Presbyterian Herald July/August 2019

JULY/AUGUST 2019

Enjoying

#pciga19

GENERAL ASSEMBLY REPORTS #pciga19

BECOMING SCAMWISE How to spot the signs

AN OPEN DOOR

Maud Kells tells her story

CONTENTS | JULY/AUGUST 2019

FEATURES 12 Passing on blessing

Hazelbank’s mission focus on Malawi

14 PCI’s response to Queen’s 15 General Assembly reports 36 Dissenting voices The history of dissent in PCI

38 Going deep and wide in global mission New resource for congregations

40 Everyone needs a fresh start PCI initiative to encourage volunteers in Hydebank

42 Becoming scamwise How to spot the signs

44 An open door

Passing on blessing p12

Maud Kells tells her story

REGULARS 4 6 9 10 11 27 35 46 47 48 52

Letters News As I see it In this month My story Mission Connect Talking points Reviews Betsy Cameron Life in PCI Crossword

Going deep and wide in global mission p38

CONTRIBUTORS

Cover photo: Jamie Trimble July/August 2019 No. 823 £1.50 (€1.80) Published by: The Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Assembly Buildings, Belfast BT1 6DW. T: +44 (0)28 9032 2284 E: herald@presbyterianireland.org W: www.presbyterianireland.org

Becoming scamwise p42

Editor: Sarah Harding Subscriptions and Advertising: Elaine Huddleston; Phil Alcorn; Suzanne Hamilton Design and Layout: Edward Connolly Printing: Nicholson and Bass Ltd.

Alan Meban attends Kilmakee Presbyterian Church and writes about culture and politics as Alan in Belfast on his own blog and Slugger O’Toole.

Neil Harrison is PCI’s Mission Development Officer and a member of Waringstown Presbyterian Church.

Rebecca McConnell manages Purple Rain, a public relations company (www.purple-rain.co.uk). She is also a member of First Rathfriland Presbyterian Church.

Rev Brian Anderson is a Methodist minister and is president of the Irish Council of Churches.

The views expressed in the features, news reports, letters and book reviews of this magazine are not necessarily those of the Editor.

Editorial comment and signed articles do not necessarily contain the official views of the Church, which can be laid down only by the General Assembly. Acceptance of advertisements does not imply endorsement of the goods or services. The Editor reserves the right to decline any advertisement or letter without assigning any reason. Letters may be edited for publication. No correspondence can be entered into regarding non-publication of advertisements or letters.

The Presbyterian Church in Ireland is a Registered Charity in Northern Ireland (NIC104483); Registered Charity in Republic of Ireland (20015695).

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EDITORIAL

LETTERS Union and Queen’s

Our mission

In this edition of the Herald you will find a comprehensive account of the General Assembly, held in Belfast last month. As always, one of the standout sessions was ‘Listening to the global church’, when we had the opportunity to hear from those in partner Churches from around the world. This session never fails to be a popular and exciting part of the week, maybe because it encourages us to think outside of ourselves and provides a fresh perspective on what God is doing in and through his people across the globe.

One resource, highlighted at Assembly and featured in this edition, is called ‘Go Deep. Go Wide’. It is aimed at helping congregations to engage more fully with God’s worldwide mission, either by going ‘deep’ to support one particular person or project, or by going ‘wide’ to stretch their horizons to new mission opportunities.

One congregation that has been going ‘deep’ for years is Hazelbank in Coleraine. Wavell Moore explains how, in response to God’s rich provision to the congregation, they sought to pass this blessing on to others. A link was established with an area of Malawi called Zomba and since 2005 the church has raised a staggering £75,000, funding a number of projects relating to healthcare, education and farming.

Maud Kells, a missionary from Cookstown, has been supported faithfully by her home congregation for over 50 years. Her biography, written by Jean Gibson, tells her story of mission in Congo since 1964 and extracts are included here. Throughout the book, Maud testifies to the support and encouragement she received from Molesworth Presbyterian, whether in prayer or through very practical ways. In one situation, an architect from her congregation designed a much-needed maternity unit for the local community and in another, funds were raised for a Land Rover, which became invaluable for travelling across the arduous terrain.

At the end of her book, Maud says, “It is an adventure.

Following Jesus – walking with him – when we do not know where he will lead us, is the most exciting life.”

We may not go out to Congo, or Malawi, or even to the other side of this island of Ireland. But we are all called to participate in the adventure that is mission, doing whatever we can through our prayers and generous giving, to support those who are actively involved. As Jesus himself told us, “I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth” (Acts 13:47).

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Herald July/August 2019

Dear Editor On the way out of the Assembly, after the debate on Queen’s University’s severance of the tie with Union Theological College, someone said to me: “I am utterly bewildered and don’t know what to believe”. Two narratives were abroad.

According to the university, the problem was the lack of a broad and diverse enough curriculum taught by the college. According to the Church, it was the decisions of last year’s Assembly on issues surrounding same-sex relationships that underlay the review conducted by the university and which led to its decision.

Whichever narrative we accept (or bits of both) we must recognise an underlying issue which should make us sympathetic to both Church and university. Those appointed to lecture at Union are required ‘to have a personal Christian faith, and be committed to working within the Christian ethos and doctrinal framework of the PCI’ and those who occupy Chairs at Union have to be ordained (or eligible to become ordained) ministers of PCI. According to Queen’s University, ‘[t]hese requirements are contrary to the university’s Equality and Diversity Policy’. Both positions are perfectly reasonable.

A Presbyterian Church can hardly be expected to appoint to its college someone who lacks Christian faith and is not supportive of the ‘ethos and doctrinal framework’ of the Church. Nor can a secular university be expected to accept that this adequately fits into its equality and diversity framework. Any resolution would have had to begin with representatives of both university and Church expressing sincere mutual sympathy.

A genuinely challenging problem faced both Church and university, the problem of how to collaborate while remaining true to their institutional principles. This massively simplifies the story in this case. However, even an over-simplified story shows that one of the big underlying issues was anything but simple.

Stephen N. Williams Queen’s University

Thanks to Assembly Dear Editor On behalf of our son Joshua, we would like to record our deepest gratitude to all the members of the General Assembly, Ballymena Presbytery and our congregation of Ballykeel. Led by the Moderator, the Church prayed for Joshua during his recent open-heart surgery in Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

Letters to the Editor Write to: Presbyterian Herald, Assembly Buildings, Belfast BT1 6DW Email: herald@presbyterianireland.org

The surgery was successful.

Moreover, we knew the loving comfort of the Holy Spirit and had direct answers to prayer during our stay.

Once again, we are so thankful for the prayers of the Church and the many individual messages, cards and acts of kindness.

Martin and Julie McNeely Ballymena

Being Presbyterian ‘Being Presbyterian’ is a group within PCI which aims to encourage the wellbeing of the Church by creating space for biblical, theological and ethical reflection; practicing a unity in Christ which is open, self-critical, and mutually supportive, ensuring that minority voices will continue to be heard and respected, and engaging with all levels of Church structures.

To this end, a day conference has been organised for Thursday 10 October in Assembly Buildings. The guest speaker will be Rev Dr Sam Wells, who has been vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields since 2012. He has served as a parish priest for 20 years – 10 of those in urban priority areas. He also spent seven years in North Carolina, where he was dean of Duke University Chapel.

Sam is also visiting professor of Christian Ethics at King’s College, and a member of the Multi-Stakeholder Council that advises the G20 meetings.

He is a regular contributor to ‘Thought for the Day’ on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

He has published 30 books, including works on Christian ethics, ministry, liturgy, and preaching. Sam is married to Jo Wells, who is Bishop of Dorking. They have two children.

Details have yet to be finalised and will be

Please note: Letters are limited to 300 words and may be edited for clarity and length. They will only be published in the Herald if the author’s name and address have been supplied to the editor. On request these will be withheld from print. Anonymous letters will not be considered for publication. The views expressed in the letters are not necessarily those of the Editor or PCI.

published on our website: http://beingpresbyterian.com Name and address supplied

Re-engaging with the psalms Dear Editor At the recent General Assembly I spoke about the decline in use of psalms in our public worship across PCI. I developed the Moderator’s theme from Opening Night where he spoke challengingly about our diffidence to enter God’s “good room” to be at home with him. I suggested that in that “good room” is a cabinet where we have stored the precious china, so to speak, of the psalms which are sadly underused.

In the days following, quite a few people spoke to me to share their concern about the decline in psalmody. It is good to know that the Council for Congregational Life and Witness is committed to help us re-engage with the psalms in worship. That may take time. I am going to set up a Facebook group with the title ‘Psalms – using the good china’ in order to share online resources for contemporary psalm singing, versions of psalms which can readily be sung by congregations, and ways of using psalms, spoken and sung, at different points in the order of worship. This is in no way intended to rival what CCLW may do, but rather to help start straightaway the process of re-engagement.

I invite those who share this concern to join the discussion on the Facebook group.

John Faris Carnalea

Topical Tweets @PCIModerator I’ve really been impressed by the involvement and participation of the #pciyouthassembly this week. Thanks everyone!! @pci_ya An incredibly passionate, encouraging & challenging alternative presentation from the Council of Public Affairs this afternoon, addressing adolescent mental health, dementia care & palliative care #pciga19 @BBCMarkSimpson When people say nothing ever changes in N Ireland, don’t believe it... Before work today, I went to church. I was the only person wearing a suit. 35 years ago, when I first went to church, I was the only person not wearing a suit. @Tearfund More than 2,000 people have now been infected by #Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Please pray. @BallyhenryPres Dr Max Watson @hospiceuk addressing @pciassembly on issues surrounding palliative care – ‘the end of life must never be addressed as a merely medical event’. #pciga19 @christian_aid We’re facing a global climate emergency. This has been clear to the communities Christian Aid works with for many years. It’s time we call it what it is & ask our MPs to take urgent action: http://caid.org.uk/thetimeisnow #thetimeisnow

Social media update PCI has reached over 3,600 likes on Facebook. To keep in touch with all that this happening in the wider Church, search for Presbyterian Church in Ireland and hit the like button. Alternatively, you can follow us on Twitter @pciassembly or keep up to date with the Moderator @PCIModerator

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NEWS | IN THE ROUND IN BRIEF Irish CE Convention ‘All for Jesus’ is the theme of the 105th Irish National Christian Endeavour Convention, which is being held on Saturday 21 September in Second Broughshane Presbyterian Church, Co Antrim.

The main speaker is Rev Stephen Kennedy, minister of nearby Buckna Presbyterian Church.

There will be something for everyone with activities for Seniors and Juniors as well as the usual business meetings.

As always, everyone will be very welcome. Further information may be obtained from conventioninformation@ gmail.com

Praise for new prison officers

Dr Charles McMullen has encouraged new prison officers just starting out in their career to see their new occupation not just as a job, but as a vocation.

Speaking at the officers’ passing out parade, Dr McMullen said vocation was perhaps an old-fashioned word today, but it underlined a deep sense of calling.

“All I can do is urge you never to forget your sense of calling and the difference that you will be able to make on people’s lives for good.”

Back to School with God

2019

Jesus said, ‘You are the salt of the earth… you are the light that gives light to the world.’

Matthew 5:13-14

BSG bookmark SUNI.indd 1

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Doctorate for new Moderator Rev Dr William Henry has been awarded an honorary Doctorate of Divinity. It was conferred upon him by the Presbyterian Theological Faculty Ireland (PTFI) at its annual graduation ceremony at the Presbyterian Church in Ireland’s Assembly Buildings in Belfast.

Dr Henry is pictured with Professor Michael McClenahan (professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological College) and Professor Stafford Carson (UTC principal).

Helping a generation of Presbyterian children Dr Paul Gray’s recent retirement as executive secretary of the Presbyterian Children’s Society after 31 years was recognised by a special presentation at the Society’s Annual General Meeting in Assembly Buildings on 7 May 2019.

Dr Gray officially launched the Society’s new promotional film People Like Us. Told through the experiences of two families helped by the Society, this new resource highlights the Society’s important work of providing grants to Presbyterian families in financial need.

Rev Dr Isaac Thompson (president), Janitha Gray, Dr Paul Gray, Very Rev Dr Charles McMullen.

Back to school resources

Scripture Union has free back to school resources for churches.

With ‘Tasty, bright and smelly’ as this year’s theme, they can be used as part of an-all age service, a children’s slot within the church service or as part of a Sunday school programme.

The resources are available at: www.suni. co.uk/schools/withGod

21/05/2019 09:44:40

Herald July/August 2019

Church leaders release dialogue report The leaders of Ireland’s main Churches have released a report on the dialogue that they engaged in following their initial meetings with Northern Ireland’s five party leaders.

Entitled ‘A Time for Courageous and Compassionate Leadership: Report on the Church leaders’ civil society dialogue initiative’, the senior churchmen presented the report and its main findings to Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Karen Bradley, An Tánaiste Simon Coveney and the party leaders attending the recent interparty talks.

Releasing the report, Rev Trevor Gribben, Clerk of the General Assembly and secretary to the Church Leaders’ Group (Ireland), said there was a “growing sense of despair in communities at the lack of political movement on restoring devolution” and that there is a desire for “the establishment of a sustainable power-sharing executive that is built on balanced accommodation and focused on the common good.”

Queen’s Award for GB The Girls’ Brigade Northern Ireland has been honoured with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the highest award a voluntary group can receive in the UK. Alison Stevenson (GBNI president) said, “We are absolutely delighted to be awarded with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in this our celebratory 125th anniversary year. It is wonderful that the work of the many volunteers within GBNI has been recognised in this special way.”

GBNI executive office bearers: Leslie Addis (chaplain), Deborah McMahon (chairperson), Alison Stevenson (president), Latifa McCullagh (past president), Heather Sweet (vice president) and Doreen Draffin (past chaplain).

NEWS | PCI Balmoral visit Then Moderator Dr Charles McMullen visited the Health and Safety Executive Northern Ireland (HSENI) stand during this year’s Balmoral Show.

HSENI along with Rural Support and the Farm Safety Partnership launched a guide for farmers struggling to deal with the pressures of rural life at the show.

The document can be downloaded free of charge from www. ruralsupport.org.uk/how-we-can-help/resource-centre/useful-resources/ and click on ‘Coping with the Pressures of Farming’.

Pictured are: Dr McMullen, HSENI chief executive Robert Kidd, Rural Support chief executive Jude McCann and John Thompson, chair of the board of directors for Rural Support.

News Final container going to Malawi Since 2001 a Containers for Malawi group has sent over 100 shipments to northern, central and southern parts of the African country – an amazing achievement.

On a recent visit to Malawi, Rev Uel Marrs was able to witness the arrival and offloading of the container contents at the David Gordon Memorial Hospital in Livingstonia, and he affirmed the appreciation of the Council of Global Mission for the great work and support of all involved in donating, filling and sending these containers.

However, for a number of reasons, primarily logistical, the decision has been taken that the Containers for Malawi project will come to an end with one final container being filled and sent out to Malawi at the end of year.

Anyone wishing to send medical or educational items should note that cardboard boxes are also accepted and may even be more cost effective than the plastic boxes. Those who do not use the prepaid boxes must ensure that the appropriate shipping costs are paid to Irish Relocation Services.

For any queries of what can be sent in the container and the final date for boxes to be received, please contact Carson McMullan on 07484 717280 or email carsonconluce@aol.com

Bangor Worldwide launches theme ‘Go into all the world’ is the theme for the 83rd Bangor Worldwide Missionary Convention, which takes place between 23-31 August.

The majority of the events will be held at Hamilton Road Presbyterian Church, but there are also events in the neighbouring Baptist church as well as in Belfast, Lurgan and Magherafelt.

Chairman Tom Clarke said, “This summer, we are delighted to have Don Carson with us for the first time, along with a host of other international speakers.

“Our first main evening meeting will be held at Assembly Buildings in Belfast on Saturday 24 August at 7.30pm.”

Another new event in 2019 will be a bus tour focusing on the life of Amy Carmichael on Saturday morning (24 August).

For more information on all the events taking place during the convention, visit www.worldwidemission.org or follow on social media (@BangorWorldwide on Twitter, Bangor Worldwide Missionary Convention on Facebook). The event is kindly supported by Ards and North Down Borough Council.

Bangor Worldwide secretary Lesley Stewart and youth worker Jason Brodie launch the 2019 Convention theme ‘Go into all the world’ with Rev Malcolm Duncan (centre), lead pastor at Dundonald Elim.

Away day The Council for Social Witness held its annual away day recently. The event is an opportunity for conveners and key staff to reflect on the past year and plan for the next.

There was much discussion and the Council’s new executive staff Melanie Bowden (Head of Disability) and Jacqui Montgomery-Devlin (Head of Safeguarding) were introduced to all staff.

Milestone birthday Dr Charles McMullen is pictured with Harold McCauley House resident Jean Faux, who celebrated her 100th birthday. The pair have a special connection because Ms Faux had taught Dr McMullen at school.

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NEWS | PCI DIARY DATES July Summer Teams

Mullingar – Friday 5 to Saturday 13 St Andrew’s, Bangor – Saturday 13 to Saturday 20 Dungannon – Saturday 20 to Saturday 27 Abbey, Monkstown – Saturday 20 to Sunday 28 Seaview – Saturday 27 to Sunday 4 August Sion Mills – Sunday 28 to Sunday 4 August

Find out more on www.presbyterianireland.org

Events Handling the Word

Developing children’s and youth ministry

The Handling the Word course will take place on six Tuesday evenings during October and November in Union Theological College, Belfast.

The course aims to equip church members who give talks, and is useful for a variety of church settings. It also acts as the starting point for those interested in becoming an accredited preacher.

Further details of this and future presbytery courses are available on the PCI website.

Two courses to help congregations develop their children’s and youth ministry will be held in Union Theological College, Belfast, starting in September.

The Children’s Ministry Course will provide 10 weeks of training to enhance the gifts of anyone involved in children’s ministry. It starts on Monday 16 September and ends on 25 November, with sessions running from 7.30-9.30pm.

The redesigned Youth Ministry Course runs on Monday evenings, between 7.30-9.30, from 23 September to 9 December. It also features a residential on 8-9 November.

This course is for anyone over 18 working actively with young people in their local church.

Taking Care foundation training Galway – Saturday 20

MAD Crew

August

A large number of volunteers are needed to help run the MAD Weekend, which this year takes place at Ulster University Coleraine between 25-27 October.

If you are 18 or over and available during that weekend, why not consider joining the crew? Please see the PCI website for more information.

Summer Teams

Whitehouse – Saturday 3 to Sunday 11 Co Cavan – Saturday 10 to Saturday 17 Friendship House – Saturday 10 to Saturday 17 Grange – Saturday 10 to Sunday 18 Castleblayney – Sunday 18 to Sunday 25

September Children’s Ministry Course starts Union Theological College, Belfast – Monday 16

Side by Side

Assembly Buildings, Belfast – Monday 7 Richhill – Saturday 21

Youth Ministry Course starts

Union Theological College, Belfast – Monday 23

Disciple Makers Network Assembly Buildings, Belfast – Monday 30

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Herald July/August 2019

Disciple Makers Network PCI is planning to run Disciple Makers Network training for a new group, beginning in September in Assembly Buildings, Belfast. This will involve four evening gatherings (7.30pm9.45pm), run over the course of a six-month period and will be ideal for ministers, elders and organisational leaders to consider how to create a culture of disciplemaking in their congregation.

The format of Disciple Makers Network involves upfront teaching, practical training and reflective discussion. The dates are: 30 September, 25 November, 27 January and 23 March.

For booking information see the PCI website or contact the CCLW office.

Side by Side The women’s ministry event, Side by Side, will take place at various venues this autumn: Assembly Buildings in Belfast on 7 September; Richhill Presbyterian on 21 September; Wellington Presbyterian Church, Ballymena on 5 October; and Kilfennan Presbyterian Church on 19 October.

The cost is £5 or euro equivalent. Visit www.presbyterianireland.org/ sidebyside or call the CLW office on +44 (0)28 9041 7247.

WOMEN GROWING TOGETHER

Resources Passing the Baton This resource explores models of young adults’ ministry and shares examples of good practice from across PCI. It is available from www.presbyterianireland.org/ passingthebaton or via the CCLW office.

Called In recent years, there have been resources produced to accompany the PCI youth events MAD and Youth Night. For the first time, however, this year’s Youth Night had a resource which was launched at the event.

The theme of Youth Night was ‘Called’, the first of a set of three, up to 2021. Each will have an accompanying resource to help youth leaders teach core Bible truths, whether or not their group was there on the night.

Video material from the Youth Night programme, including talks by Phil Houston, are also available. Further information from the PCI website or through the CCLW office.

AS I SEE IT...

