Entitled ‘A West side story’, Dr. McMullen talks about his Presbyterian roots, growing up in Trinity Presbyterian in Omagh, his time at Oxford and other key moments on his journey with Christ. Ruth writes, “he has been woven into the fabric of church life in some way or another for most of his life.”
In the Herald cover story he talks about meeting his wife Barbara at the 1990 General Assembly and describes the various calls that God has placed on his life and his reaction to them. He talks about his first call to Legacurry Presbyterian near Lisburn in 1991, the call to his current congregation eight years later and his reaction to friends encouraging him to put his name forward as Moderator.
“A few times friends had suggested to me that I put my name forward and I’ve always been able to kick that to touch, but when it came up a year ago, I felt that feeling deep down, reminiscent of the call I’d had 18 or 19 years ago and the gut reaction of ‘Oh please God, don’t do this!’ – but I realised it was a test of obedience,” he said.
Excited about the year ahead, which he has given the theme 'Building Relationships', he says, “In terms of opportunities, getting alongside people. Especially manse families, in the trenches! Praying with them, supporting them. The challenge, however, is that in a very secular age, we do not have an automatic opportunity for our voice to be heard in wider society, and we have the tendency to come across as naysayers. So, we need to find out how we can speak the truth with love.”
You can read Ruth’s full article in this month’s Presbyterian Herald here.
Dr. McMullen’s installation service is open to the public and will be broadcast live on BBC Radio Ulster 1341 Medium Wave from 7pm. The installation and most of the other public sessions will be streamed live via this website.
You can also follow a live Twitter feed @pciassembly using the hashtag #PCIGA18 for all public sessions. For all news stories, see the news section. Business commences at 10.30 am on Tuesday. Proceedings will close on Friday, 8th June at 1.30pm with the vast majority of our business open to the public.
For information and resources about this year's General Assembly: The Blue Book, individual reports, supplementary reports, daily business, minutes, previews and reviews of each day's proceedings, visit our General Assembly 2018 resources section here.