Ed and Jean Ritchie in the late 1990s.
Methodism in Kerry began with Irish-speaking preachers who arrived on horseback in the early 1800s, Mr Ritchie recounted.
Rev Laurence Graham thanked the people of Killarney and the other churches for their support, and said the Methodists felt very much part of the community.
Even more than dedicating a building, they were celebrating the church as people, he said.
All kinds of criteria had to be met because the church was a listed building, but it had all been achieved.
The €225,000 renovation and landscaping was paid for. Church representatives were "staggered" at the generous contributions.
At the opening were mayor of Killarney Brian O'Leary along with clergy from both the Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland.
Meanwhile, the Church of Ireland in Killarney is also experiencing growth and is planning renovations and an extension. Rev Stan Evans, rector at St Mary's Church of Ireland, said migrant workers who had settled in the area as well as a large transient population were contributing to the flowering of the church in the town.