Providing a home for good Brian Anderson

O

ur journey to being a fostering/adoption family give a child a home. started with long conversations on long car journeys Throughout the Bible we are reminded of God’s love for the with my wife Lesley, as we would talk about what outcast, lonely or vulnerable. Isaiah 1:17 tells us to “learn to we dreamed of doing in the future, now that our do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause children Michael and Nicola were ‘well up’. of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.” All of these But how it happened was quite a roundabout journey. Lesley statements highlight the love and support we are called to give was a nurse in Muckamore Abbey. When she was moving from to those who may be unable to fight for themselves – and those there to continue her nursing in the children’s hospice, we asked seeking fostering or adoption. if we could have contact with a teenager who Lesley had had a God as our heavenly Father longs for our safety and stability close bond with. That went well for a time but ultimately it did in this fallen world. With that in mind, those who feel they not work out. can offer care for children in the foster or adoption system By that time we had been trained to be a foster family. So, in are important in reflecting God’s love as earthly parents. The discussions with social services, we agreed church community must be equipped to to try again but this time with a pre-school understand and support young people and …statistics that have child. With Lesley’s background in nursing those interested in exploring fostering and her massive experience in disability, and adoption. If you as a family are not shown almost 3,000 we were introduced to Colin, who at that in a place to consider fostering/adoption time was 10 months old. He was living in children and teenagers maybe you could lend support to a family the Ulster Hospital because of his complex are waiting for adoption in your church who are. medical needs. Lesley and Nicola fell for That is why I am delighted to commend him instantly; Michael and I needed time in Northern Ireland. the work of Home for Good who are and training to see beyond his medical committed to finding a home for every conditions and find the boy. child who needs one. They believe the church is in a unique Colin is now seven and has been with us permanently for place to respond to God’s call to care for the vulnerable and five years. He is so much part of the Anderson family. He is ensure that every child and young person has the loving home a bright, fun loving ‘wee monkey’ who fills our lives with so they need. much love each day. We have been told that Colin will not have Malini Colville is the Home for Good representative in much quantity of life, so it is our desire to have as much quality Northern Ireland and she can be contacted at in his life. We believe that by giving him an environment of malini@homeforgood.org.uk. Already we have made contact love Colin will thrive and he is proving that right. He has a with many churches to raise the need, and the local health and very active life and loves attending Mitchell House School in care trusts to speak of our work. We recently were guests at a Belfast.

Stormont reception, well attended by local church leaders and I have great concern over the statistics that have shown MLAs. almost 3,000 children and teenagers are waiting for adoption The value of young people must be held paramount amidst in Northern Ireland. Many of these children will the struggles being faced. The church can be a key player in have suffered varying forms of abuse and neglect nurturing this value and giving alongside loss of normal family routine. The the space, time and love for care system in Northern Ireland is recognised as young people to thrive. being good, but still each of these 3,000 children deserve a place to call home; a place to know Rev Brian Anderson is a Methodist and feel love and support. I was speaking with a minister and is president of the Irish foster mum recently who has adopted a brother Council of Churches. and sister. The boy said to her, “I know this is my home now.” Before they had been placed in that family they had lived in so many different shortterm placements. It is such a wonderful thing to Herald July/August 2019

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IN THIS MONTH...

July 1959

Dipping into the archives to take a look back at what was making Presbyterian headlines and news in history.

From the Editor’s Desk

A letter which appeared recently in a Belfast newspaper pointed out that MPs for Northern Ireland, judging by their speeches, seldom show much interest in the larger issues confronting humanity. We get little expression of opinion from them on such matters as capital punishment, prison reform… apartheid or the peril of atomic war…

If one is to judge by the reports for the General Assembly…the Presbyterian Church is seeking to express a Christian opinion on such matters…

A quick glance through the pages of these reports for this year’s Assembly shows that the Church has been considering our resources at home, and is seeking methods of using these to the best advantage…The Adoption Scheme, by which larger congregations in the north become closely allied with small ones in the south and west, has been taken up with enthusiasm, and promises an increase of the solidarity of Presbyterianism in both north and south…

The committee set up to deal with the Presbyterian doctrine of baptism has produced an interesting and helpful report on ‘Infant Baptism: It’s biblical and historical basis’, which covers a wide field of investigation…

The Foreign Mission report provides much information about troubles in Nyasaland, and expresses concern about recent events there…

The committee on inter-church relations has provided interesting discussions on the plan of church union in north India, and on the relations between Anglican and Presbyterian Churches…

From these brief glimpses of wide fields covered, it will be apparent that our Church is seeking to gird her loins for tasks at home, and is concerned with the work for the kingdom of God in the wider world.

From an Assembly seat

“I am sorry if you did not know what you were voting for, but quite a number voted” – the Moderator.

“The state of religion is not to be determined by the state of the evening service” – Rev R.V.A. Lynas.

“Let us try to be Christian first and Presbyterian second” – Principal Davey.

“Christ came, not to save money, but to save people” – Rev Glen McCullough.

“I know, of course, that the resolution was unanimous, but there were some against” – Rev W.A.A. Park.

Also from July ’59 10

UK starts using postal codes

Herald July/August 2019

Cliff Richard and the Shadows top the charts with Living Doll

Vocation and stewardship

…The ministry of the laity has its cutting edge in that which is distinctive for the ‘layman’, his nature as an active participator in the world of work and property. His ‘church work’ must be regarded as preparatory to his ‘real’ life – a kind of home base from which he obtains the proper supplies and arms for his return to battle…

Christian service thus becomes a matter of erecting true ‘worldliness’ amid the sham pretensions of the world for which Christ died. Here the two questions of our age concern man’s work and his property… God calls on man to work as a service performed for the sake not of profit but of love…

To the question about property – ‘Who owns what?’ he must answer that property is not really ‘private’ (except for God) but is a stewardship…

(Extracted from an article

by Rev Dr McLelland in The Reformed and Presbyterian World).

A hovercraft crosses the English Channel from Calais to Dover for the first time

MY STORY...

Journalist and author Joe Boyd, who grew up in Kells Presbyterian Church, County Antrim, reveals how his local congregation was fundamental to his faith and helped him through some very difficult times.

From hopelessness to happiness

A

warm day had drawn to a close in July 1977. My which is a physical disability rather than a learning impairment. mum, Margaret, went to bed in good spirits having Buoyed by this news, we settled into family life in north got through ‘a big wash’. Although pregnant, Antrim. Mum had been attending Kells Presbyterian Church everything seemed normal and my twin brother and I since she and dad moved to the area. I, along with Mark and were not expected to appear for at least another month. later our younger sister Megan, was sent to Sunday school, Little did she know that her waters would break that night Christian Endeavour and the other children’s activities there. causing Mark and I to be born just hours later. Mum recalls Two of the Sunday school teachers, Margaret Kernohan and that we were rushed to the Special Care Baby Unit in the Royal Amanda McCullough, told our class that if we wanted to get to Victoria Hospital, Belfast. In 1977, premature babies faced an heaven all we had to do was ask the Lord into our heart and tell even bigger fight to survive than they do now. At some stage in him to shut the door. Following the lesson, Mark and myself the process, my brain was starved of oxygen for about a minute. asked Jesus to do just that – we were about six years old at the God’s hand was on my life though – Mark and I survived, and time. we were allowed home about five weeks When I reached my teens, I loved going I give God all the glory later. to the youth club in Kells and remember Right from the beginning of my life, for what he has allowed being soundly beaten at dominoes by mum recalls that I was a bad feeder and future Moderator, Dr Stafford Carson, that my swallow reflex was not very good. me to overcome and when he was minister there. When More often than not, she says, the contents Stafford was called to Carnmoney, a achieve… of my bottle went right back out the way it young minister called Brian Boyd filled came in! I was missing my milestones. By the time we were six our vacancy in Kells and nearby Eskylane. I remember Brian months old, Mark was sitting up, but I was not. Mum’s intuition visiting me in Musgrave Park Hospital when I was around 15. told her that something was wrong. However, the professionals The fact that a Presbyterian minister was prepared to spend who worked with me did not seem concerned about my lack over an hour with a teenager really spoke to me about Christian of progress. Their laissez-faire attitude to my situation came compassion and I knew that God cared about me through to an abrupt halt around six months later when I was sent to this. Brian and the people of Kells were also very supportive see a consultant paediatrician. The news she delivered to my of me when I was appointed as churches’ correspondent at parents turned their world upside down: “I am afraid Joseph is the Ballymena Times, frequently obliging with last minute retarded.” contributions to the ‘Paper Pulpit’ column.

To my young parents in late 1978, this diagnosis was I now write for a Christian-run website called devastating. Mum recalls that my dad went home and nearly www.thechurchpage.com where Christian churches from across had a nervous breakdown. Within the context of then current the province publicise their news and events for free. I give medical knowledge and societal attitudes, dad struggled to God all the glory for what he has allowed me to overcome and know what to expect from me. For her part, mum appeared to achieve for his kingdom. cope better, strengthened undoubtedly by her strong Christian faith.

Joe Boyd’s new book, Trading Places: From hopelessness to Eventually, a young doctor called James Kenny arrived at the happiness, tells the full story of God’s grace on his life. It is available medical practice in the village of Kells where we lived. After now, priced £9.99, from www.amazon.co.uk or seeing me, he became convinced that I had cerebral palsy, www.timelesspublications.co.uk Herald July/August 2019

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CONGREGATIONAL STORY

Passing on

blessing

Wavell Moore describes how Hazelbank Presbyterian Church in Coleraine, thankful for God’s provision in their own congregation, have chosen to pass on this blessing, helping the poor and vulnerable in the Zomba area of Malawi.

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hroughout its short history since achieving congregational status, the congregation of Hazelbank Presbyterian Church in Coleraine has always been strong in its support for a wide range of missionary causes. Having faced the challenge of making provision for local witness with the development of its own suite of buildings on the west side of the River Bann and being thankful for God’s faithful blessing in this regard, in 2005 the kirk session began to look at how the congregation might look beyond its own boundaries to help others in greater need.

Arising from the vision of Rev Dick Gordon and his wife Maureen from the nearby town of Kilrea, who had served as PCI missionaries in the Zomba district of Malawi, a local charity was formed in Coleraine in 2003, the Zomba Action Project (ZAP).This created a great local awareness of the needs in Malawi and subsequently the kirk session decided that for the medium to long term, it would commit the annual harvest offering to help address the basic needs of the poor and vulnerable people of Zomba. Ravaged by the AIDS epidemic sweeping through Africa, the needs of widows and orphans were paramount.

However, the kirk session was keen to be able to demonstrate the outcomes of the support to the congregation

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through identifying specific projects and communities who would receive the help. Consequently, Rev Alan Johnston visited Zomba in 2005 and as a result of his feedback the congregation warmly adopted this link as a long-term opportunity to offer practical thanks for their blessings. In 2007, a group of elders and other church members visited Zomba to help identify potential future projects.

Ken Ford, an elder who was on the trip, comments, “The visit gave us all a

Being thankful for God’s faithful blessing…the kirk session began to look at how the congregation might…help others in greater need.

perspective on not just the needs but the ways in which we could fund the practical help needed.” Since 2005, the congregation has contributed some £75,000, sometimes through ad hoc fundraising efforts, but mainly through an annual harvest appeal offering, which usually raises some £5,000. Over this period, Hazelbank has channelled the delivery of its projects mainly through Emmanuel International, a highlyrespected international Baptist charity which designs, manages and delivers projects in Malawi and through ZAP which uses local people on the ground in Zomba to guide and direct the aid to best effect.

A wide range of life-changing projects in the Zomba area have been funded, usually for individual villages or clusters of villages. These projects have always been done with the blessing and support of the local authorities so that there is no overlap with any other funding. These projects have included: • Feeding programmes during times of crop failure and extreme hunger, many of which were targeted at helping widows and orphans; • Supply of mosquito nets to communities to avert the deadly risk of malaria; • Provision of shallow wells in villages to supply clean water;

• Provision of bicycle ambulances to improve transport of the sick in rural areas; • Refurbishment of a local orphanage; • Education scholarships to provide disadvantaged pupils with secondary school education for five years; • Supply of goats to villages to encourage small scale farming and food production; • Establishment of bee-keeping operations in villages to stimulate the opportunity for locals to earn their own income.

The choice of an appropriate project for the year involves an informed assessment of current need. Questions are asked: Is there the prospect of a reasonable harvest? (If the harvest is failing, it may be necessary to resort to an urgent feeding programme, usually directed to orphans and widows.) What other current crises are there? (For example, if malaria is rampant in a certain area, the provision of mosquito nets could be a top priority.) What are the most basic needs at present? (Clean water through village wells is always a life-changing and sustainable intervention.)

The people of Zomba have expressed continuing gratitude for the village projects: “Thank you to our friends at Hazelbank who have changed our lives by bringing us clean water for our children.”

Some may ask, however, could as much or more not have been achieved simply through donating these funds each year to mainstream Christian charities which are active in Africa, such as Tearfund or Christian Aid? The answer, from those heavily involved, is that these mainstream charities are, of course, worthy of support and indeed the congregation also supports them regularly by way of

other initiatives. With the more direct engagement with the needs of the local communities in Zomba, the congregation can much more easily identify with the beneficiaries and see the difference which their harvest offering makes when the end-of-year project report is presented in church. This, in turn, has motivated them each year to rise to the new challenge.

The ‘Hazelbank approach’ is also regarded as innovative and effective by our partners in Zomba as this quotation from an official of Emmanuel International aptly conveys: “We took some visiting pastors from Canada and the US to visit some of the Hazelbank projects, including Anandi

Since 2005, the congregation has contributed some £75,000…

Athu orphan care (mosquito nets), Mbidi Primary School (school supplies), and Potani village/Nambande (shallow well). They were extremely impressed by the work that Hazelbank Presbyterian Church has done here, and I believe it was quite inspirational for them to see what the church can do to help the poor. I have to admit, it is by far the most exciting project for me to work on because it’s awesome to see the direct involvement of the church…The impact is real and significant whereas with large government funding there seems to be a lot of bureaucracy, overhead costs and

some redundancy for the amount of output. Thanks for the great work you’ve done.”

Hazelbank is still working very closely with ZAP in its efforts (this small local charity has raised over £850,000 in its short lifetime) and the congregation has also been active in sending much-needed clothes, blankets and other supplies through the regular container service organised by ZAP from Northern Ireland to Malawi.

Looking to the future, the challenges in Zomba are not going to go away anytime soon; indeed, recent floods have caused further hardship with over 30,000 families badly affected in the region.

Based on this ongoing need, Hazelbank plans to continue its commitment to the poor and vulnerable people in Malawi who have so little of this world’s goods but do have hearts that are full of love and gratitude.

Allocating the annual harvest offering regularly and directly to Zomba is an act of thankfulness to almighty God by the congregation for a bountiful local harvest and it is a privilege to assist those who frequently have no harvest themselves. Of course, it will not change the world, but it will certainly change some people’s world.

Hazelbank recognises that there are many congregations already very active in similar social witness, but should any congregation want to hear more about the practicalities of making this direct approach work, we would be only too glad to talk to you so that God’s work

by God’s people can continue to address the obligation of believers as set out in Matthew 25: “Insomuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.”

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PCI’s response to Queen’s PCI states its position on Queen’s University’s recent decision to stop awarding degrees in the subject of theology and end its link with Union Theological College.

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ince 1926 Union Theological College (then the Presbyterian College) has provided teaching on behalf of Queen’s University for degrees in theology, being joined later by Methodist, Baptist and Roman Catholic colleges and Belfast Bible College. Since 2015, however, UTC has been the only college teaching undergraduates. This led to QUB conducting a strategic review in 2016 which expressed concerns about the diversity of the theology degree: the college worked with the university to devise a new BA in Theology where 30% of the courses were taken outside UTC. This degree was fully approved by the university and began in September 2018.

In June 2018, the decisions of the General Assembly relating to a credible profession of faith and to our relationship with the Church of Scotland resulted in intense reporting and speculation around the relationship with Queen’s. Some asked if it was appropriate for Queen’s students to be taught by the Church’s college. One story quoted a spokesperson from the university: “In light of a number of developments in recent weeks, the university is taking active steps to review the nature of its relationship with Union Theological College and several options are currently under consideration.” In addition, when representatives of UTC met with university staff, including the acting vice chancellor, reference was made to the Assembly decisions, media reports and complaints that QUB was receiving, including some from those described as ‘senior Presbyterians’. Subsequent statements have attempted to distance the university from linking the review to the decisions of the Assembly, but prior to June 2018 there had been no indication that any review of the theology curriculum was planned for 2018. The evidence points inexorably to the conclusion that, were it not for the intense reporting during the General Assembly and speculation following it around the link with Queen’s, no review would have taken place.

The review ended in early October but

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UTC was not consulted nor engaged in the process of report preparation.

Despite requests, the report was withheld until after a final decision was made so there was no opportunity to correct inaccuracies or refute conclusions felt to be unwarranted. Despite this, on the basis of the report, student intake for 2019 was suspended in December and on 9 April 2019 the University Senate withdrew

UTC and the committee deeply regret that a way could not be found to continue to work with Queen’s. all theology programmes, including postgraduate courses provided by the other colleges. Accepting that the university has come to its final decision, the management committee takes issue with many of the assertions of the review and has written to the university challenging its basis and conclusions. The main criticisms made are around the diversity of teaching and a lack of engagement with the university, both of which it strongly refutes and contradicted in a submission to the Review Panel in September.

The BA in Theology was the mechanism agreed by the university itself to address the question of diversity, yet the review declared it inadequate before it began. The management committee maintains that for many years the faculty has taught a broad range of perspectives. No question of bias or lack of breadth has been raised by external examiners. UTC engaged fully with the university in implementing the recommendations of the 2016 review, following which the principal wrote in January 2018 suggesting further ways in which the relationship could be developed.

In subsequent meetings the focus from the university was on financial matters.

The impression has been given, in the media at least, that the teaching standards at UTC are less than adequate. This has

caused hurt and reputational damage to academic staff, some of whom have worked with Queen’s for many years and are globally recognised as experts in their field. In fact, the external examiners’ reports consistently stated that the learning experiences offered by UTC compared favourably with other UK universities and the National Student Survey results regularly placed theology ahead of many other subjects within Queen’s.

UTC and the committee deeply regret that a way could not be found to continue to work with Queen’s. We are grateful for the long and productive relationship we have enjoyed with the university and remain open to mutual cooperation in the future should the opportunity present itself.

We believe the future provides new opportunities to deliver flexible and accessible programmes that will result in excellent training for our ministry students. Much work has been done by the faculty to prepare the new Master of Divinity programme through the Presbyterian Theological Faculty Ireland and we are excited about the integrated pathway that the students will follow from September, and about new opportunities for online learning.

It is intended that UTC will continue to fulfil the requirements in Code Par 119: “It shall be a prime duty of the Union Theological College to provide for those theological studies or courses which may be required by the Assembly of its students for the ministry; and generally to promote theological education of high academic standard and practical training relevant to the work and witness of the Church.”

This is an abridged version of the statement in the Supplementary Reports of the 2019 General Assembly.

For the full statement go to www.presbyterianireland.org

Assembly photography: Jamie Trimble

GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2019 | OPENING NIGHT

Enjoying God Incoming Moderator, Dr William Henry, introduced his theme for the year, ‘Enjoying God’, at the Opening Night of Assembly.

Drawing on the analogy of the ‘good room’ in the house, which is often pristine and unused, he said, “That is a picture of how many of us relate to God. In that you admire him from a distance but you don’t actually get up close and really make a connection with him.”

Commenting on the joy that can be found in Christ, he added, “The joy that God gives is so different it changes your life… And the reason is because Christian joy is not based on your circumstances. Now that turns the conventional wisdom of the world on its head.”

Speaking of the challenge to embody and show the love of Jesus to others, he commented, “People will not give Christianity a second thought if it seems lifeless, rote and uninspiring. You cannot pass on what you do not feel yourself. That is why I feel so strongly

about my theme for the year – ‘Enjoying God’.

“It makes no difference whether your church building is old or new, whether it’s big or small, or whether whatever you do in it is formal or casual – you need a passion

and a joy for Jesus… This is what the Presbyterian Church ought to be known for when they are talking about us.”

Earlier in the evening, in his outgoing address as Moderator, Dr Charles McMullen spoke of the power that is available to us

as Christians, through Christ. “That power is made available to us in our weakness.”

Challenging the norms and beliefs of the world, he said, “We look at contemporary society in its selfish individualism and indulgent consumerism, moral confusion and fractured politics… Surely we can make a difference to such vacuousness, as followers of Jesus Christ. Either we ride the latest wave of so-called progressive populism generated by social media only to find ourselves cast adrift, or we stand on the unchanging rock of Jesus Christ.”

He concluded by making two points directly to PCI: “First of all, the need for courage and confidence. We are not an isolationist and separatist Church – we never have been or will be – but confident of who we are in Christ, we reach out to others… Secondly, compassion and community. That as followers of Jesus Christ we would be full of his love and truth as we build community together.”

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GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2019 | GENERAL COUNCIL Visiting delegates Partner churches from around the world were represented at this year’s Assembly, including representatives from the Greek Evangelical Church, Evangelical Christian Church in Halmahera and the Presbyterian Church of East Africa.

Closer to home, delegates were also present from the Church of Ireland, Methodist Church, Irish Council of Churches, Religious Society of Friends and the Presbyterian Church of Wales.

Partnership was a recurring theme as each speaker spoke warmly of the support they have received from PCI. Speaking through a translator, Bishop Bela Kato, from the Transylvanian Reformed Church, said those in Eastern Europe had heard stories of a decline in Christianity in the West with deserted church buildings and people leaving. Having witnessed the Assembly’s Opening Night, however, he is “seeing people faithful to their heritage, to their rites and to their Christianity.” He added, “It’s why it’s so important that we stay in touch.”

Rev Dr Laurence Graham, from the Methodist Church in Ireland, spoke personally of his ongoing contacts with the Presbyterian Church, and how he came to faith at a CSSM event held in Portrush Presbyterian Church hall, where former Moderator Dr Godfrey Brown was the speaker. “It’s good to have this moment just to celebrate ongoing partnership.”

Catherine Little, General Secretary of the Bible Society NI, presented the Moderator with a Bible on behalf of both Bible societies in Ireland. She said, “We at the Bible Society are so grateful for the support we receive from the Presbyterian Church, both financially and prayerfully. It’s great to be able to visit congregations and groups to share about our work.”

