PCI General Assembly

General Assembly Agenda

Preview of 2011 Presbyterian General Assembly and Annual Reports

Another June. Another General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. Not so. Every General Assembly is unique. Each has its own particular membership of minister and representative elder from every congregation, its own chairman or Moderator and a range of reports to hear from its Boards and Committees together with resolutions to agree that make Church policy and shape its ministry for the years ahead.

The General Assembly is open to everyone apart from a brief private session, though only members can take part in the debate or vote.

So what is on the agenda as the 2011 Assembly meets in Church House, Belfast. Here is a brief guide to the highlights of four days of Presbyterian praise, prayer, debate, discussion and decision making that will take place between Monday 6th June and Thursday 9th June.

The Assembly will also provide an opportunity to experience the newly refurbished Assembly Hall and not least the air conditioning which will keep delegates cool no matter how hot the business.

If you can't be there in person then follow the Assembly online at www.presbyterianireland.org/assembly and follow the links for online streaming and twitter updates.

Opening Meeting - Monday 6th June - 7.00pm

No tickets are required to attend the opening meeting of the Assembly which will convene with members joined by invited guests and members of the public to install the Moderator who will chair the week's proceedings. In an atmosphere of praise and celebration outgoing Moderator, Dr. Norman Hamilton, will lead the Assembly in worship and report on his year of office before asking members to proceed to the election of his successor. After the formal proposing and seconding the Moderator Designate, Rev. Ivan Patterson will take the chair and address the Assembly, setting out his theme for the year ahead.

"It's a great encouragement to a newly installed Moderator to address a full Assembly Hall," says Rev. Gordon Best, convener of the General Assembly Arrangements Committee. "In recent years there have been a lot of empty seats at the opening session on Monday evening, probably because people who would like to come thought you needed a ticket or that the space was full."

Communion and Lunchtime Worship

Tuesday 7th June, 11.45am; Wednesday and Thursday 8th, 9th June at 12.15pm

If your evenings are not free but you would like to join in Assembly worship at lunchtime then come along for the Assembly Communion Service on Tuesday or the devotions on Wednesday and Thursday.

The incoming Moderator, Dr. Ivan Patterson, will preach at the Communion Service at which the Memorial Record, which pays tribute to those ministers who have died since the last Assembly, will be read. Worship on Wednesday and Thursday will be led by Rev. Adrian Moffett and Rev. Stephen Johnston.

Assembly Celebration - Wednesday 8th June at 7.45pm

In the year when we mark the 400th anniversary of the King James version of the Bible the theme for the evening celebration is The Word is Life. The main speaker will be former Moderator Dr. Trevor Morrow, while interviews with Rev. Gordon Best, minister of Newmills, and Prof. Anne Marie Kool, Professor in Missiology at the Theological College of the Hungarian Reformed Church in Budapest will expand on the theme.

The worship, including prayers, readings and music, will be led by Rev. Karen Campbell.

Business Sessions

The business sessions during the day on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are when members debate reports from the various working Boards of the Assembly.

The reports are printed in the Annual Reports or 'blue book' as it is commonly known, which runs to 300 pages with 17 main reports and approximately 150 resolutions that will be debated. All the report can be viewed online at www.presbyterianireland.org/assembly

Tuesday: 9.45am-11.15am; 2.00pm-6.00pm

Tuesday morning is taken up with welcoming delegates from other Churches around the world, the most notable being the Moderator of the Church of Scotland, Rt. Rev. David Arnott.

Also the Business Board will report on an invitation from the Presbytery of Derry and Donegal for the General Assembly to meet in Londonderry in 2013 during its year as UK City of Culture. The Board will also ask the Assembly to agree to arrangements which would eliminate the possibility of a supplementary election for Moderator in March, by requiring all Presbyteries to meet at the same time in February and remaining in session until a Moderator Designate had been elected.

In the afternoon the Board of Mission in Ireland will present its revised strategy for the future of mission development which builds on the programme of mission planning at congregational and Presbytery level. The Board will also announce details of a course for the training of evangelists, the first of which it hopes to run in January 2012, and report on church plants in Donabate, Co Dublin and on Belfast's Cliftonville Road.

The Board of Youth and Children's Ministry describes its work as "the support of congregations in their immense responsibility to evangelise, disciple, serve and equip the largest group of people within the Presbyterian Church" and in paying tribute to its staff reports that "those who serve within the Board of Youth and Children's ministry are a God-given fit for such a time as this."

Tuesday afternoon concludes with the report from the Board of Finance and Personnel which grapples with providing a fair and equitable basis for the funding of the Church's mission and ministry. The Board will ask the Assembly to implement, following consultation with congregations and Presbyteries during the last year, the recommendation of the Tyrone Memorial Review Panel on the remuneration of ministers which attempts to reduce the differentials between ministers stipends, introduce a local allowance dependent on particular congregational and ministry circumstances and revised arrangements for the payment of incremental allowances.

The Board is also asking the Assembly to agree to what it considers a fairer and more equitable arrangement for calculating congregational assessments, that is the amount each congregation pays to central funds, which would be based on "assessable income" rather than stipend.

The good news is that, however the actual amount each congregation will have to pay is calculated, the Board will seek approval for a reduced rate of assessment from 73.5p per £ to 69p per £, and will also report that the renovations to Church House have been completed on time and within budget.