Moderator with John Finucane, Lord Mayor of Belfast

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Credible profession of faith Following last year’s Assembly decision regarding a ‘credible profession of faith’ and its implications for the eligibility of same-sex couples to be full communicant members and to have their children baptised, a task group was set up to provide guidelines relating to this for kirk sessions. The Implementation task group is exploring how the issue of ‘credible profession of faith’ can be worked through pastorally and will bring a report to Assembly in 2020.

It was recognised that last year’s decision had caused hurt by many members of the Church. Rev John Dickinson from Carnmoney said it had been a “hammer blow” to some in his congregation. He said, “It would be helpful if the report said sorry to those we so deeply hurt.”

Clerk of the Assembly, Rev Trevor Gribben said, “If as a Church, by the way we’ve done our business, by the fact that perhaps we didn’t have a holistic report last year and caused hurt and pain, we should say sorry.

“But we should also struggle as we have to do as Bible believing Christians, with the full balance of God’s Word and try to apply that truth in a loving way to a world that is fallen, broken and in pain.”

Seconding the report, Dr Alastair Dunlop said, “At times we can speak very glibly about fellowship and pastoral care and the church as a loving community. But how many of us actually practice these things in our own congregations? PCI has had pastoral guidelines on homosexuality for a dozen years, but how many ministers have drawn attention to them, and how many kirk sessions have discussed them?

Anecdotal evidence suggests not many. They are out-dated now, of course, and part of the remit given to our task group is to update them and present them in a different form to sit alongside what is produced on the credible profession of faith…

“We must not be dismissive of people, or judgmental. People matter to God, all people, including our own members and families who live with same-sex attraction.

They deserve the best we can offer in terms of genuine listening, prayerful support, and the intentional ordering of our congregations as real communities of welcome, grace and love. In addition, our public discourse, whether from pulpit or on social media, in presbytery or here in General Assembly, must reflect these values in tone and language… to produce a resource for the Church on credible profession of faith with reference to same-sex attraction may seem doomed before it gets off the ground. For some this is compounded because the task group, inevitably, is working within PCI’s stated position.”

GENERAL COUNCIL | GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2019 Dissent

Church of Scotland

Following some intense media attention after decisions taken at last year’s Assembly, the Church has set up a task group to look at decision making and dissent within the denomination.

Rev Katherine Meyer, minister of Christ Church, Sandymount, commented, “There has been concern expressed during the past year that the Church not be brought into disrepute. Surely, however, we should be asking what brings the Church into repute in an increasingly uninterested yet deeply and bitterly divided society.”

Rev Cheryl Meban, Ulster University chaplain, said, “Let us be extremely slow to exclude any kind of dissent, lest we crucify Christ again by refusing to hear and love people for whom he died… Let’s cherish our diversity.”

Rev Bill Addley asked the House to remember history when the Church has faced disagreement and even division, such as the Davey trial in the 1920s and the World Council of Churches debate of the 1980s. He said, “We need to get a feel for how our Church is facing divisive issues, that we take cognisance and that that might further aid our discussion.”

In proposing the report, Dr Noble McNeely, convener of General Council, said, “The issue of dissent and what it means to dissent has been considered and the mechanisms for the changing of decisions by the GA has also been reflected upon…

“We trust that when the report is sent to presbyteries that the questions included will be addressed comprehensively and the responses will guide the task group and enable it to bring a report and possible recommendations to the 2020 Assembly.”

The South Belfast Presbytery brought a Memorial asking the House to accept a notice of motion to rescind the 2018 decision to no longer issue an invitation to the Church of Scotland Moderator to our Assembly. If accepted this would mean a full debate would take place at the General Assembly in 2020.

Proposing the motion, Rev Morris Gault, clerk of the South Belfast Presbytery and minister of Cooke Centenary, said, “We have been encouraging the political parties within Northern Ireland to talk together and agree to work together in the Assembly even though they disagree profoundly on important issues. Have we not lost the moral high ground with our own attitude and actions towards the Church of Scotland?”

Seconding the Memorial, Cecil Graham said, “In presenting this Memorial…our focus is on the restoration of relationships which go back many centuries.”

Speaking in support, Dr Ken Newell said, “For anyone who believes in the gospel of Jesus Christ brexiting from each other is a really bad idea... we have wounded a very dear and lifelong friend historically and believe it’s now the time for healing... We are absolutely right to argue for the views of this House, but the breaking of the bonds looks like an attempt…to put pressure on the Church of Scotland, to exert some kind of moral sanction… I find that both insulting and futile.”

Speaking against the Memorial, Rev Jonathan Boyd, minister of Hydepark and Lylehill, said, “I don’t see how it does our denomination any good to revisit an idea that has been so clearly rejected in four successive votes… I pray that there will be such revival and reform in the Church of Scotland that we will be unanimous in wanting to restore these symbolic links. But that time hasn’t come…”

Rev Lachlan Webster, minister of Craigavon, added, “The fundamental issue at stake is the shifting position of the Church of Scotland’s position on the authority of Scripture…

If we accept this Memorial today we would be sending mixed messages – tragically as yet there has been no change in the Church of Scotland.”

The Memorial was decisively defeated with 187 for and 358 against. Therefore, the decision of last year stands.

Rev Trevor Gribben

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GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2019 | GENERAL COUNCIL Guysmere

United Appeal

Over a number of years, the House has debated the future of the Guysmere centre in Castlerock. Last year, permission was given to the Presbytery of Coleraine and Limavady to carry out a full feasibility study for the potential use of Guysmere as a redeveloped centre and report back this year.

Speaking to the report, Rev Jim McCaughan, minister of First Dunboe, said, “We in PCI have to be good stewards of the property we own at Guysmere and see if we can use it to spread the gospel.

“We are not simply proposing a residential centre, but a flexible facility which would have several streams of income, thus helping the residential centre at its heart to be financially sustainable in the long term.”

David Thomson, a Saintfield Road elder, commented, “To me this is a classic heart and head situation... As an accountant, I am drawn in particular to the numbers... In my view therefore the financial forecast has to be treated with considerable caution…”

Dr Alastair Dunlop echoed this plea for caution: “I think this is very optimistic… I hear the heart but don’t hear much of the head.” Dr Ivan Patterson, who chaired the Guysmere committee, rose to let the House know that the task group were not convinced that the redevelopment should proceed.

Rev Gordon Gray, who was chaplain to the old Guysmere camp in the 1960s, supported the proposal and asked the Assembly to be “hard headed, big hearted, but also highminded.”

The Assembly agreed to proceed with the redevelopment plans, which means the Church will provide up to £75,000, if necessary, to continue with the feasibility assessment.

A robust business case and business plan will then be brought back to the Assembly to approve before building work would commence.

Rev Mark Catney, convener of the United Appeal committee, thanked the Church on behalf of the committee and assured members that all money is being put to good use. Martin Hampton, an elder from Strand Presbyterian, put out a request that churches send in their United Appeal money periodically throughout the year, rather than waiting until the end of the year as this significantly helps with cash flow.

Mr Hampton also encouraged ministers to help inform church members about where the money goes, perhaps by holding United Appeal services or inviting a deputation speaker to preach.

Referencing the Moderator’s theme for the year, he said, “I enjoy God by the wonderful work he does in our Councils.”

Martin Hampton

Retiring conveners Towards the end of the Assembly, the Moderator publically thanked three conveners who were retiring after many years of service. The Moderator acknowledged the dedicated commitment of Dr Derek McKelvey as outgoing convener of the Judicial Commission and Drs Norman Hamilton and Donald Patton, as outgoing conveners of the Council for Public Affairs and the Healthcare, Prison and Forces Chaplaincy committee (respectively).

Future General Assembly programme Following a consultation with presbyteries, the Council recommended that holding evening sessions in future General Assemblies should not continue. Dr Noble McNeely, convener of General Council, said, “It was generally agreed that the additional evenings didn’t succeed to involve more younger members to any great extent or engage more participation from elders. The extra sessions didn’t suit the travel arrangements of many and inconvenienced most people outside the greater Belfast area.”

An amendment to this resolution was brought by Paddy Smyth, a Youth assembly delegate and the representative elder from Killinchy. He appealed to the House to continue with the current format, arguing that one year was not enough to fully gauge the success of the

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changes. “Have we done the most we can to encourage our under 30s?... If we take a step backwards without a plan B, it sends a very negative picture for younger generations.” He acknowledged that the current arrangement with evening sessions was not working well, but said, “We need to look for creative solutions… All I’m asking is for an extra year to give this opportunity a chance to bed in.”

Rev Norman Cameron, minister of High Kirk, Ballymena, supported the amendment saying, “It was a great disappointment that only after one year we asked presbyteries for their opinions… one year is nothing.”

Lewis McKelvey from the Youth Assembly working group concurred: “It isn’t perfect but there’s no other alternatives. Young people are not the church of tomorrow – they are the church of today.”

Opposing the amendment, James Livingstone, an elder in Crumlin, spoke of the importance of presbyteries in the decision saying, “We have to ask, what is the point of getting their views if we reject their views?”

Lindsay Conway, PCI’s Secretary to the Council of Social Witness, rose to reluctantly oppose the amendment. “Last night we had big issues to present and the House was not well supported. We do need to find an alternative but we’re not hitting that spot in the evenings… We need another way to engage with all groups within our denomination.”

The amendment was passed with a standing vote of 142 for and 112 against.

This means that the 2020 Assembly will continue to have some business sessions in the evening, as in 2018 and 2019.

LINKAGE | GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2019 Linkage Three amalgamations were formally agreed by the Assembly: First and Second Killyleagh; May Street with Fisherwick; and Crumlin Road with West Kirk.

Convener of the Linkage Commission, James Livingstone outlined some of the difficulties the Commission faces: “…we must not sleepwalk into a future which may see fewer congregations survive because either, we have no ministers to send or many congregations simply cannot afford to pay one.”

Mr Livingstone also commended the auxiliary ministry model to the House saying, “We have trained many but called few. Is there now a time to…become more creative as to how we shape the future provision of ministry.”

James Livingstone

Additional pastoral personnel A resolution was passed to consult presbyteries about the salary scale of additional pastoral personnel (APP) in congregations, to take account of the greater responsibilities that some APPs have. Feedback will be brought to the Assembly in 2020.

Rick Hill, an elder from Carnmoney, said, “Do we believe that working with young people is a ministry in itself and not just a stepping stone into ‘real’ ministry with adults?... Surely we shouldn’t be concerned if an APP in their 40s with 20 years’ experience in a congregation might be earning marginally more than a brand-new minister.”

However, convener Mr Livingstone commented, “We as a denomination rightly guarded the role of ministers of Word and sacrament… This resolution is tabled by the Commission without any recommendation.”

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GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2019 | GLOBAL MISSION Sharing God’s heart for the world

Moderator appeals

Global disciples sharing God’s heart for the world – declaring good news and demonstrating God’s love. That was the strapline Dr Liz Hughes, Global Mission convener, used to introduce her Council’s report at this year’s Assembly.

Speaking on the resolutions before the Assembly, which included encouraging the Council to provide a lead in thinking regarding issues of global concern, Mrs Hughes said matters such as climate change, the diminishing number of Christians in the Middle East and how we relate to those who have migrated to Ireland are “directly related to our responsibilities as global disciples”.

Referring to migration, Mrs Hughes pointed to a new Bible study resource being launched this year. Called ‘Home’, it is based on the book of Ruth and will consider issues surrounding migration.

Quoting from the report of the World Faiths panel, she added, “The peoples of the world have come to Ireland and there are multicultural, multi-faith communities, literally on our doorstep. The Christian church needs a renewed confidence in its message and a similar confidence to adapt its methods so the gospel message is effectively communicated.”

Rev Uel Marrs (Global Mission Secretary) explained that the development of Christian leaders is an ongoing priority for the Council. Currently scholarships are being provided for 24 Leaders in Training from seven countries.

Over £500,000 has so far been raised by two Moderator special appeals launched in the past year.

One appeal – started in October following an earthquake and typhoon which hit the Indonesian island of Sulawesi – raised £387,000. A further £164,000 has been raised for an appeal launched in March in response to Cyclone Idai, which impacted Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

Rev Alex Maulana, General Secretary of Central Africa Presbyterian, Synod of Blantyre, told the Assembly of the devastating impact of the cyclone on Malawi, with families separated, 82,000 left homeless, and crops destroyed.

“The people of Malawi have been demeaned, their humanity is reduced,” he said. “You find yourself in a tent, find yourself in a place where you have no power, where you have no authority over things.”

While food and clothing are immediate needs, he said they will need seeds and fertiliser to prepare for the next growing season and in the long term, materials are needed for rebuilding.

Indonesian initiative

Workers praised

The Evangelical Christian Church of Halmahera is facing up to the challenge of technology and social media in a novel way.

Speaking through a translator, Moderator Rev Demianus Ice told the Assembly about ‘1821’ – a joint initiative with the Fellowship of Churches in Indonesia, which sees families switch the internet off between 6pm and 9pm in an effort to build relationships again. “They take time…have some fun with family, to…learn together… and pray together.”

The commitment of PCI’s global mission workers was praised at this year’s Assembly, with eight years being the average length of service.

Global Mission Secretary, Rev Uel Marrs added, “Indeed we have 14 global mission workers either approaching or with more than 20 years of service.”

He made particular mention of Christopher and Nivedita Benjamin who recently retired after 30 years of dedicated witness amongst the Gujarati community in the Wembley area of London.

Rev Dimitris Boukis

People on the move Migration is a reality for an unprecedented 244 million people globally. While some move by choice, others are escaping war, persecution or natural disasters.

‘People on the move’ was the title of this year’s ‘Listening to the global church’ session, and a busy Assembly Hall heard stories from Malawi, Iran, Mongolia, Greece and Ireland of the plight of migrants and how churches are reacting.

Rev Dimitris Boukis, General Secretary of the Greek Evangelical Church, told of people opening up their own houses and the Church opening up guesthouses in response to the migrant crisis. In this way, a relatively small number of people – there are around 3500 Greek Protestants – were able to host more than 300 families.

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Calling people on the move a great gift from God, he said, “We have found out that the more you give, the more appreciative you are of what you receive.”

Talking of work ongoing in the local context, Rev David Bruce (Mission in Ireland Secretary) referred to International Meeting Point and the many congregations who have been providing hospitality, foodbanks, English language classes and much more.

“People on the move are on our doorstep. Our command to go need not necessarily involve a plane journey to a far-off land. It may simply involve a walk down the street to the shop or outside a church building because the world has come to live in our place,” said Mr Bruce, adding that a simple smile or an interest in the immigrant’s story could mean so much.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS | GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2019 Life always matters

Republic of Ireland

The dignity of human life was the focus of this year’s alternative presentation by the Council for Public Affairs.

Entitled ‘Life always matters’, the presentation provided an insight into the challenges surrounding child and adolescent mental health, dementia and palliative care.

Caroline Thompson, a consultant clinical psychologist in the Belfast Trust, told how many young people feel they can no longer cope, and that the referral rate in her area has increased by 30% in the last 12 months, with almost 1000 referrals a year.

“Maybe society is better at recognising it, it might be because there is less stigma, maybe life is more difficult for our young people,” she explained.

Anxiety, OCD, school refusal, gender identity, depression and suicidal thoughts are among the problems they experience.

Mark Kernohan, project director of Christian charity The Big House, agreed that anxiety is a major issue for young people, saying it’s perhaps due to school pressures, relationship issues or family situations. “For some young people this life is too much in this period of time.”

Another area where cases are on the rise is dementia, with the Alzheimer’s Society estimating that 20,000 people in Northern Ireland are living with the condition.

Norma Picking, manager of PCI’s Adelaide House Residential Home in Belfast, gave an inspiring perspective on how just taking time to listen, finding out about the person’s history and what they like to do can make such a difference to their quality of life. “You have to listen…you have to make them feel special, valued,” she said.

Professor Max Watson, a palliative care consultant with the Western Trust and director of Project ECHO with Hospice UK, spoke of the challenges facing end of life care, and said the Church should not just oppose euthanasia legislation and promote improved funding, but take action. “Our appeal to parliament will be much stronger if backed up with practical demonstrations of the outworking of our belief that life always matters.”

Whilst acknowledging the increasing secularisation of the public square in the Republic, the Assembly has welcomed opportunities for PCI to participate and seek to influence policy.

PCI Public Affairs Officer, Karen Jardine said, “While Presbyterians may be a small minority in the Republic of Ireland, our distinctive witness and influence is still recognised in the public square through continued participation in civic events, dialogue and other aspects of public life.

“Against a backdrop of seemingly endless challenges to a faith-based Christian worldview, this type of graciously confident gospel engagement remains vital.”

Consider Grace A book exploring how Presbyterians responded to the Troubles is to be published this autumn.

Consider Grace is the culmination of three years’ work and features 100 stories from ministers, spouses, victims, members of the security forces and politicians. This will be followed in 2020 by congregational and training resources. Rev Tony Davidson explained, “The book is just one contribution to our response to our past.”

Transferor governors Caroline Thompson

Karen Jardine

Dr Norman Hamilton

A resolution affirming the role of transferor governors in the preservation of a Christian ethos within the controlled schools sector has been passed by the Assembly.

PCI Public Affairs Officer Karen Jardine said the reconstitution of board of governors in Northern Ireland’s primary and post-primary schools has seen some take on the role of governor for the first time.

“There are others who have given years, even a lifetime of service in this role, and we do not underestimate the time and commitment involved in supporting principals and teachers, dealing with complex pastoral concerns or handling budgets stretched to breaking point.”

Pointing out that many Christians serve as governors in other roles, not just as transferor representatives, Dr Andrew Brown, convener of the State Education committee, added, “It’s a vital mission field for us.”

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GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2019 | MISSION IN IRELAND University chaplaincy

Church planting panel

Provision of university chaplaincy across Ireland, north and south, was once again the subject of debate at this year’s Assembly.

In discussing the report of the Universities and Colleges Chaplaincy committee, Rev David Bruce, Secretary of the Council for Mission in Ireland, acknowledged how the role of the chaplain has changed since generations past, saying, “Chaplaincy is mission, where a fresh boundary of gospel connection is created with people who are curious about Christ.”

Describing the changing face of university culture, committee convener Dr Maureen Bennett called upon members of Assembly to encourage their presbyteries to address the significant ministry opportunities afforded by their proximity to university campuses.

“There are 360,000 tertiary-level education students attending universities and colleges across the island of Ireland.

We currently employ two full-time chaplains – both based in the greater Belfast area – and we afford less than the equivalent of five days a week on other campuses, and no provision at all in Dublin.”

A representative of the Youth Assembly and member of Muckamore Presbyterian Church, Elizabeth Nixon implored the General Assembly to increase funding for chaplaincy work. “Part-time chaplains simply cannot meet the huge need that exists among our students. Forming relationships is key… Please release more student workers into the fields, for they are ripe for the harvest!”

Reminding the House of reports brought in previous years, Dr Bennett said, “We have brought to this Assembly’s attention over the last four years the need to look beyond the parapets of parish ministry to that of so many needy students and staff in our colleges and universities – but sadly to no avail.

“Let’s become less preoccupied with those within our church walls and more concerned with the world without. I urge every presbytery to support its chaplains with intention and action, and where there is no chaplain – or where a chaplain is trying to manage a parish and afford half a day per week to thousands of students – to review their priorities.”

Church planting should be nothing more than the normal, everyday activity of PCI congregations – this is the dream of PCI’s new Church Planting panel, according to its co-convener, Tom Gilliam.

An elder in Maynooth Presbyterian Church, which was itself a plant from Lucan Presbyterian 12 years ago, Mr Gilliam encouraged members of Assembly to be devoted to prayer in three areas: for countless people across the island of Ireland to find new life in Christ; for gifted and passionate individuals to be raised up to lead new church plants; and for the identification of new locations where people are not yet hearing about Jesus, which are ready for planting a new worshipping community.

Highlighting the initiative ‘New Life, New People, New Places’, Council of Mission in Ireland convener Dr Frank Sellar said, “We are supportive of the presbyteries of North and South Belfast as they work alongside the emerging project in the Berry Street building and a separate initiative of Carnmoney Presbyterian in the city centre, now based in May Street.”

Elaborating on the work of the Carnmoney plant, Rev John Dickinson, minister of Carnmoney Presbyterian, reported, “For the last three years, our congregation has been on a journey of planting a church back into the centre of Belfast. I would like to thank all who

John Dickinson

have helped us, and the members of Carnmoney, who have invested everything in this.”

Known as Carnmoney Central, the new and growing worshipping community recently moved from their temporary home in Assembly Buildings into the former May Street Presbyterian Church building.

Mr Dickinson also expressed his desire for further development in how PCI enables its congregations to undertake this work, calling for greater freedom and flexibility for local churches to staff and structure church plants.

Seeking to raise the profile of this groundbreaking work across the breadth of PCI, members of Assembly were informed about a proposed church planting conference, due to take place in February 2020.

Maureen Bennett

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CONGREGATIONAL LIFE AND WITNESS | GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2019 Beyond ourselves

Renewed priorities

‘Beyond ourselves’ was the theme of this year’s alternative presentation from CCLW, which highlighted upcoming resources designed to assist local congregations in sharing the hope of the gospel in the public space.

Introducing the presentation, Council convener Colin Morrison reflected on the need for a new approach to church growth.

“Our congregations cannot depend on the kind of generational reproduction of members which was common in the past.

“We need to get beyond ourselves, carefully balancing our focus, time, energy, effort and resources between our congregation’s life and its witness.”

Highlighted resources include: ‘Share’, helping churches engage members in a conversation about how they can build relationships, cultivate community and invite others to encounter Jesus; ‘Go Deep, Go Wide’, aiding congregations to develop a lively, ongoing involvement in global mission; ‘Inside Out’, which explores what it means to be a welcoming church; and ‘Eric Says’, helping congregations introduce gospel truths to unchurched children.

Further information on all of these are available at www.presbyterianireland.org/resources

“Building the community of the congregation and bolstering the outward face of the Church” are the common priorities emerging from ongoing feedback and engagement with presbyteries, and form the basis of much of CCLW’s work, said Rev Colin Morrison, Council convener.

Mr Morrison explained how building the community of the congregation is an ongoing need in areas of pastoral life, discipleship, leadership, and outreach. “In a world that is lonely and fractured, such a community will be a witness to others.

The Council is working towards a series of events in April 2020 to develop this theme.”

Rev David Thompson, Council Secretary, explained further the need to bolster the outward face of the church, saying, “We find ourselves placed to bear witness in a rapidly changing society – one which, on some levels, is hostile to our message.

We have to confront and overcome a fear of showing Christ’s love and sharing the message of the gospel.”

Ruth Bromley

Support for young adults

PW praised The ministry of Presbyterian Women was given special mention at Assembly this year, with Rev Colin Morrison, convener of the Council for Congregational Life and Witness, acknowledging the commitment of PW in supporting both home and overseas mission.

Karen Craig, PW president, explained how the PW home project this year will support the development of CSW specialist services in Thompson House, Gray’s Court and Carlisle House.

Many parts, one body Wednesday evening saw the annual Youth Assembly fringe event take place, with young and old gathering together for fellowship, food, and discussion around the evening’s theme: ‘The anatomy of the church – many parts, one body.’

Outlining their plans to meet and seek greater engagement with local presbyteries within PCI, Youth Assembly co-chair Niamh Rankin encouraged the Church to pray for and support their work, saying, “We want to connect people across and within our presbyteries, because together we can make a massive impact for God.”

Paddy Smyth, a member of the Youth Assembly working group, explained how they plan to hold three presbytery gatherings over the coming year, to discuss ideas and explore how they could work closer together, giving young people a meaningful way to have a voice in their Church.

Ciara Irwin spoke to commend the work of the Children, Youth and Family Strategy and Coordination committee, in what was already being done for youth in PCI, but addressed what she described as “the significant lack of support which currently exists for sixth form and university age students.”

Highlighting CCLW’s new Passing the Baton resource, she said, “Passing the Baton has been developed for just this purpose, and will result in empowered young people, ready to have the baton of faith passed down to them.”

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GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2019 | TRAINING IN MINISTRY Online courses Council convener Rev Nigel McCullough described how, just eight weeks after receiving confirmation of Queen’s University severing its link with Union Theological College, a brochure is available to members of the Assembly listing 10 programmes that the college is offering from September.

Also paying tribute to the college faculty, and Prof McClenahan in particular, Mr McCullough noted that the courses will be awarded through the Presbyterian Theology Faculty Ireland (PTFI). A number of the courses will be fully accessible online, via the BibleMesh platform, although ministry candidates will continue to study in person at the college.

Stating that the BibleMesh website presents Union Theological College as “an integral part of BibleMesh, along with 25 other colleges and institutions”, Rev Mary Hunter asked whether the Council for Training in Ministry could stand over the theological teaching of those other 25 institutions. She also expressed her concern that some material on BibleMesh, used by other institutions, was at odds with PCI’s position on leadership and the ordination of women.

Responding to her question, Mr McCullough said, “We do not make any attempt to stand over the other material on the BibleMesh platform, any more than we would make any attempt to stand over the content of other courses taught at Queen’s University, or every book published by a publisher, one of whose titles we use in one of our programmes. The material which our faculty choose to use is approved by the faculty, and is in agreement with the teaching of the Church.”

Dr Trevor Morrow outlined his concern in finding that, after registering on BibleMesh, he received invitations from the platform to two courses which taught a form of Christian leadership that would exclude women from leadership in Word and sacrament. Dr Morrow suggested an amendment to one of the Council’s resolutions, to state that the Assembly would welcome the developing relationship between Union and BibleMesh in online courses, specifically in keeping with the theology and practice of PCI. The amendment was gratefully accepted by Mr McCullough, and passed by the Assembly.

For details on PCI’s response following the decision taken by Queen’s please see p14.

Union faculty owed ‘deepest gratitude’ Olivia Nicholl, a member of the Youth Assembly task group who has just completed her first year of study at Union, described her “overwhelmingly positive” experience of the college. “The support offered to students is unparalleled… I love Union, and I pray it continues to be blessed.”

Convener of the Union Theological College management committee, Dr Ivan Patterson described the past year as very difficult, particularly for the faculty and administration of the college. “I would like to pay tribute to every single one of them, who have gone well beyond the call of duty and spent hours not only in preparing new courses, but in sending hundreds of papers to the Quality Assurance committee.”

Council convener Rev Nigel McCullough also paid tribute to the faculty of Union, saying, “This has been a difficult year for the Council for Training in Ministry. There have been many pressures, but in truth the weight of those pressures has been borne by the faculty of Union College, and by the principal in particular. As a Church we owe them our deepest gratitude for all they have done and continue to do.”

Olivia Nicholl

Ministry students After a number of years of smaller intakes of ministry students, 13 were recommended to the Assembly this year.

Addressing the results of the recent Ministry Application Pathway Review, Council secretary Rev Jim Stothers described how from 2020, applicants to the ministry will no longer need to have completed the Accredited Preacher Scheme. “In recent years it has been a requirement, and has been helpful in determining an applicant’s giftedness for preaching. However, the Scheme was not designed to be used in this way, and when an assessor knows that someone is applying to be a candidate for the ministry, the implications of not passing them are too great.”

Also addressing the creation of a Ministry Pathway panel, the remit of which will be to recommend adjustments to training pathways for candidates who already possess qualifications in theology or a wealth of pastoral experience, Mr Stothers said, “Recent academic knowledge and relevant pastoral experience need to be acknowledged and taken account of. However, exemptions will not be automatic, and there is great value in

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attending lectures with other students, developing relationships with them and hearing other perspectives.”

Referencing the list of incoming candidates for the ministry, Dr John Dunlop expressed his regret that none of the candidates were women, and called upon the Assembly to encourage women in their congregations to consider the call to ordination.

Rev David Knox echoed this, also expressing his concern that many women “remain apprehensive of putting their names forward, as there is still an attitude of discouragement in the Church. We should be far more proactive in speaking to the gifts and talents of our younger women.”

Dr Ivan Patterson, convener of the Union Theological College management committee, stated that the responsibility of encouraging more women into ordination lay with the whole Church, saying, “I hope and pray that there will be many females who apply for the ministry. Have you encouraged women in your congregation to apply? I would encourage all of you to look out from among yourselves not only men, but women who may have that sense of calling.”

SOCIAL WITNESS | GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2019 Shining a light on addiction PCI’s services are shining a light “in a dark and rotting world”. That was the message of Council for Social Witness (CSW) convener Dr Trevor McCormick as he introduced CSW’s report to the Assembly.

He said there is a pattern of drug misuse which leads to addiction, mental health issues, criminal activity and frequently further drug abuse. “An increasing number break this cycle by taking their own lives.”

Dr McCormick pointed out that in the year up to March 2019 there were 7,490 drug seizures in Northern Ireland, a 9%

increase on the previous year, with 3,306 drug related arrests – a 6% increase. Figures for the Republic show that fewer than 2 in 10 adults reported use of any illicit drug during their lifetime in 2002-03, but by 2014-15 this had risen to 3 in 10.

As regards deaths by suicide, in 2017 there were 305 recorded in Northern Ireland and 392 in the Republic.

“In this darkness we are shining a light through our specialist services work, particularly in Carlisle House, Grays Court, Thompson House and our partnership with Flourish, a suicide prevention initiative.

Concerns expressed over NI Assembly The General Assembly has again expressed frustration at the prolonged absence of an executive in Northern Ireland through two resolutions.

Speaking to a Council for Public Affairs resolution on the matter, Mark Bailie, from First Holywood Presbyterian, said he sees up close what the fallout of the Executive’s failure means through his work with Christian Action Research and Education (CARE).

Stating that Northern Ireland has the highest prevalence of problem gamblers in the UK, he said the legislation is no longer fit for purpose as it precedes the internet. Added to this, the services for those addicted to gambling is patchy. “We need the restoration of our institutions.”

The Council for Social Witness also put forward a resolution, expressing its concern that vital legislation and appropriate funding is being denied to essential health and social care services due to the lack of a Northern Ireland Assembly.

CSW Secretary Lindsay Conway said, “We are running out of ways to say that the health service is on its knees and that social care is not fit for purpose. We have pleaded, we have begged we have tried to shame them into action, and still we have no Assembly at Stormont.”

Rev Mark Catney (convener of the United Appeal committee) warned that the continued lack of Assembly will have a huge impact on the Church as it seeks to continue its work.

Explaining that United Appeal contributes little to the Council for Social Witness, with CSW’s projects and homes funded from other sources, Mr Catney said if funding doesn’t come from the Assembly “then we as a Church will have to start digging deep.”

“Being one of only two drug rehabilitation units in Northern Ireland, Carlisle House is not only a vital service but a place of Christian witness as the service users are now given the opportunity to participate in Alpha or Christianity Explored courses. In Thompson House these courses have been used for a number of years and members of Assembly should be encouraged that some have professed faith during or after the course.

“In the midst of the darkness there is light, in a rotting society we are providing salt,” said Dr McCormick.

Scamwise This year’s Assembly passed a resolution recognising the work of the Scamwise Partnership in Northern Ireland and encouraging congregations to use its resources.

CSW Secretary Lindsay Conway said, “I want to encourage every congregation to become aware of the risk for those who are vulnerable and susceptible to being financially abused – because that’s what scams are.” More information on p42.

Mental health CSW plans to establish a task group to address issues of mental health, as part of its strategic objectives for 2019.

Explaining the importance of addressing mental health issues, Council Secretary Lindsay Conway said, “This month’s Lancet states there has been an alarming rise in the rates of self-harm.”

He said a Lancet psychiatry study found in 2014 that 6% of people had self-harmed, up from 2% in 2000, with the highest rate in those aged 16-24. “The number getting help is now only 50%... We need to give more support. We need to be there at the coalface.”

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GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2019 Wednesday Night Celebration The Wednesday Night Celebration was a full-to-capacity gathering. The speaker was Rev Glen Scrivener, a minister in the Church of England and an evangelist who directs the ministry Speak Life. His theme for the evening was ‘Enjoying God’.

Speaking on the passage John 17:20-26, he said, “Jesus has always been enjoying God and now he wants to share it with us.”

Mr Scrivener also challenged those present by saying, “We must focus on Jesus with a laser-like intensity… Although the gospel tide may be out now, it will come in, we have been given that promise… Let’s show the world a God they can enjoy.”

Youth Night

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During the evening the congregation heard from people from the Moderator’s church of Maze Presbyterian. Several members shared on the stage, as well as via a short video, about how they enjoy God in service, in family, in church and in difficult times.

A retiring offering was given to Mission Africa, a charity that Maze members have a particular association with.

JULY/AUGUST 2019

Mission Connect

All people matter to God

Growth and good relationships Samuel Scott

Mission news from workers around Ireland and the world.

The horticulture of mission Volker and JinHyeog Glissmann The hope only Jesus can bring Naomi Keefe All people matter to God Isabel Harper A reflection on rural ministry Rev Rodney Beacom

Every aspect of our Church’s mission depends to some extent on United Appeal. Hundreds of projects and programmes at home and overseas are helping to advance God’s kingdom, showing God’s love in action to hundreds of thousands of people.

The privilege of serving Margaret Robertson

Including July/August prayer diary

Growth and good relationships

Samuel Scott

Community outreach worker, Eglinton Presbyterian Church, Belfast

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e’re coming to the end of our third year of work in and our Messy Church. We partner with Rosemary Presbyterian Eglinton now, and we’re pleased to report that we to run a CAP job club for the area, as well as running a short CAP have seen success over that time. My remit is to money course at least once a year. We started up a weekly afterreach out to men and the wider community, and while there school club to help us serve and reach out to families with younger have been challenges and children, with a particular hope disappointments, we have that those families would link These events…allow us an opportunity to share in to our Messy Church, which seen response in both aspects of the work. runs every two months. Again, a gospel message with men who wouldn’t be We have been running a it has been pleasing to see weekly club called Men’s these outreaches attended regular church attendees.

Drop In, where each Friday, by those outside our regular between 10am and 1pm, men church family, and we pray that from the church and the community can ‘drop in’ and enjoy some would continue to grow and provide an opportunity to share the pool, food and craic. This club has always been well enjoyed and gospel with young families. Other one-off community events have supported, as we see a regular core of 15 to 20 men engaging included summer fun days, a Christmas tree festival and a lantern weekly, and some have even begun to attend church regularly parade and tree lighting. For these big events we’ve been able to through that initial contact. We also try to run evening outreach team up with other community organisations, which has helped events for men at least once or twice a term. For example, over the us reach out with the message of Jesus. past couple of Easters we have organised meals and quizzes that have been attended by around 30 men. These events are a great way to bring us together for fellowship, but they also allow us an Please pray: opportunity to share a gospel message with men who wouldn’t • Pray for the ongoing work among men and the community at be regular church attendees. Alongside these things we have our Eglinton Presbyterian.

BB and monthly men’s breakfast too. Of course, there is room for • Pray that Eglinton’s ministries would continue to grow and growth, and we still pray that we would see our men respond in reach more people, and that those they reach would hear and faith, as well as enjoying taking part in all that goes on. believe the saving message of Jesus.

We have also enjoyed good relationships and success in working • Thank God for the fruit we have seen in the past, and pray for and with our wider community. Eglinton Presbyterian has that the Lord would help us to continue to work hard and to several outward facing ministries, but in particular I head up our creatively reach people in the future. work with Christians Against Poverty (CAP), our after-school club, Mission Connect | Herald July/August 2019

The horticulture of mission

Volker and JinHyeog Glissmann Global mission workers, Malawi

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hen God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seedOne pastor, Rev Mawaya, has 60 of his own parishioners in bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with training groups at the moment. Another, Rev Swindon, trains 67 seed in it, according to their various kinds” (Genesis 1:11). pastors in different regions. A Nigerian missionary asked for 60 Let me start with a confession: I don’t do trees and plants – their training manuals to train the pastors of a small denomination. names are a mystery to me.

A prison chaplain came to I would fail a botany and discuss training in prisons.

Mission work is just like that. One seed is planted Last week, I went to see the horticulture test. I might be able to name one or two Anglican Bishop of Southern and a mature tree grows which produces fruit Malawi who has asked us to plants, however, I am better with fruit trees. I can identify a that falls to the ground, spilling seeds to produce start three groups of our new number of those in my garden Bible Story course in three more trees. now. Orchards amaze me with parishes here in Blantyre. their abundance of fruits. Fruits As the course exists only in are even more amazing as they English at the minute, we have so many seeds and with each fruit there is so much potential realistically can only run it among the churches that have a good to grow even more trees. The papaya fruit has hundreds of seeds! level of English.

Sometimes mission work is just like that. One seed is planted and These developments are exciting, especially when I sit at my a mature tree grows which produces fruit that falls to the ground, desk which is covered in a multitude of theological books and we spilling seeds to produce more trees. But tree-growing takes time plan and write new training courses, that not only address key and therefore, it is a good analogy for the Christian pilgrimage. theological issues, but also challenge our church communities to I have been working for TEEM (Theological Education by think biblically about their lives.

Extension, Malawi) since 2010 and in my second year we restarted TEEM’s grass-roots training programme, which is also used to train pastors, mostly in rural areas, who have little formal education.

Please pray: We kept promoting the course but the results did not always • Thank God for these individuals who have a real passion to come. Slowly a few people started to join, among them were a few equip others with knowledge of God. strategically located individuals who heard about our approach • Pray for TEEM, that we can continuously provide quality training and saw it as the answer to their training needs. TEEM supplies material and that our outreach continues to bear fruit. material and gives support, but these individuals who really want • Pray for the discussions about prison ministry and that all to transform their communities through the Word of God – they partners come together swiftly. are our fruit-bearing trees.

Mission Connect | Herald July/August 2019

The hope only Jesus can bring Naomi Keefe

Global mission worker, Brazil

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eath has recently been a topic of conversation amongst come to the funeral without having their regular ‘fix’, were now the community of Peixinhos. The volunteers involved in the visibly struggling with withdrawal symptoms and cigarettes were evangelistic outreaches within the community have had out en masse in an attempt to calm nerves. opportunities to witness in these situations to the hope that only As I looked around, I reflected on what I had been sharing with Jesus can bring. Imagine the scene described below of a family the leaders in Beberibe, that our vision as Christians always needs from the poor community with whom the volunteers have had to be corrected. Our celestial vision of how we see God, how the privilege and challenge of walking alongside over many years, we see ourselves before God and how we see others who don’t particularly during this difficult know the Saviour needs to be time of bereavement. on a daily basis. As As our glasses get dirty and need cleaning, so too refocused The temperature was 32°C our glasses get dirty and need and the sun was beating down our spiritual eyes or spiritual glasses need to be cleaning, so too our spiritual on the open coffin covered eyes or spiritual glasses need readjusted and cleaned regularly. in fresh flowers except for to be readjusted and cleaned the head of the man peeking regularly. out. Having arrived by bus we were dripping with the heat, but Looking around, I was reminded of the hope of the good news of thankfully we had arrived before many of the others which meant Jesus which is still powerful to save. As Jesus declared, “It is not the we had time to speak with the family. healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the This family’s past of drug involvement, murder, prison, alcohol righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). It was for such as these around abuse had visibly destroyed what God’s ideal for a family life is. the coffin that our Lord had come to call and save.

Those at the graveside included drug addicts, neighbours, friends, the man’s children from a previous relationship, ‘gate-crashers’, a man selling water, women handing out leaflets advertising Please pray: private funeral plans, a man selling flowers to place on the coffin, • Together with the volunteers here in Brazil and many of the the brother of the dead man who arrived drunk and had to be Good News Club children who already know Jesus as their Lord restrained, the other brother who sat in the car refusing to get and Saviour, please pray that more people will come to know out and step on the cemetery grounds due to his religious taboo, Jesus. ourselves and a few other Christians from the small Pentecostal • Give thanks for the privilege of sharing the good news of church in the community.

Jesus with this family and the many others within the poor The burial was due to take place at 3pm, but at 5pm the coffin communities of Peixinhos and Beberibe, and pray for wisdom was only just being closed and taken to the burial ground at the and guidance in doing this. other end of the cemetery. Those addicted to drugs, who had Mission Connect | Herald July/August 2019

All people matter to God

Isabel Harper

Manager, Aaron House, Dundonald

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aron House, established in 1995, is situated in a residential Aaron House staff work collaboratively with families and allied area of Dundonald. It is a 16-bed residential unit which health professionals, ensuring a person-centred approach to care provides a lifelong home for 14 adults who have severe planning and in the development of specific programmes of care. learning and physical disabilities and complex needs. It also Our mission statement is that ‘All people matter to God’ and the facilitates short break provision for service users who reside within compassion shown for those with disabilities is evident. the local health and social care It is my personal belief trust area. that God leads us all to our Residents are able to live in an environment With care and support from life’s purpose and that with a dedicated team of staff, a particular set of skills and where the values of privacy, dignity, Aaron House residents are talents which he entrusts to us independence, choice, citizenship and fulfilment as gifts, we are able to do what able to live in an environment where the values of privacy, we do well and that is, in this are respected and maintained. dignity, independence, choice, case, to care for and safeguard citizenship and fulfilment are some of the most vulnerable respected and maintained at all times. Residents’ emotional wellin our society. being, spiritual growth, relationships with family and society is “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, fostered and nurtured. goodness, faithfulness” (Galatians 5:22).

Active community involvement is promoted by ensuring that they are all given opportunities to access amenities and services which every other citizen has access to. One example of this is that residents have the opportunity to go on holiday to Strangford Please pray: Bay Lodge, an accessible bed and breakfast facility which is set in • Ask for God’s blessing for the residents of Aaron House, to keep the idyllic surroundings of Strangford Lough. Residents have also them well and safe. participated in a colour run with the local council.

• Strength for the management and staff of Aaron House, that Emphasis on the individual’s abilities enables them to fulfil they can carry out their work to the highest standards. personal potential. High standards of quality individualised care • Give thanks to the families who have given us their blessing in are delivered to the residents who require assistance with all looking after their loved ones. activities of daily living.

Mission Connect | Herald July/August 2019

A reflection on rural ministry

Rev Rodney Beacom

Lisbellaw, Lisnaskea, Maguiresbridge and Newtownbutler Presbyterian churches

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’m a native of Co Fermanagh and returned to the county On a practical note, three services on a Sunday, visiting in the in 2011 after living in ‘exile’ for almost 11 years. I served as home and hospital, prayer meetings and Bible study, preparing for assistant to Rev Dr David Cupples before taking up my current Sunday services, meetings and dealing with emergencies keeps charge as minister of Lisbellaw, Lisnaskea, Maguiresbridge and me busy through the week. Therefore, rural ministry is really no Newtownbutler Presbyterian churches in 2013. different, in my opinion, to ministry anywhere else.