Wednesday: 9.30am-12.15pm; 2.00pm-6.00pm

Wednesday begins with the report of the Board of Christian Training. It will tell of the success of the Accredited Preacher Scheme launched last year. A pilot programme based on the Armagh, Monaghan and Newry Presbyteries received 12 people into the scheme in January and numbers applying for a further course planned for Belfast this September has highlighted the need for additional courses. The Board will also present three models for developing pastoral care in congregations and it will ask the Assembly to approve the report of the Panel on Leadership which has produced a series of development resources aimed at equipping the Church for effective leadership in the 21st century.

The Board will seek the acceptance by the Assembly for 16 new students for the Presbyterian ministry and report on the progress of the 60 students currently in training.

As it plans for the year ahead and comes to the end of its strategic plan 2007-2012 the Board of Social Witness will tell the Assembly to be aware of the difficultly that government cuts will cause on its frontline services over the next few years. "Funding issues may result in a crisis within the Board's overall operation, leading to a reduction of services and staff, something that it would want to avoid." Consequently, the Board, which receives substantial government funding as part of its £8m annual budget, will seek agreement to a resolution asking the General Assembly to "continue to call on government to increase the budget of the Department of Health and Social Services and Public Safety and ask the minister to review decisions on the distribution of funding.

All of Wednesday afternoon is devoted to the report of the General Board, the largest board of the General Assembly which, through its various panels and committees, deals with a wide range of issues.

These include the Panel on Priorities which is asking the Assembly to agree to a series of themes for forthcoming Assemblies to focus the Church on the priority areas of its mission and ministry. For 2012-13 the proposed theme is "A Prophetic Voice" and for the following year "A Place of Transformation".

The Moderator's Advisory Committee will deal with the Church's response to last year's papal visit to England and Scotland while the Church Relations Panel will report on the work of the various inter-church bodies of which the Presbyterian Church is a member.

The Church and Society Committee will present an important report on Presbyterians and economics as well as asking the Assembly to adopt the position paper "Building good relationships: our hope for a more reconciled society". The report is already available on the Presbyterian Church website and the Committee is also asking that a version be prepared for congregational use out of the belief that that the matters arising from how to share space and how to contribute as a Church to the "shared future" debate is something to which congregations can give consideration.

The Panel on the Financial Crisis will report on the Church's continuing response to the Presbyterian Mutual Society crisis. By resolution the Assembly will be asked to "give thanks for the progress in finding an acceptable solution... and gratefully acknowledge the contribution and commitment of many people in government, civil service, the Administrator's office and the Church in reaching this point". The Assembly will also be asked to "acknowledge with gratitude the patience and forbearance of the vast majority of savers in the Presbyterian Mutual Society throughout this difficult period when there was no access to their funds".

Thursday: 9.30am-12.15pm; 2.00pm-Close of Assembly

After a private session the horizons of the Assembly will be broadened by the Board of Mission Overseas reporting on its involvement with partner churches in 25 countries and the work of nearly 50 overseas personnel that the Presbyterian Church supports. The Church will also be thanked for its financial contribution to relief and development programmes with almost £2m having being contributed during the last 18 months through the World Development Appeal and Moderator's Appeals following natural disasters in Haiti and Pakistan.

As the Assembly comes to a close its focus will move to state education with the report of the Board of Education. Education has always been important to the Church not least because of the number of its members with teaching and administrative responsibilities in our schools and colleges. The Assembly is to be asked to welcome two reports "Supporting Christians in Education" and "Supporting Your Local School". These have been prepared by the Board to facilitate the building of confidence throughout the Church that faith input is valid in education both at personal and congregational level.

The Board is also indicating its desire to be involved in the discussion started by the First Minister last autumn when he questioned the viability and validity of our established and structurally segregated education system and was further challenged on the same issue by comments from SPUD, the Presbyterian Church's Youth Assembly. In response the Board is seeking Assembly approval for a resolution "to welcome public debate on the potential for shared education in Northern Ireland and encourages dialogue between schools and educational sectors with the aim of developing closer relationships through opportunities for collaboration and sharing".

Assembly Programme

The Assembly meets in Church House, Fisherwick Place, Belfast. All sessions are open to the public except the private session on Thursday morning. The agenda below gives details of when particular reports will be debated.

Monday 6 June: 7.00pm -- Opening Service of Worship and election of Moderator; The Assembly will be addressed by outgoing Moderator Dr. Norman Hamilton and incoming Moderator Dr. Ivan Patterson

Tuesday 7 June: 9.45am -- Business Board; Reports of Presbyteries; Reception of Corresponding Members and Delegates; 2010 Assembly Conference Committee; 11.45am -- Sacrament of the Lord's Supper and Memorial Roll; 2.00pm -- Presbyterian Women; Mission in Ireland; (4.15pm) -- Youth and Children's Ministry; Finance and Personnel

Wednesday 8 June: 9.30am -- Christian Training; (10.45am) - Communications; Social Witness; 12.15pm -- Worship; 2.00pm -- General Board; 7.45pm -- Evening Celebration

Thursday 9 June: In Private; 9.30am -- Judicial Commission; In Public; United Appeal Board; (11.00am) -- Mission Overseas; 12.15pm -- Worship; 2.00pm -- Education; Union Commission; (4.00pm) - Trustees; Late and Lapsed Business; Worship and Close of Assembly

Please note that the times given above are approximate.