What is it that makes rural ministry different to urban ministry, However, the most important aspect of my service in Christ’s and what are the challenges name is encouraging people we face? to look to the one true and The answer to the first living God, so that in his mercy, I believe that relationship building, letting part of the question is the grace and love that broken people know that I care, understand and that environment in which we relationship between man worship, live and work. and the creator God might I’m there to help is so important.

Geographically speaking there be restored. I believe it is this is a larger pastoral area to broken relationship which cover, some of which can be very remote. Congregations in rural lies at the root of all our problems and the issues that people areas tend to be smaller. However, the strong sense of community face day after day. As a minister to rural congregations, I value and belonging where everyone knows and cares about each other the opportunity to minister into these situations and to have the is the hugely rewarding side to rural ministry. opportunity to share the good news of salvation in Christ alone The answer to the second part of the question is that people (Acts 4:12), and to teach the truth of Scripture for the saving of are still people wherever they are. The issues people face and the lost and for the sanctification of the saints as we prepare for deal with day after day are no different to those of an inner-city eternity (John 3:3; 16; 17:17). street. For example: death; illness and terminal illnesses; loneliness; This is why I do what I do, in the place where the Lord has called anxiety; depression; feelings of low self-worth; relationship me to serve, and I give thanks for the privilege of doing so. problems within families, at work and in communities; burdens and traumas from the past, some of which are due to the effects of Please pray: terrorism; the feeling that no one really cares, no one understands, • Give thanks for the core of committed people who serve the Lord there’s no one to help; and drugs, alcohol abuse and other Jesus faithfully in his church and in the communities in which addictions... the list goes on and on as anyone involved in ministry they live and work. and pastoral work will know only too well. This is why I believe that • Pray for a working of Word and Spirit for the building up of the relationship building, letting people know that I care, understand saint and the saving of the lost. and that I’m there to help is so important.

Mission Connect | Herald July/August 2019

The privilege of serving Margaret Robertson

Deaconess, Elmwood Presbyterian Church, Lisburn

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ne of my greatest pleasures is my garden and at the Both the garden and my work would die without a good supply moment I am celebrating the first year of a proper garden of water. Sometimes we have an endless supply of water as it at my home. I really do not know what I am doing, but seems to rain constantly, whereas at other times, like last year’s I love to see different plants and seeds grow. I have bulbs that lovely summer, hoses and watering cans are essential. Likewise, in appear from roots which go the church we need to draw deep into the ground and from Jesus’ well as his water In the church we need to draw from Jesus’ well brings everlasting life, which is most of them thankfully are reappearing this year. I the Holy Spirit. as his water brings everlasting life. have very small fragile plants When my garden is well growing from a packet of wild watered, I have the delight flower seeds given to me for my birthday. There is in one corner of of seeing my flowers and plants blooming, bringing colour and the garden a shrubbery where strong sturdy rhododendrons grow beauty into my garden. My prayer for Elmwood would be that the which always seem to me to be plants that can weather any storm. Holy Spirit would bring life and the beauty of Christ into our lives, I have about five trees in pots that would have the potential to that would then overflow into the lives of our community. grow way beyond the confines of the pots and my garden, if they were planted in the ground. Lastly, I have four pots at the front which have very bare branches, with no real sign of life on them.

These do not look alive, but if you scratch the bark there is green underneath, so I know they are living and hopefully one day will Please pray: develop into beautiful magnolia bushes, but I think that will be a • Pray for the seeds of God’s Word that will be sown in the lives long time in the future. of the children and young people, through the holiday Bible Gardens, I have discovered, take time and work – from weeding, club from 28 July to 3 August and Switch for teenagers from 12 watering and feeding the plants to help them grow, to protecting August to 16 August. them from the insects that can destroy them. It is not hard to • Pray for opportunities to share God’s Word at the congregation’s relate my garden to my work when I consider all the different outreach at the local bonfire on 11 July. people, in different circumstances and at different stages in their • Pray for the Elmwood church family, that they would grow in life and faith. It is a real privilege to have the opportunity to get their love for each other and for God, through the outflowing of alongside people going through difficult circumstances or have the Holy Spirit. Pray especially for the newly elected elders. opportunities to encourage people in their faith.

Mission Connect | Herald July/August 2019

JULY/AUGUST 2019

Please pray for... n MISSION IN IRELAND – Pray for the many holiday Bible clubs and outreach events congregations are holding this summer. Pray that many people throughout Ireland will come to faith in Christ. n MIDDLE EAST – Give thanks and pray for students at Jordan Evangelical Theological Seminary who graduate this summer and seek opportunities for ministry and mission. n DEACONESS – Rachel Cubitt serving in Whiteabbey. Pray for wisdom for Rachel as she visits people, that she will rely on God fully as she listens and speaks into difficult situations.

Rachel Cubitt n HOME MISSION – Gortin congregation which is vacant at present and for Rev Rodney Thompson (vacancy convener).

n CHAPLAINS – Rev Jim Lamont in his chaplaincy work in Letterkenny General Hospital as he seeks to provide pastoral support to patients and their families. n CYCLONE IDAI – Pray for all who continue to suffer as a result of Cyclone Idai which hit Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe in March. Pray that they will be given the assistance they need to rebuild their homes and livelihoods. n HOME MISSION – Bray and Blackrock congregations and for Rev Andrew Gill who is due to be installed in the congregations in late August. n MENTAL WELLBEING – Pray for good mental wellbeing for individuals who are unable to cope with the daily routines and who withdraw from all social interaction.

Pray for all those struggling with depression and who are not coping. Give thanks for volunteers who staff helplines and promote the importance of talking through the issues. n NIGHTLIGHT – Brian Simons and the ongoing work of Nightlight and the Dock Cafe in Belfast. Pray that the Holy Spirit would speak through the conversations the Nightlight workers and volunteers have with people on the streets in Belfast on Friday and Saturday nights. n SPAIN – Grupos Biblicos Unídos (GBU), a Spanish Christian student organisation. Pray for those attending GBU summer camps and that students will be built up in their faith. n CHAPLAINS – Rev John Gilkinson serving as the newly appointed chaplain at Belfast City Hospital as he ministers to patients, their families and staff. Pray that God will open gospel opportunities.

n HOME MISSION – The outreach from Craigmore Home Mission Station and its connection with Grange congregation in the Ballymena Presbytery. n COMMUNITY OUTREACH – Michelle Stewart serving as community outreach worker in Cloughey Presbyterian Church, that God will open doors for Michelle and provide her with more opportunities within the community. n SPECIALIST SERVICE AGENCIES – Continued support for the work of the Bible Society in Northern Ireland, the National Bible Society of Ireland, Wycliffe Bible Translators, Feba and SAT-7. n HOME MISSION – Rev Mark Proctor and the congregation of Naas. Praise God for the new families who have begun coming each Sunday. n RESPITE CARE – Respite care is provided in Aaron House, Dundonald and Lawnfield House in Newcastle, Co Down. Give thanks for this vital work carried out in these homes and pray for staff, that they will quickly develop good relations with each new group of residents and that they will be sensitive to their needs. n ZAMBIA – God’s wisdom and guidance for the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian Synod of Zambia. Pray that it may be strong in its faith and witness. n KENYA – Stephen and Angelina Cowan serving in Tuum in northern Kenya. Pray for the expanding youth ministry, and the three youth camps held each year.

n HOME MISSION – Ballymagrane congregation (linked with Aughnacloy) which is vacant at present as they pray and plan for the future, and remember Rev Norman Smyth (vacancy convener). n ADELAIDE HOUSE – Adelaide House in south Belfast caters for 44 residents and is very much a home from home to all who come through its doors. Pray for the home manager, Norma Picking, and her staff team, as they cater for the needs of the residents. n PAKISTAN – The work and witness of the Presbyterian Church of Pakistan. Pray for wisdom for the leadership and ministers of the Presbyterian Church of Pakistan. Pray too for Gujranwala Theological Seminary training people for ordained and lay ministries. n HOME MISSION – Rev Keith McCrory and Maynooth congregation as they plan the construction of a new church complex in the town. Pray too for the congregation’s youth and student groups. n COMMUNITY OUTREACH – Gareth Parker, community outreach worker serving in Ballyloughan. Pray for all the different outreach initiatives into the local community, including the Dunclug community lunch. n MALAWI – Lyn Dowds in her medical work at the David Gordon Memorial Hospital, and for Johnny’s work with the ‘Living Trees for Livingstonia’ project. Pray too for their children at boarding school in Zambia. n HOME MISSION – Dundalk Presbyterian who have recently called Rev Jonathan Porter to be their new minister. Pray too for Jonathan as he prepares for his new ministry. n CHAPLAINS – Forces chaplains posted overseas, especially those on deployment with service personnel.

n INTERNATIONAL n NEPAL – United Stephen and Angela Cowan MEETING POINT – Mission to Nepal’s Keith Preston and the work in the areas of education, healthcare, work of the International Meeting Point in livelihoods, disaster response, integral Belfast, seeking to reach out with the good development and peacebuilding. Pray for news of salvation to asylum seekers and new appointments made recently in UMN. others from overseas who have recently arrived in Northern Ireland. Pray for the new Meeting Point at Carlisle Circus in north Belfast.

n HOME MISSION – The life and witness of Drogheda congregation, and for the minister, Rev Damien Burke. Give thanks for new people coming along to Sunday services. n DEACONESS – Roberta Irvine in Greystone Road, Antrim, for the Holy Spirit to give Roberta the words to point people to Jesus in conversations she has.

n VOLUNTARY, COMMUNITY AND FAITH GROUPS – Give thanks for the work of the voluntary, community and faith sectors, and for organisations and individuals who are dedicated to helping others. Pray for those who facilitate appeals, and those who collect and deliver hampers, toys, food and clothes; those who organise special events and volunteers who give freely of their time.

www.presbyterianireland.org/prayer

TALKING POINTS

Casual sectarianism of habit Norman Hamilton discusses the need to recognise and deal with the sectarianism in ourselves and our society.

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ectarianism remains a significant challenge still the norm. It is hard to avoid the harsh reality that real for our society and is likely to remain so for reconciliation must think through how to even begin to restore some time.” This headline from recent research relationships with those who have been (and still are) grieving by the Ulster University is hardly a surprise, and traumatised. but is deeply troubling, more than 20 years after the Belfast The main body of the report is a 26-page mini-encyclopaedia Agreement. of deep insight and analysis of the scale and effect of In the 50 pages of the report, there are over 50 sectarianism on, for example, business, policing and politics. recommendations. For the first time, there are working It shows just how little there is to celebrate in our version of descriptions of both sectarianism and reconciliation – something ‘normality’. The analysis is followed by a further 11 pages of that our local Assembly, the London and Dublin governments conclusions and recommendations. Some are straightforward, have all singularly failed to offer, even though they talk much but many others are much more demanding (such as those about them. The report describes sectarianism in terms of a relating to the business community), and some are very “struggle for power in which both religion and politics have controversial, such as forming a new government department to played a consistent part” and which “is tackle sectarianism. widely used to describe the wider division”, It is very possible to As a minister, my reaction to the and makes the rather chilling comment recommendations for the church sector tolerate and respect the is that they are simply not challenging that “we were raised in a society where sectarianism was ‘built into’ normality”. rights and views of other enough, given the suggested definition In a memorable interview at the of sectarianism as “a struggle for power people…with separation in which both religion and politics have conference launching the report, the comedian Patrick Kielty (whose father a consistent part…” The churches from them still the norm. played was murdered by loyalist paramilitaries in clearly do not have the structures in place 1998) spoke of “the casual sectarianism of habit”. Day in, day to help at local level where both sectarianism and reconciliation out, the opinions we have, the words we say, the decisions we must be addressed. make are often shaped by long-term habits. They continue to One possible starting point is for our district councils (whom be expressed without much thought on our part, often with we have just re-elected) to facilitate local inter-church panels, an underlying mistrust and fear of both people and places on with every member of the clergy, and their church leadership the ‘other’ side, and an avoidance of contact and relationship teams, being invited to contribute their own analysis of the building. So division and separation continue as normal. type and scale of sectarianism in their area, along with practical Breaking into this cycle is a huge challenge. As senator steps to help improve the atmosphere and local relationships.

George Mitchell said in his keynote address, the “poison of This is absolutely not to be confused with ecumenical activity, mistrust is common to all conflicts”, and that “we will repair which often has a focus on joint worship. It is an outworking our buildings long before we repair our souls.” The research of the Bible’s call to find new ways of loving your neighbour as emphasises the crucial role of the education sector in addressing yourself, following on from our commitment to Christ. It would the problem. It offers a very direct challenge to both the also be a modern expression of the prophet Jeremiah’s call in the Department of Education and the Education Authority. It is an Old Testament to seek the welfare of the people around us. equally direct call to the churches to focus on how to make this The report is clear that its purpose is to “seek opportunities for happen in the many schools in which we are so heavily involved. change towards a much less divided society, where partnership The research paper’s definition of reconciliation is weak. It and collaboration are normal and friendship is routine”. It offers a is “a general willingness on the part of people throughout the clearer vision of the future, broadly consistent community to tolerate and respect the rights of other lawwith biblical teaching, that surely every abiding people to hold views at variance from those which they believer would wish to help make happen. hold themselves.”

This sets the bar very low, since it puts almost no importance on the rebuilding of broken relationships, nor even the need Rev Dr Norman Hamilton to acknowledge wrongdoing during the NI conflict. It is very possible to tolerate and respect the rights and views of other Norman Hamilton is minister emeritus of people in a ‘relationship free zone’, with separation from them Ballysillan Presbyterian Church.

Herald July/August 2019

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Dissenting voices

Following Assembly discussions on what dissent within our denomination means, Alan Meban looks back through history at how dissent has shaped the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

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issent has long been part of the Presbyterian tradition. The still-quoted phrase “Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter” is a reminder of those on this island who opposed state interference in religious matters, and refused to conform to the established Church of Ireland.

While internal dissent has been foremost to the minds of many over the last few years, the denomination has a strong legacy of external dissent.

Roger Courtney’s book Dissenting Voices contains the remarkably rich and varied stories of 300 Presbyterians who over 400 years showed courage and leadership, integrity and conviction.

Presbyterians signed the Ulster Covenant and the women’s Declaration, were involved in the Society of United Irishmen, helped revive the Irish language, formed communities of reconciliation, sought justice and protection for the vulnerable, and call on politicians to exercise balanced accommodation and recognise their collective responsibility for the common good.

At its meeting in October 2018, the General Council appointed a task

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group to draw up a report on Presbyterian decision making and the place of dissent following a summer of kirk session meetings, letter writing, media comment, anger and frustration by some about decisions taken concerning the Church of Scotland and the communicant membership of same-sex couples and Rev Dr Bill Addley baptism of their children.

Dr Bill Addley rose to speak at this year’s Assembly and congratulated the task group on their draft report which will now be sent down to presbyteries for comment. The former professor of Practical Theology went on to provide his perspective on the internal dissent that is a regular and recurring feature of the denomination: “It struck me recently that about every 50 or so years there’s a crisis or a controversy which threatens to create a division or a split in the Church.”

While internal dissent has been foremost to the minds of many over the last few years, the denomination has a strong legacy of external dissent.

He explained to me afterwards that “the Arian controversy in the 1820s showed the limit of dissent because having questioned the whole deity of Christ, the 17 ministers seceded to form the Remonstrant Synod [which would later emerge as part of today’s NonSubscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland].”

Fast forward to the ‘organ wars’ that followed the 1861 installation of a harmonium in Enniskillen Presbyterian Church. Opposition to this innovation in worship worked its way through presbytery and synod until the General Assembly debated the matter in 1868. Some expressed the view that there was nothing in the laws of the Church to prohibit organs, while Dr Henry Cooke argued that they were “alien” to true Presbyterian worship. Writing about this period in 2007, Very Rev Dr Ken Newell noted that “for 30 years hostile pamphlets flew to and fro, angry letters were written to the press, and some ministers who espoused the changes were labelled ‘apostate’.”

In 1873 the General Assembly banned organs, and a movement emerged to stand against “this pollution of organs, the growth of stained-glass windows and the building of spires.” But they still kept being installed and, in 1888, 200

ministers threatened to leave the denomination. A fiveyear truce was negotiated.

Dr Addley noted that “every year the Assembly passed a resolution condemning the innovation, and every year a large number of churches ignored it and no action was taken against them. And eventually, in 1891, the General Assembly decided to ‘pass from the question’ and that’s where it was left.

They just resolved it by parking it.”

The next major crisis was the heresy trial where charges were brought against Assembly’s College’s Rev Professor Davey in 1926 for holding and teaching allegedly liberal doctrines contrary to the Word of God and the subordinate standards of the Church. After a long trial, he was acquitted and the appeals brought to General Assembly in 1927 were dismissed.

By the 1970s, the controversy was about membership of, and subsequently withdrawal from, the World Council of Churches. Some members of today’s General Assembly will remember arguing vociferously on one or other side of that prolonged argument.

“Those who initially dissented from the decision to remain in the World Council of Churches came back every year and eventually they won. They wore down the others who said this is really diverting us too much and it’s not as important as other things.”

The desire for the denomination to stay together proved stronger than the wish to continue to disrupt and divide.

And now, nearly 50 years later, the Church is divided over how to react to another set of issues.

In the moments following June 2018’s General Assembly decision to change the nature of the formal high-level relationship with the Church of Scotland and United Reformed Church, 81 members of the House recorded their dissent and their names were noted in the Assembly minutes.

Two days later, another 16 members recorded their dissent in the minutes at the decision to receive the report of the Doctrine committee which suggested

that the children of samesex couples could not be baptised due to the need of the parents to make a credible profession of faith.

“The Assembly has done things with which I haven’t agreed,” Dr Addley admitted. “I have never thought that signing a document of dissent added anything and so I never have. What you’re doing is disassociating yourself from the decision so that everybody knows you were kosher … But you [still] have to obey.”

Before the summer, the Clerk of Assembly Rev Trevor Gribben, acting on behalf of the General Council, issued a letter to all ministers concerning a number of matters. One section

The desire for the denomination to stay together proved stronger than the wish to continue to disrupt and divide. recognised that debate and discussion could take place outside the formal structures of the Church, whether privately or in more organised ways.

However, the letter cautioned against bringing the Church “into disrepute” by speaking in public in a way that might cause “scandal injurious to the purity or peace of the Church”. Speaking on BBC Radio Ulster’s Sunday Sequence, he clarified that ministers were not being censored: “People are free to debate in public – it is the nature of that discourse that is important.”

Former Moderator Very Rev Dr John Dunlop summed up his stance, saying: “I think you can be a dissenter without being a deserter.”

By early July, 232 teaching and ruling elders signed a letter entitled ‘A Cry from the Heart’ to “acknowledge, and indeed share, the profound sense of hurt, dismay and anger currently being expressed in the wake of decisions taken at our 2018 General Assembly.” (In the interests of transparency, I should acknowledge that while having no part in the writing or

signing of the letter, I was approached in a professional capacity to circulate that letter to the Moderator, Clerk and Irish media outlets.)

In mid-September, another letter with 602 signatures of Presbyterians sought to express “loyal dissent and the need for continuing public discourse” around the breakdown in inter-denominational relations and asserted the “long held right of Presbyterians to exercise their God given right of private judgment.”

Some voices noted that hundreds of ministers and thousands of ruling elders – the majority – hadn’t signed any letters or made any protest.

In the letter, the Clerk offered advice on how to change decisions of the General Assembly, and the Presbytery of South Belfast proposed a Memorial that if successful would have allowed a vote in June 2020 to rescind last year’s decision to break high-level relations with the Church of Scotland. With 187 votes (35%) cast for and 353 against (65%), the prayer of the Memorial was not granted.

Of course, dissent operates at many levels and on many planes. The reports from the Council for Training in Ministry expressed dissent about the import of Queen’s University’s changing relationship with Union Theological College, and presented an alternative narrative that challenged the review process.

It’s surely natural and to be expected that the denomination will sometimes dissent against the state and other authorities? “If the church doesn’t dissent it’s not being true to the gospel,” said Dr Addley, “because there are fundamental issues where we differ from the state.”

Dr Dunlop notes in the foreword to Courtney’s book: “all institutions, including churches, are led, or indeed misled, by people like ourselves”. History suggests that dissent may sometimes be part of upholding and promoting standards distinctive to Presbyterianism on this island. Or it may be part of a process of discernment around the need for further reformation. But it doesn’t inevitably have to lead to division.

37

Everyone needs

a fresh start

For six years, members of PCI churches have been going into Hydebank College to volunteer with the young men and women, helping with basic numeracy and literacy skills, as Rebecca McConnell finds out.

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oordinated through the Council for Social Witness, Fresh Start has been addressing the shocking statistic that 71% of people in the prison system left school between the ages of 14 and 16, and half of them have no qualifications to their name.

When I meet with Ronnie Armour, Director General of the Northern Ireland Prison Service, to discuss Fresh Start, it is obvious he is grateful for the volunteer scheme.

“Fresh Start is a really important initiative. To date, there have been 401 sessions which is a really significant contribution. Volunteers have been coming in from the Church, getting alongside men and women; they are engaging with them, supporting them through their sentence but crucially they are working with them on improving their literacy and numeracy skills.

“Many of the individuals come from chaotic backgrounds, and to have people

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investing in them the way volunteers do – the very fact they give of their time – is valued by the people they work with. It’s a tremendous project and I know the governor at Hydebank really values the work the volunteers are doing, as do I. “We are not here as a service to judge people – that is the role of the courts.

We are here to work alongside them and try and support them to change for the benefit of our whole society.”

Mr Armour is clear that the role of the Prison Service is first and foremost to hold people in safe, secure, decent accommodation, but it also provides a good opportunity to challenge them

Volunteers have been… getting alongside men and women… working with them on improving their literacy and numeracy skills.

about their behaviour and support them to change. Ultimately the hope is for rehabilitation, resettlement and reintegrating people into society.

“All that we are doing is aimed at reducing the likelihood of reoffending rates but we know if we can improve basic education then we improve their life choices and their life chances. If we can send them out of our care with skills, then the opportunity of getting employment are greatly enhanced.

“I believe, and we as an organisation believe, that people deserve a second chance, and maybe a third chance and maybe a fourth chance as well. It is very rewarding for our staff to get alongside these people and challenge and support them on a daily basis.”

A female in her 30s, who wished to remain anonymous, who has been volunteering for five years with Fresh Start, concurred that she found helping the young people a rewarding process.

“As soon as you go into Hydebank, you

will find it’s a friendly place. The staff are very professional and helpful.

Within my role, helping with basic literacy skills, I get to build a rapport with the students. They get the chance to chat about what is going on with them without feeling judged.

“I find the students are Ronnie Armour willing to work with you and they are grateful as well. I like that I can use my skills to help young people to reach their potential and I would encourage others to sign up. You get training and an induction programme and you have a contact for your own pastoral care within the Prison Service, should you need it.”

With the prison regime, time expected of volunteers is usually only a couple of hours a week and this can be at weekends.

A Presbyterian, Mr Armour is the first person from Northern Ireland to run the Prison Service in 20 years. Twentyeight months into his role, he says he is “thoroughly enjoying the job…I get to work with some fantastic staff – some of the best in the public sector. In Prisons 2020 we have a really clear vision of where the organisation is going and we are beginning to see a change.”

He also pays tribute to the chaplains that work in Hydebank, Magilligan and Maghaberry. “We are very fortunate to have such a dedicated, first class team of chaplains working across all our prisons.

Our chaplains work together as a team and they do that for the benefit of the people who are in our care – right from the first night they are sent to prison.

They are 100% behind what we are trying to do in Prisons 2020.”

After a consultation period ‘Prisons 2020: Driving continuous improvement in the Northern Ireland Prison Service’

I would encourage people who have something to give, to come and…help us to make a difference, ultimately to society. aims to provide an efficient, effective, modern and affordable service focused on people, services, infrastructure and partnerships. As Mr Armour explains, “For far too long, our prisons have been closed and people from the outside haven’t been able to see what is happening and be able to contribute to it.

“One of the things Prisons 2020 aims to do is to open our prisons up and help society understand better what it is that prison officers are doing on a daily basis. Unlike teachers, medical professionals and police officers, society doesn’t see what we do and yet the work they do is second to none in the public sector. They are dealing with vulnerable, complex, challenging individuals on a day and daily basis.”

There are around 40 organisations that are working with the Prison Service, from statutory agencies such as the Probation Board, Departments of Health and education as well as third party links with Extern, Start 360, Barnardos, the Quakers,

Prison Fellowship and Fresh Start. It is these partnerships that Mr Armour sees as vital to help avoid reoffending.

“Bringing people in from the voluntary and community sector to work alongside prison officers is important because it helps that normalisation process within our prisons and it allows people to have that engagement and get that support from individuals who are not prison staff.

I absolutely think that, in terms of the improvements that have been seen in recent years in the Prison Service, the voluntary and community sector and our partnerships, are vitally important to that.

“We would be keen to roll out Fresh Start to other areas of the Prison Service.

We would be happy to explore this further with the Church – obviously we need more volunteers!

Mr Armour recognises that volunteering is a big commitment, but is certain that it is well worth the sacrifice.

“I have no doubt that it is very difficult and challenging for people to volunteer but they are making a real difference and I would encourage people who have something to give, to come and work alongside us and help us to make a difference, ultimately to society. If we can send people out of here less likely to reoffend, then we have fewer victims and society is a better place. It’s not just the work of the Prison Service – it’s the work of us all.”

If you feel you would like to volunteer with Fresh Start, call Wilma Steele on +44 (0)28 9041 7233 or email wsteele@pcinet.org for an application form.

Herald July/August 2019

39

Going deep & wide in global mission Neil Harrison highlights a new PCI resource for helping congregations engage in global mission.

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any of us have family or friends living across the globe. Perhaps you are already thinking of people living in Australia or Canada or others in more unusual places. We take an interest in their lives and enjoy seeing their highlights unfolding on social media. If we hear of a tragedy in that country, our thoughts immediately go to them, hoping and praying for their wellbeing. We are connected by a shared history of time spent together. We have a relationship and a heartfelt connection that means we rejoice when they celebrate and we feel sadness when they are hurting.

That’s completely natural, even though our stories are separated by thousands of miles of geography and culture.

A promise and a problem The Bible reminds us that we share a story with Christians all across the world that begins with God’s promise to Abraham: “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3).

Ultimately the blessing promised here centres on Jesus, who later in the Bible makes it clear that this story of rescue is not only for the past but for the present and future, extending further than his listeners might have imagined: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…”

(Matthew 28:19).

God’s plan of rescue belongs to all of humanity, yet Paul highlights a problem:

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“How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?” (Romans 10:14). Only those who hear the message of the gospel are able to respond.

Therefore, God is calling our churches to play a role in his plan of rescue and since his plan is a global plan, we need to think beyond our own postcode as we consider our role as global disciples.

Every church is called to be involved in spreading God’s Word around the world – and the encouragement and energy this can inspire is often a surprising blessing. Rev James Burnett, minister of Lowe Presbyterian Church in Belfast, comments, “The people who’ve come back from Nigeria are the ones who have been pioneering evangelism in our local area.”

‘Go Deep, Go Wide’ is a dual focus for increasing involvement in global mission within every congregation in PCI.

Going deep Going deep is about planting something

Congregations best develop an active involvement in global mission, by having at least one deep relationship with a particular person, place or project.

with roots to grow. Experience shows that congregations best develop an active involvement in global mission by having at least one deep relationship with a particular person, place or project.

This fosters a sense of familiarity and ownership within a congregation that will lead to livelier prayer, greater giving and ongoing support for global mission.

Some congregations already have a deep link with PCI personnel, some with other agencies and some have no deep link at all. Going deep encourages every congregation in PCI to take a step back, identify a deep relationship, and plant and grow it in a way appropriate to their own situation. Rev Mark Johnston (St Andrew’s, Bangor) has seen this develop with Open Doors in Lebanon: “It has been amazing to see…that the Lord can use us to make a gospel footprint in other nations around the world.”

We can grow the roots of a deep relationship with those working in overseas mission in the following ways: Pray for them every month in church using up-to-date information; Appoint an ambassador in the congregation who will maintain contact with the overseas partner and champion their story and ongoing needs; Encourage overseas partners by sending an email, text or card to let them know you are thinking and praying for them; Give generously to support your deep relationships overseas through

denominational appeals or fundraising activities; Visit them via short-term mission teams or ‘come and see’ trips. This is a great encouragement to mission partners and will deepen your church’s heart for mission.

PCI has produced a ‘Going Deep’ clip highlighting three stories of deep relationships from congregations across the denomination. Further resources to support churches to develop and grow a deep relationship in global mission will be released soon.

Going wide Going deep with a particular person, place or project is great. But God’s mission has many aspects to it across the world. If your congregation has a long-standing interest in Bible translation, might it be missing something by not knowing very much about community development in needy parts of the world? Or if you have been strong in giving and praying for medical mission in Africa, might you also be blessed by finding out more about planting new churches in Europe?

Which moves us from ‘going deep’ to ‘going wide’ as we stretch our horizons to enable involvement in the breadth of God’s global mission. There is an easy way into that for every congregation of PCI. Every week we produce the ‘Let’s Pray’ resource that often highlights PCI’s

…‘going wide’…we stretch our horizons to enable involvement in the breadth of God’s global mission. involvement in global mission, along with stories in the Presbyterian Herald and across PCI’s social media channels.

In addition, throughout the year there are a range of denominational opportunities for congregations to grasp and be involved in the breadth of what it means to be global disciples who: Care for God’s world – through the World Development Appeal; Share in God’s mission – through the global mission element of the United Appeal, the Youth and Children’s Project and the PW Overseas Project; Respond with God’s love – through the Moderator’s Appeal in situations of special need; Go in God’s name – through denominational overseas mission teams.

With a little bit of planning and publicity, every congregation can experience something of the breadth of what it means to be involved in all that God is doing in the world.

Revelation 7:9-10 says: “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language…and they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’”

What a picture! God’s plan for the future ought to affect the way we live and think

today. Does the church in Syria matter to us? When we hear of recent Christian persecution in Sri Lanka, do we feel compassion? These are our brothers and sisters – our family and friends.

Their mission is the same as ours. They are working together with us towards the same goal and we cannot fulfil the mission of God without them.

So, as you think about what it means to be global disciples in your congregation, FOR prayerfully reflect on where God is calling you to go deep, and use some of the resources produced to help you grow the roots of a particular relationship. Alongside this, look out for the many opportunities for global mission involvement throughout the year that allow you to go wide in participating in God’s amazingly varied work of mission across the world.

The video clips and resources supporting ‘Go Deep, Go Wide’ are available at: www.presbyterianireland.org/ godeepgowide

mission

Neil Harrison is PCI’s Mission Development Officer

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Becoming

scamwise Simon Walls, from District Policing Command, offers some valuable advice on avoiding the growing threat of scams.

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I

recently joined a Facebook group of former recruits of the police training centre I attended in Ashford in Kent. It’s a real trip down memory lane. There are photographs of former colleagues and reminiscences of some of the funnier moments of police training.

The training I received in 1997 would probably be described as old fashioned now. It was all about breaking up fights in pubs, dealing with soccer hooligans, locking up burglars and attending the scene of what we called then ‘road traffic accidents’. It was all about crime that took place in the public space.

What I don’t recall was any mention of computers, the internet, fraud or the use of IT as a means of committing crime. In my day, the sawn-off shotgun was still the preferred weapon of choice of the criminal who wanted to take as much money from you as possible.

Police recruits these days will have a very different experience of training. They still learn the same basics of the law as I did. But they will also learn about crime that takes place in the private sphere: online grooming, child sexual exploitation, human trafficking and scams.

All of these crimes that take place behind closed doors present a real and growing risk to society, typically because the victims are vulnerable. Not least among them is scams, due to the sheer volume of those attempted every day and the amounts of money people lose. And this is money, in all likelihood, a victim will never get back.

The facts There is no precise definition of a scam.

In legal terms, it’s a fraud, a way of taking money from a person by some sort of deception. Although there is no precise definition, there are some cold hard facts about scams you should know about.

Scams do not just affect the old or the naïve. There is a scam out there with your name on it, whether you are a student or a septuagenarian. Scammers target various age and interest groups, not least holidaymakers, eBay shoppers, online

Scams do not just affect the old or the naïve. Scammers target various age and interest groups… bargain hunters, investors, and those looking for love.

Scams don’t just happen online. There are lots of ways you can be scammed: through your phone line, the post, or on your doorstep. Some of the most effective scams come through the phone line and the scam that gathers the most money for the criminal is the call they make pretending to be from your phone or broadband company.

Scammers are not lovable rogues just trying to make a few pounds.

Most scamming these days is organised crime.

There are call centres set up solely for the purposes of crime and they make calls on an industrial scale. It’s the same with mail fraud. Criminals send many thousands of scam mail items through our postal system.

You won’t always get your money back if you have been a victim of a scam.

Banks and other financial instructions will decide on a case by case basis if a victim is to receive a refund. In my experience, many victims are left out of pocket to the tune of many thousands.

It’s not uncommon for a victim’s bank account to be cleared completely.

Scams are increasingly sophisticated.

Unfortunately, the ingenuity of the scammers is sometimes breathtaking, as they try to stay one step ahead of victims and law enforcement.

steps you can take to protect yourself.

First, become scamwise. Like and follow the ScamwiseNI Facebook page or go to our site on NI Direct where there is information about current scams and how to avoid these. If you are not online, speak to your minister who will know someone that can advise you how to stay safe.

Second, apply the Scam Test to any email, letter or phone call that you receive and you are not 100% sure is genuine: S – Seems too good to be true C – Comes out of the blue A – Asks for personal details M – Money is requested.

Third, don’t be rushed. Scammers will try and create a crisis or rush you into making a decision. When people are rushed, they often make poor judgments.

Fourth, take advice. Speak to a trusted friend if you are concerned about a letter, email or phone call and think it might be a scam. Or go to your local post office whose staff are trained to identify scams.

And the last thing is – be a good friend. If you know someone in your congregation who might be vulnerable or doesn’t have ready access to information about scams, speak to them about scams and what to look out for. If you can spot a scam you can stop a scam!

Simon Walls is the T/Chief Superintendent of District Policing Command

Protect yourself Despite the persistence of the scammers and their sophistication, there are some

There are call centres set up solely for the purposes of crime and they make calls on an industrial scale.

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An open door Maud Kells, a missionary from Molesworth Presbyterian Church, was widely in the media in 2015, after she was shot by an intruder in Congo, but miraculously survived. The full story of her remarkable life has now been told in her biography, An Open Door, written by Jean Gibson. The following are extracts from the book.

M

y entry into the world was a foretaste of dramas to come. My older sister had been born in a nursing home in Belfast without any difficulty, so my mother decided she would have her second child at home on their farm near Cookstown… As the night progressed, however, the doctor struggled to do a difficult forceps delivery… The disgruntled physician offered little hope… “She couldn’t possibly survive after all I had to do last night to haul her into the world… it will be a miracle if she survives.”

Obstinate from the beginning, I refused to die. My parents watched as I clung to life, gathering strength by the day and proving everyone wrong…

I struggled to do well at Cookstown High School, but from an early age I wanted to be a nurse. The aunt after whom I was called had trained as a nurse in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.

As she and her husband lived nearby, we saw them often and a special bond developed between Aunt Maude and myself. Influenced and inspired by her, I wanted to follow in her footsteps. I was a quiet child, nervous and apprehensive about meeting new people.

Receiving a call I was beginning to feel that perhaps God wanted me to go overseas as a missionary, but how could I be sure? I was aware

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of other women who had followed the call of God overseas…I was conscious of my own inadequacies. Those other women were strong and courageous. I could never do anything like that.

Yet I could not get the idea out of my mind.

One day I decided to skip dinner so that I could fast and pray, asking God for a sign.

I went up to my bedroom, closed the door, got down on my knees and asked God to show me if he wanted me to be a missionary. As I opened the Scripture Union notes for the day, Revelation 3:8 jumped out at me: “See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.”

I felt God speaking directly to me. He knew all about my feelings of inadequacy but he understood that I wanted to

I felt God speaking directly to me. He knew all about my feelings of inadequacy but… He was placing an open door before me.

follow him about all. He was placing an open door before me…

It was 1964. I was 25 years old and had no idea what lay ahead.

Midwifery conditions in Congo The stark statistic of maternal deaths was the primary concern in Mulita. The church leaders presented their request: “So many of our mothers are dying in childbirth. Can you train more midwives?”

I agreed that training others to help would be the best way forward. We had a number of auxiliary nurses whom I could train as basic midwives…

I went to inspect the so-called ‘hospital’ where the midwives would deliver the babies. Newly built when I arrived, the mud huts had the usual mud floor. I looked at my staff in disbelief. “How can you wash a mud floor? It’s impossible with the amount of blood you have on a floor during childbirth or surgery…

We have to have a proper brick building with a cement floor that can be washed, and a proper roof and ceiling to keep rats out. We can’t have these rats coming in through the leaf ceiling.”

Convinced by my logic, the community rose to the task. Church leaders appeared

at my door with two small brick machines. “We have kept these hidden in the forest since 1960. They are still working and make two bricks at a time.” …While building of the new maternity unit was under way, I began teaching student midwives in the existing mud building. We used a Swahili book Helen Roseveare had written to train midwives in Nebobongo. A skilled artist, Helen had included detailed diagrams and beautiful illustrations of human anatomy. Alongside learning this theory the students attended weekly antenatal clinics…When I first arrived, the hospital depended on me for all complicated deliveries, but gradually the midwives built up their experience and confidence.

It had always been a good bridge, but I took him at his word and put my foot on the brake. There was no response.

I pumped at the brakes to no avail. I shouted, “There are no brakes.” …There was nothing I could do. The Land Rover speeded downhill towards the bridge. In a complete shock reaction I closed my eyes and took my hands off the steering wheel with an inner cry, “Lord, get us over this bridge.” There were two logs crossing that deep river, on either side of the vehicle. Somehow when I opened my eyes, we were on the other river bank. Never in my life will I forget the sensation. I had done nothing; only the Lord had got us over that bridge.

the sheets being removed, they assumed it was too dangerous to land and turned their planes around to leave.

All of a sudden one of the Wycliffe missionaries yelled at me, “Maud, give us your white coat.”

Realising what he meant, I pulled off my white jacket and threw it on the ground. As one of the pilots caught sight of it, he signalled to the other pilot.

Together they turned back and came into land… We were still fastening our seat belts as we took off, breathless with relief, unable to speak. It had taken only seven minutes for both planes to land, board 19 of us and take off again.

Strength for each day

The white coat War continued to spread and because many of us did not have our passports we were unable to obtain exit visas. In any case the airports were closed. MAF had evacuated but we were communicating with their base in Nairobi by radio transmitter. They agreed to send a plane… “You’ll have to go to Nebobongo because the airstrip in Isiro has been mined. Be in Nebongo on Sunday morning at 10.30 with a small bag, 10 kilos maximum each. If it’s safe to land, spread a white sheet on the ground as a signal to the pilots…

In Nebobongo a hostile crowd gathered as we assembled at the airstrip without baggage. They began to berate us, shouting accusations at us: “You’re disobeying the government. You’re the enemy.” ...We spread two white sheets on the ground as we had been instructed.

Immediately the crowd ran on the airstrip and pulled the sheets away. One missionary, braver than the rest of us, stepped forward and shouted at the top of her voice, “In the name of Jesus, I command you to leave that sheet alone.”

Four missionary children, realising what was happening, were screaming by this time. The rest of us were in tears. All we could think of was the 1964 rebellion.

We were sure we were about to be taken hostage by the crowd. As the pilots saw

The promises of God have upheld me throughout everything that has happened in my life. The longer I know him and the more experiences I go through, the deeper my understanding that God is sovereign. When my bungalow in Cookstown was burgled, when I was shot in Mulita and when I was evacuated from Congo because my life was in danger, God reminded me, “I’m in control here.”

In the midst of crisis, God was near. He is in control of everything that happens.

When we truly believe this, it brings great peace… Following Jesus – walking with him – when we do not know where he will lead us, is the most exciting life.

God seemed very real in the midst of disaster and I rejoiced in seeing him deliver us in seemingly impossible circumstances. Sometimes, however, it was the succession of trivial difficulties that wore me out. The relentless calls upon my strength were more likely to wear me down than the dramatic crises that arose from time to time…While I was in Mulita, I often felt there was no rest night or day, seven days a week, because I was constantly on call in the hospital, at home or out with the Land Rover for medical work.

A motoring miracle With my arm in plaster, I had not been able to make my regular trip to Punia to get hospital supplies. As the time approached for me to go on leave, I decided I needed to get to Punia, plaster or not. We needed barrels of petrol, paraffin oil for the lamps, sacks of salt and sugar, and various other supplies for the hospital. The plane was due to collect me a week later for my journey back to Ireland.

I set out in the Land Rover, driving as best I could with the plaster on my arm. Halfway to Punia, coming down a hill, one of my Zairian passengers said, “Mademoiselle, go slow. The bridge is no longer any good.”

God is in control

Maud Kells and Jean Gibson are available for speaking engagements. Please contact Jean at jeangibson104@gmail.com for more information.

An Open Door, by Maud Kells and Jean Gibson, is available to Herald readers at a discounted rate of £6.99 (normally £9.99). Please go to www.10ofthose.com and enter the code ANOPENDOOR19 at the checkout.

Herald July/August 2019

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REVIEWS

SH – Sarah Harding is the editor of the Herald PA – Phil Alcorn is an administrative officer for the Presbyterian Herald AH – Alice Huddleston is a work experience student

Special Offer

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The 10 tracks have a mixture of male and female vocals which instills a feeling of authenticity, and the style of live recording allows for a genuine idea of community worship and praise. You certainly cannot feel in any way alone while listening to these songs!

The album begins with the uplifting piece Praise Your Name, which has building acoustics and symbolises the breakthrough of finding Jesus.

My personal favourite was We’ve Won, which has a very youthful vibe – the funky instrumental opening catches your attention quickly and is an easy standout. Its message of the strength and power that Jesus brings us through our faith is subtly and humbly portrayed through one of the more relaxed songs on the album.

There are also hard-hitting and powerful songs such as Found Your Love and We Come, which adapt the style of a ballad. Not only are the chords and harmonies heartfelt, but the lyrics are soul touching and remind us of our love for the Lord.

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Herald July/August 2019

Facing Cancer: Standing tall Adrian Adger ADRIAN AND KAREN ADGER

£5.00

«««««

Aged 54, Adrian Adger – a recently married Presbyterian minister – discovered he had inoperable, incurable cancer. Few of us, I pray, can imagine what that must feel like; Adrian himself admits that he wondered if God was punishing him, or if he would ever know joy again.

Not shying away from these big questions, Adrian is compellingly honest in describing the fear and disorientation he felt following his bleak diagnosis, and inspirational in recounting how God has brought him back to a place of joy and peace in the midst of trial.

This book is a mini biography of Adrian’s life – from the days of cheating on primary school spelling tests, through coming to faith as a young man, right up to his penning of the book in April 2019. His story is one of faithfulness – of a faithful God who has directed his steps, and of a faithful disciple who has followed where God has led. Even in this, I found encouragement for my own journey of faith, and a calling to all the more fervently serve the One who directs my steps.

In his open and authentic depiction of how God has led him through his diagnosis to a place of renewed joy, Adrian points to what is surely the most important lesson: “As I reflect… I realise that I don’t have all the answers to my questions – but neither do I have to. God himself is enough. As I belong to the Lord, I have everything I need.”

PA

An Open Door Maud Kells and Jean Gibson

10 PUBLISHING Special offer for Herald readers: £6.99 (Normally £9.99). Go to www.10ofthose.com and enter the discount code ANOPENDOOR19

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Maud Kells is the missionary who is perhaps best known for surviving being shot by an intruder in Congo in 2015. This book is the full account of Maud’s life and it contains many more wonderfully inspiring stories.

What comes across as the most remarkable thing about Maud is probably how unremarkable she is. A self-confessed quiet and nervous person, she did not feel equipped to go overseas as a young woman in 1964. Yet she answered the clear call God gave her, testifying not only to her obedience and humility, but more importantly to the awesome power of God. Throughout the book, I was struck by Maud’s sheer perseverance, whether through the difficulties of practical living in Congo, or the mentally, physically and spiritually draining workload. When situations occur that would have seen many of us come home and put our feet up, Maud battles on, proving decisively her love for the people she serves and chiefly her love for the Lord, who never lets her down.

This is one of those books that will change you – or at least it should. Maud’s story puts into perspective all those first-world problems that we moan about and will deeply challenge you about your commitment, obedience and trust in God. Beautifully told by Jean Gibson, you cannot fail to be inspired by this powerful story of one woman’s courage, and if you don’t shed a tear in the process, you must be made of stone!

SH

REFLECTIONS

Lighting the fire Betsy Cameron

I

f you’re anything like me, you’re probably still finding in the background. Perhaps you know it. “It only takes a spark needles from last year’s Christmas tree lurking underneath to get a fire go-o-ing. And soon all those around can warm up the sofa or staring at the ashy remnants of the last fire of in its glow-o-ing. That’s how it is with God’s love, once you’ve the winter still in the grate. (But I suspect you are actually experienced it. You spread his love to everyone. You want to nothing like me!) As I passed our stove the other day – pass it on.” despairing at the dirty glass on the door and mountain of debris Well, it worked! The fire, even if it was only to get me to inside – I remembered that time last winter when I was tasked stop singing, roared back to life. Never mind, I had won. And with keeping the fire going all day while our fire-whisperers not only had I enjoyed remembering my faith journey and were out. Keeping the home fires burning, you might say. all the friends who accompanied me, but I also had time to Keepin’ ‘er lit. contemplate the interesting and contradictory qualities of fire.

I was nervous about this task because, having grown up in Fire has its beauty and attractiveness; fire is useful; and, finally, a house without a fireplace, I never learned anything about fire has enormous destructive power. We need no reminding starting or tending fires. Even my of that two years on from the Grenfell childhood Girl Scout experience was and last year’s fires at Primark and …the way we love each tragedy useless in teaching me any fire lore – we Notre Dame. were a soft, pampered group, who never other is the way by which But in this song that meant so much to did any real hiking or camping. Actually, me, interestingly, it is the warmth and light the watching world will of the fire that irresistibly draws people to that reminds me. I did learn something significant about fire during my scouting it. I wonder if I am living my life in such a know that we follow days when the long billowy sleeve of my way that people can see the light and the Jesus. peasant smock top (yes, it was that era) warmth of God’s love in me. Am I sharing drooped into a candle flame during our that love, like the small spark, with friend, ‘flying-up’ ceremony from Brownies to Scouts. Everybody neighbour and foe, passing it on in such a way that draws them screamed and fled except for Carrie Smith – who would later go irresistibly towards God? on to become a highly-trained ER nurse – and who alone had I remembered another song that we often sang about love the instinct to swiftly smother the flames. from that era, but this one focused on the love we have for each But back to my fire task of last winter. Everything was going other as Christians: They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love. fine. I seemed to be ‘feeding’ it at appropriate intervals, and The opening lyrics speak of our ultimate unity in the love of none of my various fumbling attempts to poke things around God – “We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord” – but seemed to have had any disastrous consequences. So far, so also acknowledge the reality that our unity can be broken. The good. Then I ran out to get a bit of shopping in, and when I song then goes on to remind us, powerfully, that the way we returned, my heart sank to discover a handful of tiny glowing love each other is the way by which the watching world will embers underneath a very unpromising mountain of ashy, know that we follow Jesus. charred ex-logs where once a fire had brightly blazed.

The lyrics of this challenging message are based on the words How was I to coax those little embers back to life? Oxygen of Jesus to his disciples in John 13: “A new command I give you: was my first thought, so I huffed and puffed and waited with Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one hope. Nothing. Then I set about shuffling everything so that another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, the embers were grouped together with fresh stuff to burn, if you love one another.” What a big responsibility this is! I’m placed encouragingly close by. Nothing. Then I lit lots and lots sure I sometimes fall short in loving my sisters and brothers in of newspapers and waited to see what would happen. Nothing.

Christ as Christ has loved me, but how important it is to be Finally, I did the only sensible thing left – I sang a song to the reminded that the way we treat each other shows the world not dying fire. The song that had come into my head during all just who we are but whose we are. this anxious work was one from my teenage years, a song to be sung earnestly around campfires with guitars strumming softly

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LIFE IN PCI Joymount crafted Revelation Joymount PW held a craft event with a difference in Joymount Presbyterian in Carrickfergus recently when 30 scenes from the Old and New Testaments were depicted in craft displays throughout the church. As well as knitting and crocheting, the scenes also incorporated stitching, woodwork and photography.

The event was titled ‘The Crafted Revelation’ as each scene demonstrated how God has revealed himself through the stories of the Bible.

Visitors were given a booklet which guided them through the displays, starting with creation and including Old Testament characters such as Noah, Moses, David, Daniel and Jonah. The New Testament started with the nativity and led through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection and the work of Paul. The journey finished with a view of the new heaven and new earth and a scene depicting the church today.

While this started off as a PW project, it quickly extended to the whole congregation. Work had been ongoing since September and was a great way to allow members of the congregation to use their creative talents for God’s work. The scenes were crafted by individuals, old and young, male and female, and by organisations within the church.

It has allowed new friendships to be built and has created a real sense of team. It also raised £2,300 for this year’s PW mission projects.

While the weekend finished with a praise service on the Sunday evening, on the Monday morning, pupils of Central Primary in Carrickfergus visited.

Katesbridge fundraiser A praise service held at Katesbridge in Co Down has raised approximately £650 for the PW Mission Fund.

Katesbridge PW is small group of ladies with a desire to serve God in the context in which he has placed them. They recently organised a praise service featuring the CafeOne80 praise group from Mourne Presbyterian Church and Laura Dowey from Newmills Presbyterian Church.

The theme for the service followed the PW theme for 2018, ‘Beautiful’. The service was conducted by Rev Nigel Kane whose closing message focused on Psalm 96, a call to the whole world to recognise that God reigns as king over everyone, and everything, and is therefore worthy of our praise.

He said, “It‘s a tremendous privilege to praise God, and each fresh experience of God’s daily grace should cause us to praise him. But we were challenged about how we should praise God all the time – not just on a Sunday, and not just at a praise service.

“The psalmist commands God’s people to tell others how wonderful he is. We need to let people know that there’s only one true God, and this is the God we worship. He’s the creator of everything, and everyone, so this makes him sovereign over all that he has created – including us. It has always been God’s intention that his people should invite others to get to know God so that they can praise him sincerely. For this reason, the ladies of Katesbridge PW invited men and women from across the Presbytery of Iveagh to join them in worship of our altogether wonderful God,” added Mr Kane.

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To share good news stories from your congregation please send your photographs and details to herald@presbyterianireland.org

Retirement in Drumgooland Caroline Macauley has retired as organist in Drumgooland Presbyterian.

She was presented with a gift by Pearl Magill to thank her for her contribution to the Castlewellan church as organist and choirmistress.

Olive Malcomson presented Angela Skelly with a gift for her assistance on the piano. From left: Mrs Malcomson, Mrs Skelly, Mrs Macauley and Mrs Magill. Back row: Rev Philip Cleland and David Whiteside (organist).

Picture: Lyndsay Magill.

Presentation in Armagh A presentation has been made to Rev Tony Davidson to mark his 25 years of ministry to First Presbyterian Church, Armagh. The first two children baptised by Mr Davidson and the most recent child to be baptised were present. Left to right: Eliana Faulkner (most recent baptism) and her mother Gillian, John Huston (first baptism conducted), Christine Davidson, Mr Davidson, Ashleigh Kerr (first baptism conducted) and Alistair Menary (clerk of session).

New elders in Drumlegagh New elders have been ordained and installed in Drumlegagh Presbyterian Church. The new elders – Ian Beattie, Janette Beattie, Maurice Adams and John Magee – are pictured in the front row with Rev Jonathan Cowan (minister of the Co Tyrone church). Also pictured are members of the presbytery commission, including presbytery moderator Rev Jane Nelson, presbytery clerk Rev Robert Herron, Rev Norman Smith and representative elders.

Anniversary for Strand PW Strand PW held a celebration dinner in the Park Avenue Hotel, Belfast recently to mark its 85th anniversary.

New communicants in Bushmills Twelve young people were admitted to the Lord’s Table for the first time in Bushmills recently. They are pictured with the minister of the Co Antrim church Dr Nancy Cubitt.

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LIFE IN PCI

New minister in Annalong Fond farewell presentation in Rostrevor

Rev David McCullagh has been installed as minister of Annalong Presbyterian Church. He is pictured with the elders of the County Down church and the vacancy convener. Back row: B. McKibbin, K. Hanna, A. Hill, B. Burden, J. Martin, T. McConnell and W. McConnell. Front row: J. Hanna, Mr McCullagh, Rev Stephen Johnston (vacancy convener), J. Peacock (presbytery elder) and H. Acheson.

Rev Stuart Finlay (convener) and Rostevor clerk of session Terry O’Flynn are pictured with Antoinette Mushimiyimana and her husband Yves who are moving to England. Antoinette, who was one of the Tutusi people who experienced the full horror of the genocide in Rwanda, has written a book This is My Story about her experiences as a 12-year-old.

BB retirement at Waterside A long-serving leader from Waterside Boys’ Brigade (Sixth Londonderry) has retired. David Rosborough was presented with a Boys’ Brigade clock and other gifts by the company to mark the occasion and to express its deep appreciation for his 47 years of service and commitment. Pictured are Jim McCarter, Mr Rosborough, Helen Rosborough, Rev Knox Jones, John Allen (leader in charge) and Sam Young.

New elders in Clonduff Robert Graham, Joseph B. Moorhead, William Walsh and Ian Megaw (front row) have been ordained and installed as elders in Clonduff Presbyterian Church. Pictured in the back row are Session members: Joe McKnight, Aubrey Stewart, Rev Andrew Conway, Junior McKnight and Cecil Brown (clerk of session). Three other members of Session could not make the photograph: David Harmon, Walter Henning and Alan Moorhead.

Photograph by County Down Outlook.

Elder emeritus in Ebrington A presentation has been made to John Tosh to mark his election as elder emeritus of Ebrington Presbyterian Church in Londonderry. Pictured in the back row are: Alwyn Wilson, Douglas Walker, Billy McFaul, Mervyn Wray, Alan Rowan, Uel Harvey, David Faulkner and Tom McQuillan. Front row: Patricia Thompson, Robin Young (clerk), Rev Paul Linkens, Mr Tosh and Ruby Millar.

50

Herald July/August 2019

Tag good news stories from your congregation on Twitter with #lifeinpci and @pciassembly

Ordination of elders in Carndonagh New elders Mark Buchanan and Gordon Smyth (centre) are pictured with members of Session of Carndonagh Presbyterian Church (Austin Stewart, David McKeague, John Cunningham and Norman Stewart), and members of Derry and Donegal Presbytery commission following their ordination.

New elder in Magheramorne A commission of Carrickfergus Presbytery, led by moderator Rev David Cromie, and clerk Dr Colin McClure, ordained and installed John Thompson as a ruling elder in Magheramorne. Pictured with Mr Thompson (centre) are some members of the commission, fellow elders and Rev Richard Graham, interim convener at Magheramorne.Â

Ministry celebrated in Garnerville Rev Joan Scott has resigned her ordination vows of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. A special service to mark the occasion and celebrate her long and successful ministry was held in Garnerville recently. A photograph of Mussenden Temple was presented to help her remember her ministry with the Church, and the many happy memories she has of the times in Guysmere. Pictured are Caleb Frazer, Rev Jonny Frazer, Ms Scott, Rev Malcom Scott and Jenny Murray (an elder in the Belfast congregation).

Presentation in Ballyblack A presentation has been made to Jim Palmer, who has retired after almost 29 years as treasurer of Ballyblack Presbyterian Church in Co Down.

Pictured are: his successor Robert Bole, Elizabeth Palmer, Mr Palmer, Alex Warden (session clerk) and Rev Alvin Little (vacancy convener).

Carryduff success A number of ladies from Carryduff Presbyterian Church have passed a food safety and hygiene course.

Herald July/August 2019

51

Ballinamallard Christian Holiness Camp Meetings

Cavanaleck Presbyterian Church

7-14 July – Lord’s Day 3.30 & 8.15, Weekdays 7.45 Ex. Sat. Will be held in Archdale Hall (kindly granted), Co Fermanagh, Northern Ireland – 7 miles from Enniskillen.

Hourly bus service from Belfast to Enniskillen. Accommodation available.

Preacher for 67th year of camp meetings, formerly held at Killadeas is Rev John Treese, graduate of Allegheny Wesleyan College in Salem, Ohio, USA. He will be accompanied by his wife Annette.

Fermanagh Lakeland is a great holiday venue.

John Wesley preached in Ballinamallard from 1766-1788.

Trace St Patrick’s island connections. ”Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” – HOLY BIBLE

Friends’ Service 17th November 2019 3.00pm

www.revivalinthewest.org Email: hylands@revivalinthewest.org Phone: (028) 6638 8304 Hylands Mitchell

Crumlin Presbyterian Church

First and Second Islandmagee Presbyterian Churches

wish to appoint a

Community Outreach Worker

seek to appoint a

Music Coordinator

to work in the local community, identifying and utilising opportunities, developing relationships and building on existing activities to promote and develop the Christian faith.

This is a part-time (18.75 hours per week, including evenings and weekends), temporary post for three years, funded through a three-year Mission Fund grant.

Salary: A.P.P. Scale Band B (£23,306 - £27,352 pro rate) Applications should include a C.V. (with the names of two referees, one of which should be your current minister).

Apply in writing on or before 5pm, 31 August 2019, to: Mr J. Livingstone, Clerk of Session, 56 Largy Road, Crumlin, BT29 4RW.

We are looking for an enthusastic individual to help lead and develop our corporate praise.

Applicants must be sympathetic to the ethos of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

This is a permanent post of 5 to 6 hours per week.

Further details, job description and application form available from Rev Peter Bovill 65 Low Road, Islandmagee, Co Antrim, BT40 3RD E: islandmageepci@gmail.com T: 07795 694499 The closing date for applications is Friday 19 July 2019.

CROSSWORD Puzzle no 252 1

2

solution on page 55 3

4

5

9

6

7

8

10

11 12 13

14

15

16

17

18 19 20

21

22 23

26

24

25

27 28

29

30

compiled by Harry Douglas

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Herald July/August 2019

ACROSS DOWN

1 The gates of this place will not 1 Capital of Finland (8) prevail against us (4) 9 Very long period of time (3) 2 Occurs in a cycle of four (4,4) 10 A person who joins in a 3 Jesus in relation to his father (3) competition (7) 4 O.T. term for sin (8) 11 A popular chorus describes this 5 A small barrel (3) relationship of dependence on 6 Not out (2) Jesus (7) 7 A boat’s cables are wound round 13 Our teenage years (5) one of these (7) 17 To give a tenth (5) 8 Clergy’s salary (7) 18 Dwelling place for bees (7) 12 Many armed marine creature (8) 19 A repeat (5) 14 Exclamation! (2) 20 To dawdle (5) 15 Television for short (2) 23 Ominous, of evil intent (8) 16 Veggie animal! (9) 26 Opposed to (4) 18 Home town of Mary and Martha 27 Often placed at the front of (7) church (4) 21 This happened to the Lord on 28 These fruit drinks go down a the third day (6) treat (9) 22 A source of learning (6) 29 To reason out (6) 24 Nathaniel for short (3) 30 Swiss city (5) 25 To grab (5)

Foundations NI Day Conference Speaker: Steve Maltz – celebrated author and Bible teacher.

Theme: "One New Man" – experience the freedom that comes from worshipping Jesus hebraically.

When: Saturday 20 July 2019 – 10am-5pm Venue: The Hamilton Suite, Marine Court Hotel, Bangor BT20 5ED.

www.foundationsconferences.com Booking line: 07885 941848 Admission £12 Bring a packed lunch, or hotel restaurant adjacent.

Tea, coffee and light refreshments provided.

Pay at door on day or cheques to: P.O. Box 2215, Ilford, Essex IG1 9TR. For local enquiries contact: Colin Nevin nevin.colin@yahoo.com Mob/text: 07719 471503 or tel: 028 9122 6753 All welcome – Shalom!

Head of Church and Supporter Engagement (Belfast based)

Reporting to the CEO, this is a key role within the Senior Management Group of Christian Aid Ireland and will be expected to lead and manage the staff and the work of the Church and Supporter Engagement Team and provide strategic leadership for all church engagement and fundraising activities throughout Ireland.

The role will be responsible for developing team strategies, setting income targets, managing performance and delivering results. The role will require coordination and close working with other Senior Leadership Team members and will involve travelling across Ireland and the UK as well as overseas. They are also expected to work collaboratively across the whole of Christian Aid and serve, when appropriate, on other key corporate groups.

In order to meet the needs of the role, there will be a requirement for considerable evening and weekend work.

For further information and to apply via our e-recruitment portal, please visit https://jobs.christianaid.org.uk/ Closing date: Friday 2 August 2019

Presbyter an CHURCH IN IRELAND

Appointment of Convener of the Universities and Colleges Chaplaincy Committee of the Council for Mission in Ireland.

Applications are invited for the Convenership of the Universities and Colleges Chaplaincy Committee of the Council for Mission in Ireland within the structures of the General Assembly, to take up post immediately following the June 2020 General Assembly.

It is open to ministers, elders and communicant members of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

It is intended that the Nominations Committee will agree a name to put to the next General Assembly so that that person may, if appropriate, be co-opted this autumn onto the UCC Committee on a ‘sit and deliberate’ basis and shadow the current convener. The final appointment is, however, subject to the decision of the General Assembly.

Details of this position, including an outline of role, process of application etc., are available on the PCI Website – www.presbyterianireland.org/convenerships Closing date for application is 9.30am on Monday 9 September 2019.

In the interim anyone wishing to express an interest should contact the Deputy Clerk: Rev Jim Stothers, Assembly Buildings, Belfast BT1 6DW Tel: +44(0)28 9041 7204 Email: deputyclerk@presbyterianireland.org

Appointment of Conveners of the Global Mission Committee and of the Global Development Committee of the Council for Global Mission.

Applications are invited for the Convenerships of two new committees of the Council for Global Mission, within the structures of the General Assembly. These committees are to be established at the June 2020 General Assembly.

Global Mission Committee Convener Global Development Committee Convener These posts are open to ministers, elders and communicant members of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

It is intended that the Nominations Committee will agree names to put to the next General Assembly so that that person may, if appropriate, be co-opted this autumn onto the relevant existing committees of the council on a ‘sit and deliberate’ basis and shadow the current conveners. The final appointments are, however, subject to the decision of the General Assembly.

Details of the positions, including outlines of role, process of application etc., are available on the PCI Website – www.presbyterianireland.org/convenerships Closing date for application is 9.30am on Monday 9 September 2019.

Separate applications should be made for the two posts.

In the interim anyone wishing to express an interest should contact the Deputy Clerk: Rev Jim Stothers, Assembly Buildings, Belfast BT1 6DW Tel: +44(0)28 9041 7204 Email: deputyclerk@presbyterianireland.org

Herald July/August 2019

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CHURCH RECORD VACANT CONGREGATIONS, MODERATORS AND CLERKS OF KIRK SESSIONS (Information supplied by Clerks of Presbyteries, Conveners of Assembly Commissions and Councils).

1 LEAVE TO CALL GRANTED AGHADOWEY & CROSSGAR: REV. DR. MARK GOUDY: (Aghadowey) Mr. William Knox, 46A Mullaghinch Road, Aghadowey, Coleraine, BT51 4AT. (Crossgar) Mr. William Reid, 87 Broomhill Park, Coleraine, BT51 3AN. ARKLOW: (Home Mission Scheme, Reviewable Tenure – 7 years) REV. GARY McDOWELL: Mrs. Emily Kearon, Malindi, Sea Road, Arklow.

RAMELTON & KILMACRENNAN: REV. C.M. WILSON: (Ramelton) Mr. David Armour, Loughnagin, Letterkenny, Co Donegal. (Kilmacrennan) Mr. Nathaniel Rogers, Gortnavern, Coolboy, Letterkenny, Co Donegal.

BALTEAGH & BOVEVAGH: REV. J.G. JONES: (Balteagh) Mr. William Robinson, 46 Drumaduff Road, Maine South, Limavady, BT49 OPT. (Bovevagh) Mr. Boyd Douglas, 279 Drumrane Road, Dungiven, Co Londonderry, BT47 4NL.

SESKINORE & EDENDERRY: REV. C.F.C. CLEMENTS: (Seskinore) Mr. J.A. Patterson, 119 Letfern Road, Seskinore, BT78 2JU. (Edenderry) Mrs. Muriel Good, 14 Racolpa Road, Mountfield, Omagh, BT79 0HU.

BALLYHOBRIDGE, CLONES, NEWBLISS & STONEBRIDGE: (Part Time 50%, Reviewable Tenure – 7 years) REV. C.G. ANDERSON: (Ballyhobridge) Mr. David Jordan, Drumboghamagh, Newtownbutler, BT92 8LL. (Clones) Mr. Tom Elliott, Bellmount, Newtownbutler, BT92 6LT. (Newbliss) Mr. Thomas McConkey, Killyfuddy, Newbliss, Co. Monaghan.

(Stonebridge) Mr. Gerald Mackarel, Roughfort, Clones, Co. Monaghan.

ST. ANDREW’S, BELFAST: (Reviewable Tenure – 7 years) REV. M.R. BURNSIDE: Mrs. Edith McCallum, 115 Comber Road, Dundonald, BT16 2BT.

BALLYCARRY: REV HEATHER RENDELL: Mrs Daphne Bashford, 36 Island Road, Ballycarry, Carrickfergus, BT38 9JE.

GORTNESSY: REV. J.S. McCREA: Mr. Ross Hyndman, 32 Temple Road, Strathfoyle, Londonderry, BT47 6UB.

CAIRNALBANA & GLENARM: (Reviewable Tenure – 5 years) REV. D.A. McMILLAN: (Cairnalbana) Mr. B. Alexander, 84 Drumcrow Road, Glenarm, BT44 0DL. (Glenarm). Mr. D. Preston, 42 Rossburn Manor, Connor, BT42 3RB.

RICHVIEW: REV. N.S. HARRISON: Mr. Victor Garland, 25 Abingdon Drive, Belfast, BT12 5PX.

CAIRNCASTLE: (Reviewable Tenure – 7 years) REV. R.I. CARTON: Mr. Cowper Lynas, 2 Croft Heights, Ballygally, Larne, BT40 2QS. CARLISLE ROAD & CROSSROADS: (Reviewable Tenure – 7 years) REV. K.H. HIBBERT: (Carlisle Road) Mr. Ivor Ferguson, 24 Riverside Park, Altnagelvin, Londonderry, BT47 3RU. (Crossroads) Mr. Richard Russell, 31 Creevagh Road, Londonderry, BT48 9XB. CARROWDORE & BALLYFRENIS AND BALLYBLACK: (Deferred Linkage) REV. S.A. LITTLE: (Carrowdore & Ballyfrenis) Mr Herbert Robinson, 9 Islandhill Road, Millisle, BT22 2BS. (Ballyblack) Mr. Alex Warden, 92 Bowtown Road, Newtownards, BT23 8SL. CASTLEWELLAN & LEITRIM: (Reviewable Tenure – 5 years) REV. N.J. KANE: (Castlewellan) Mr. Desmond Wilson, 44 Ballylough Road, Castlewellan, BT31 9NN. (Leitrim) Mr. Drew Harte, 100 Carrigagh Road, Dromara, BT25 2HR. CAVANALECK & AUGHENTAINE: (Reviewable Tenure – 7 years) REV. W.D. CUPPLES: (Cavanaleck) Dr. Charles McKibbin, Cooneen Old Rectory, 9 Tattenabuddagh Lane, Fivemiletown, BT75 0NW. (Aughentaine) Mr. John McCrory, Screeby Road, Fivemiletown, BT75 0TP.

2 LEAVE TO CALL DEFERRED

COAGH, BALLYGONEY & SALTERSLAND: REV. T.W.A. GREER: (Coagh) Mrs. Amy Allingham, 17 Coagh Road, Cookstown, BT80 8RL. (Ballygoney) Ms. Essie Hessin, 10A Ballyloughan Road, Moneymore, Magherafelt, BT45 7YB. (Saltersland) Mr. Matt Hyndman, 4 Brennan Court, Magherafelt, BT45 6AT.

SETTLED STATED SUPPLY APPOINTED BALLINDERRY: REV. W.J. HENRY, Minister of Maze.

BOVEEDY: REV. DR. T.J. McCORMICK, Minister of First Kilrea.

CAHIR: REV. WILLIAM MONTGOMERY, Minister of Fermoy.

KATESBRIDGE: REV. N.J. KANE, Minister of Magherally.

KILREA SECOND: REV. S.A. MORROW, Minister of Moneydig.

COOKSTOWN, FIRST: REV. D.S. BROWNLOW: Mr. Gordon Black, 21 The Dales, Cookstown, BT80 8TF.

TYRONE’S DITCHES: REV. J.K.A. McINTYRE, Minister of Bessbrook.

CULNADY & SWATRAGH: REV. D.W. LEACH: (Culnady) Mr. Robert Kyle, 75 Culnady Road, Upperlands, BT46 7TN. (Swatragh) Mr. Ivan Bolton, 55 Barnside Road, Swatragh, BT46 5QS.

3 DECLARED VACANT

DROMORE, FIRST: REV. R.A. LIDDLE: Mr. Cecil Gamble, 12 Diamond Road, Dromore, BT25 1PQ. DRUMBANAGHER, FIRST AND JERRETTSPASS & KINGSMILLS: REV. B.D. COLVIN: (Drumbanager, First and Jerrettspass) Mr. George Moffett, 16 Glen Road, Jerrettspass, Newry, BT34 1SP. (Kingsmills) Mr. Raymond McCormick, 119 Kingsmills Road, Bessbrook, Newry, BT35 7BP. GLENDERMOTT: REV. K.A. JONES: Mr. George Walker, 3 Beverley Gardens, Londonderry, BT47 5PJ. KILBRIDE: REV. D.T. McNEILL: Mr. Alistair Lamont, Church Office, Kilbride Presbyterian Church, 12 Moyra Road, Doagh, Ballyclare, BT39 0SD. LISSARA: (Reviewable Tenure – 7 years) REV. W.H. HIGGINS: Mr. Matthew Cuffey, 227 Derryboy Road, Crossgar, Downpatrick BT30 9DL.

54

MOSSIDE & TOBERDONEY: REV. A.J. BUICK: (Mosside) Mrs. Mabel Morrison, 284 Moyarget Road, Mosside, Ballymoney, BT53 8EH. (Toberdoney) Mr. Hugh Hill, 5 Castle Park, Deffrick, Ballymoney, BT53 8EW.

Herald July/August 2019

ARMOY & RAMOAN: REV. NOEL McCLEAN: (Armoy) Mrs. Ann Campbell, 77B Bregagh Road, Armoy, Ballymoney, BT53 8TP. (Ramoan) Mr. Robert Getty, 23 Carrowcroey Road, Armoy, Ballymoney, BT53 8UH. BALLYCAIRN: REV. ROBERT LOVE: Mr. J.B. Milligan, 19 Glenariff Drive, Dunmurry, BT17 9AZ. BELVOIR: REV. B.J. McCROSKERY: Mr. Brian Dunwoody, 19 Drumart Drive, Belfast, BT8 7ET. BURT: REV. JAMES LAMONT: Mr. James Buchanan, Heathfield, Burt, Lifford, Co. Donegal.

CARNDONAGH, GREENBANK, MALIN & MOVILLE: REV. DR. DAVID LATIMER: (Carndonagh) Mr. David McKeague, Claggan, Culdaff, Co. Donegal. (Greenbank) Mr. Campbell Armstrong, Whitecastle, Quigley’s Point, Co. Donegal. (Malin) Mrs. Barbara Smyth, Dunross, Culdaff, Co. Donegal. (Moville) Mr. Joseph McNeely, Rock House, Lecamey, Carndonagh, Co. Donegal.

Editor’s Note: Information for this page is supplied by the General Secretary’s Department.

Vacancies for Conveners of Commissions, councils and committees of the General Assembly are online at www.presbyterianireland.org/convenerships CRUMLIN ROAD: VERY REV. DR. T.N. HAMILTON: Mr. James Coleman, 2 Abbeydale Parade, Belfast, BT14 7HJ. DERVOCK REV. R.M. MOODY: Mr. John Surgenor, 82 Toberdoney Road, Dervock, Ballymoney, BT53 8DH. GLENGORMLEY: REV. COLIN MORRISON: Mr Derek Kyle, Glengormley Presbyterian Church, 267 Antrim Road, Glengormley, BT36 7QN. INCH: REV. JAMES LAMONT: Mr. James Buchanan, Heathfield, Speenoge, Burt, Co. Donegal, F93 W3K6.

KILKENNY: REV. WILLIAM MONTGOMERY: Mr. John Ellis, Annamult, Stoneyford, Co. Kilkenny.

MAY STREET: REV. GRAEME FOWLES: Mr. Arthur Acheson, 56 Quarry Road, Belfast, BT4 2NQ. NEW MOSSLEY: REV W.J.M. PARKER: Mr. Howard Keery, 16 Earlford Heights, Mossley, Newtownabbey, BT36 5WZ. NEWINGTON: REV. DR. I.D. NEISH: Mr. John Lynass, 8 Bushfoot Park, Portballintrae, BT57 8YX. NEWTOWNSTEWART: REV. R.B. THOMPSON: Mr James Baxter, 22 Strabane Road, Newtownstewart, Omagh, BT78 4BD. RYANS & BROOKVALE: REV. F.J. GIBSON: (Ryans) Miss Nora Hamilton, Rathfriland Manor Nursing Home, Rossconor Terrace, Rathfriland, BT34 5DJ. (Brookvale) Mr. Norman McCrum, 49 Ballynamagna Road, Rathfriland, Newry, BT34 5PA.

Clerks of presbytery please note: Only material received by the General Secretary’s Department by the first Friday of the month can be included in the Church Record.

THE ELDERSHIP Ordained and Installed: CLONDUFF: Robert Graham, Ian Megaw, William Walsh, Joseph Moorhead GILLYGOOLEY: Beverley Fleming, Robert Fyffe, Raymond King, Rosemary King, Andrew McKernan, Raymond McKinley, Robert Smyth HOLYWOOD FIRST: Sandra Gallagher BALLYMENA, WELLINGTON: David Currie, Keith Irwin, James McClintock, David McKean, James Millar CASTLEDERG SECOND: Rosemary Craig, Sandra Thompson Installed: BALLYMENA, WELLINGTON: Ronald Crooks Died: OMAGH FIRST: Harry Alexander DUNGANNON: Samuel Steenson

THE MINISTRY Ordained and Installed: Mr Michael Rutledge, as Minister of Abbot’s Cross, on 26 May 2019.

Inducted: Rev John Gilkinson, as Belfast City Hospital Chaplain, on 9 June 2019.

Retired: Rev Ian McDonald, retired as Minister of New Mossley, on 31 May 2019.

Rev David Brice, retired as Minister of Glengormley, on 31 May 2019.

VINECASH: REV. DR. MICHAEL McCLENAHAN: Mr. Thomas Graham, 38 Richmount, Portadown, BT62 4JQ. WARRENPOINT & ROSTREVOR: REV. S.A. FINLAY: (Warrenpoint) Mr. Denis Brady, 28 Seaview, Warrenpoint, Newry, BT34 3NJ. (Rostrevor) Mr. Terry O’Flynn, 15 Aurora Na Mara, Rostrevor, Newry, BT34 3UP.

TEMPORARY STATED SUPPLY ARRANGEMENT BELLVILLE: REV D.S. HENRY: Mr Mervyn King, 29 Ardmore Road, Derryadd, Lurgan, BT66 6QP. DONEGORE, SECOND: REV. JONATHAN BOYD: Mr. Samuel Gawn, 120 Parkgate Road, Kells, Ballymena, BT42 3PQ. KELLS: (Home Mission) REV. DAVID NESBITT: Ms. Ruth McCartney, Shancarnan, Moynalty, Kells, Co Meath.

A82 PF60.

TOBERMORE & DRAPERSTOWN: REV. DR. J.A. CURRY: (Draperstown) Mr. Gordon Dickson Jnr, 7 Strawmore Road, Draperstown, BT45 7JE.

CROSSWORD Solution to No 252

ACROSS 1 Helsinki 9 Eon 10 Entrant 11 Leaning 13 Youth 17 Tithe 18 Beehive 19 Rerun 20 Tarry 23 Sinister 26 Anti 27 Vase 28 Smoothies 29 Deduce 30 Berne

DOWN 1 Hell 2 Leap year 3 Son 4 Iniquity 5 Keg 6 In 7 Capstan 8 Stipend 12 Starfish 14 Oh 15 TV 16 Herbivore 18 Bethany 21 Raised 22 Lesson 24 Nat 25 Seize

Herald July/August 2019

55

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56

Biblica Presbyterian Herald Advert AB2019.indd 1

Herald July/August 2019

25/04/2019 09:56

03/06/2019 12:23

PLEASE SEND ME FURTHER INFORMATION. I AM HAPPY FOR YOU TO COMMUNICATE WITH ME: by post

by email

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Please send me your Voice magazine and my free copy of the Tortured for Christ book or film.

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Herald July/August 2019

57

CLASSIFIEDS Accommodation Northern Ireland PORTSTEWART: Five-bedroom semidetached chalet bungalow overlooking sea coastal road. OFCH. Non smokers. WiFi available. Tel: 028 25582525.

CAUSEWAY COAST: luxury self-catering, www.causewaycountrycottages.com PORTSTEWART: A modern 3-bedroom semi-detached house presented to a high standard, with off-street parking and a fully enclosed rear garden. Near local amenities.

Available high and low season. No smoking and no pets allowed. Contact Paula: 07840 123518 or 028 79632163.

P O R T S T E WA R T H O L I D AY L E T : Luxur y 3-bedroom townhouse in private development, 2 minute walk to promenade, no pets / no smoking.

Telephone: 028 90401745 or 07800 802662. www.northcoastholidaylets.co.uk BALLYHARGAN FARMHOUSE B&B: Family run B&B 3 miles outside Dungiven, 2 double ensuite rooms, cots, airbeds available if required, guests have use of drawing room, sunroom with undisturbed view of Sperrin mountains. Centrally located for touring 1 hour +/- to North Coast, Belfast or Donegal. Ideal for midweek or weekend breaks. Breakfast includes continental and cooked breakfast if desired.

Large garden for children. Snooker room and tennis court, all necessary equipment supplied. Pets welcome. Non smoking.

Contact Anne on 07710 507421.

5-BEDROOM HOUSE FOR rent off Lisburn Road, Belfast. Convenient to Queen’s, Stranmillis, City Hospital. Available beginning September. Further details 07743 960046.

BEAUTIFULLY FURNISHED HOLIDAY bungalow to let in Castlerock. 3 bedrooms sleeps 6. For all enquiries please phone 07968 963932.

G I A N T ’S C AU S E WAY H O L I D AY RENTAL: 3-bedroom, fully equipped cottage near the Giant’s Causeway for rent with wood burning stove, WiFi and smart TV. Views of Dunseverick Castle, situated beside coastal path walk. Sleeps 5/6 plus cot. Enclosed back garden. Well behaved dogs welcome. Contact Sandra for more details: 07901 645783.

Please note: Adverts must be received in writing (email or post) by the first of the month preceding publication to guarantee inclusion. Adverts received after that date will be published if space permits. Advertising rates can be found on the website – www.presbyterianireland.org/herald – or telephone the Herald office on +44 (0)28 9032 2284 for more information.

PORTSTEWART: Luxury 2-bedroom apartment. Excellent location overlooking the harbour. Holiday bookings throughout the year. Adults only. No pets. Tel: 07749 048378.

PORTSTEWART: Modern 3-bedroom house (1 en-suite). All mod cons. Situated in quiet cul-de-sac (Lisadell Mews). Corner house, very private. Large enclosed garden to rear. Walking distance to promenade and beach. Available July/August. Tel: 07973 134576.

W I L L A N LO D G E, P O R T R U S H: Picturesque log cabin set among gardens located in quiet residential area. 3 bedrooms (one en-suite). Fully furnished and equipped. Reasonable rates. Telephone 07858 718608.

PORTSTEWART: 3-bedroom house, 2 bathrooms, sleeps 5. 2 private parking spaces. Enfield Street, 2 minute walk from Morelli’s. Non-smoking. Tel: 07876 356794.

PORTSTEWART: Large detached modern house to let. 5 double bedrooms with 1 downstairs and 1 en-suite. Has enclosed garden and parking for 3 cars. Available for golf week and New Horizon. Reduced rate in June. Convenient to beach and promenade. Contact for more info and photos. Mob: (0044) 7816 758453.

FERMANAGH: Fermanagh Lakeland.

‘Muckross Lodge’ Bed & Breakfast, Muckross Quay, Kesh. Situated overlooking Lough Erne. All rooms en-suite, TV, tea/coffee making facilities. Open all year. B&B £25pps £5 single supplement. Tel: Caroline Anderson 07739 910676.

PORTSTEWART: Luxury 4-bedroom cottage and 5-bedroom townhouse available June-Sept. Call: 07513 826551, Email: pabloguy50@gmail.com. Facebook: @campbellandcorentalproperties

Republic of Ireland FOREST LODGE BED & BREAKFAST, Hornhead, Dunfanaghy, Co Donegal.

Tel: Jean Scott NI (0035374) ROI (074) 9136104 Mobile: 086 3215396. Web: www. forestlodgedonegal.com Email: info@ forestlodgedonegal.com

Scotland ISLE OF LEWIS: Homely 4-bedroom house within 200 yards of the Atlantic.

Off-road parking. Within easy reach of tourist attractions and several Presbyterian churches. Sorry no pets or smokers. Call or text 07899 748005.

Services

SELF CATERING: FLORIDA (villa) lake view/private pool. Disney 20 mins. FLORIDA (apartment) resort – full facilities – heated pool. Disney 10 mins. SPAIN – large coastal apartments. Beach/restaurants mins. NORTHERN IRELAND – apartment – north Antrim coastal views – shops/ restaurants 5 mins. Contact 07971 194211/ geraldsmyth@hotmail.com

VIDEO RECORDING: Professional service for church, corporate, charity, interviews, website videos, short stories, appeals, events and weddings. Tel Phil 07531 779502 www.reelimpressions.com

Catering MALIN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: From Saturday 13 July to Saturday 31 August inclusive, afternoon teas will be served in the church hall from 2.30pm - 5pm. There will be home baking and jam for sale.

Everyone very welcome.

Miscellaneous B I B L E T H E O LO G YQA.B LO G S P OT. CO.UK: article by Rev Peter Simpson: Christian challenge to the climate protestors: Humble yourselves before your maker!

Ross Morrow A.L.C.M., L.T.C.L.

Piano Tuning Services available throughout Ireland

Tel: +44 (0)28 9268 9468 Mobile: 07788 746992

Church AV Specialists

PA systems • Loop systems Projectors & screens • Installation & repairs alan@audiopromotions.co.uk www.audiopromotions.co.uk

07855 450887 offering the perfect location for visiting the stunning North Coast.

Ideal destination for walking and golfing breaks as well as family gatherings and memorable holidays.

For rates, availability and details of our eight delightful cottages visit www.giantscausewaycottages.com Or call Audrey on (028) 2073 1673

A few places still available for these unique opportunities to travel confidently, comfortably and congenially!

Presbyterian Church in Ireland

Holy Land 12 -21 February 2020

to commence a two-year course in Diaconate Studies at Union Theological College, Belfast in September 2020.

Closing date for applications on the appropriate form to be received by 30 September 2019.

Oberammergau Passion Play (Austrian Lakes and Mountains) 12 -19 August 2020

invites applications for training as a Deaconess

All enquiries to: Rev David Bruce, Council for Mission in Ireland, Assembly Buildings, 2-10 Fisherwick Place, Belfast BT1 6DW Tel: +44 (0) 28 9041 7265, Email: mission@presbyterianireland.org

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Self Catering

Herald July/August 2019

Brochures and further information available by contacting Rev Dr Colin McClure cmcclure@presbyterianireland.org Tel. 07984 030881

Hamilton Road Presbyterian 23rd - 31st August

Go into all the world Opening Night at Spires

Saturday 24th August, Assembly Buildings, Belfast Exhibition open from 6pm, event starts at 7.30pm Tickets ÂŁ5 available from worldwidemission,org or at the venue on the night.

Don Carson will be the guest speaker and the evening will include a reflection by Etta Halliday on the impact of Worldwide down the years. Worship will be lead by New Irish.

Integrators of:

Professional Audio Projection / Displays Salvation Army - Bangor

Cameras Induction Loops With nearly 50 years experience in providing Audio & Visual equipment, we work hard to enable you to get the very best solution for your needs and budget.

Every Church is unique and we provide the right solution for you.

We visit with you and discuss your exact requirements and then provide a clear and itemised solution. Please feel free to contact us for a chat.

Duneane Presbyterian Church

Salvation Army - Portadown

St Andrews Presbyterian Church

Dervock Presbyterian Church

Abbots Cross Presbyterian Church

Magherlin Parish Church

57 Drum Road Cookstown BT80 8QS Tel: 028 8676 4059 www.reasound.com Contact : Roger McMullan

High Kirk Presbyterian Church