The first session of the day saw the Council for Training in Ministry present the second of two alternative presentations designed to give particular insight into the work of the Church in different areas of its ministry.
Titled ‘Equipping the Church for Effective Ministry in the 21st Century’, the presentation featured a mix of reflection, interviews and videos that highlighted a number of different aspects of the Council’s work. During the presentation, members of Assembly heard about the work of Union Theological College, including the experiences of ministry and Theology students, and from a lecturer.
Principal of Union, Very Rev. Principal Stafford Carson said, “As well as being able to offer degree programmes through Queen’s University in Belfast, Union College also has degree awarding powers under a charter granted to it as part of the Presbyterian Theological Faculty Ireland. It’s a very important facility that we have and we preserve very carefully.
“By and large theology graduates are people who enjoy working with people so the majority of them go on to work in terms of social work, in terms of community development work or in some form of Christian ministry, but we have a whole range of career choices that people have made after Union.
“We believe that Union College has a very particular and special role to play, not only with regard to the advancement of the kingdom of Christ here in Ireland but with regard to making a significant contribution to life in our community here in Northern Ireland,” he said.
“We’ve had a very troubled past. We believe there is real hope for us as a community, that hope centres in Jesus Christ, we believe, and in the gospel, and as young people come to understand the nature of Christian faith and Christian life and how it relates to the real world, we believe that this community will advance and move forward.”
Information on two other important aspects of the Council’s work also featured: the Conciliation Service, which seeks to facilitate members of the Church to find reconciliation where relationships have broken down and to promote the healthy handling of difference, change and disagreement by delivering appropriate courses to presbyteries, kirk sessions and others.
The Auxiliary Ministry programme is a recent innovation whereby church members are trained to a level of preaching and pastoral care that enables them to come alongside ordained ministers in congregation and complement their work was also featured.
Global Mission
Following on from yesterday’s session ‘Listening to the Global Church’, the Council for Global Mission delivered its report to General Assembly.
Introducing the report, Global Mission convener, Rev. Dr. Liz Hughes opened by referencing Psalm 24, which says, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” Speaking about the Stewardship of Creation Panel’s report on climate change, Dr. Hughes told the General Assembly that, “We owe it to our brothers and sisters in Christ across our world to care about the issues which impact them so severely.”
The report on climate change developed a biblical position on its causes and effects and set out seven principles of what being a good steward of God’s creation looks like. It also suggests what practical action and lifestyle choices can be made by churches and its members to be good stewards.
During the debate, members heard from some of PCI’s global mission partners attending the General Assembly. The Rev. Alfred Kanga, Deputy Secretary General of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa said that he wanted to assert that climate change “is a global issue that is the result of human abuse of God’s creation.”
He spoke about his own experience of the effect of climate change in Kenya, talking about the ‘unusual’ rain experienced last month that had led to the deaths of 100 people, destroyed many thousands of acres and the displacement of 3,000 people. The heavy rain also caused a dam burst that swept away many houses, including a Presbyterian Church. “Since we love God and we belong to God then we should therefore treat His property with care and respect and repent for mistreating His lovely creation,” he said.
Also featured in discussions was the denomination’s World Development Appeal, with a resolution before Assembly expressing its thanks for ‘the gracious and sustained generosity shown by congregations and members of PCI in supporting the World Development Appeal’.
The 2017 Appeal is in the first year of a four-year plan, in partnership with Tearfund and Christian Aid, highlighting and seeking to combat the challenges of sustainable development in fragile states, with a particular focus on gender justice and the prevention of gender-based violence.
Dr. Hughes paid tribute to the convener of the World Development Appeal, Rev. Dr. Katherine Meyer, who has headed up the World Development Appeal Committee for the past seven years and is stepping down.
Another representative of one of PCI’s global mission partners, the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan and Sudan, spoke to this resolution. Rev. Peter Gai Lual also updated the General Assembly on the situation in the country.
“I come here urging that we all continue to stand for peace, think peaceful thoughts…though the world seems more divided than ever, God’s love will triumph! Your solidarity is the expression of that love and we thank you for it both spiritually and materially.
“Your prayers sustained us during the most difficult times, like when fighting broke out in Juba in July 2016, where we lay under our beds as bombs fell and when many lost their lives. Truly we have a great deal to be thankful to Almighty God for and your prayers have sustained us.”
He also spoke of the financial support PCI gave to the Presbyterian Development Association of his Church that four years ago “went a long way to help the most vulnerable people in the country. We reached people affected by conflict in the country, outside and in those areas on the borders between countries as they were seeking to avoid conflict… I can only say a simple thank you on their behalf.”
In another Resolution, the General Assembly recognised ‘the rich contribution to PCI of partner churches, agencies and institutions living and working in challenging situations’, and ‘acknowledged the privilege and mutual benefit of sharing and standing in solidarity together’.
The General Assembly also gave thanks to God for “the dedicated service of PCI’s Global Mission Workers, both overseas and in sharing the story of God’s work with the Church at home…” PCI currently has 33 Global Mission Workers in eleven countries.
Secretary to the Council for Global Mission, Rev. Uel Marrs spoke about the Council’s collaboration with the Council for Congregational life and Witness on an initiative called ‘Go Deep, Go Wide’, “a new and important strategy designed to cause congregational global mission involvement to indeed become an increasingly flowing fountain!
“Let us recognise that when we reach out in Christ’s love to stand and serve with global mission partners, those whom Jesus might well have referred to as “the least of these brothers and sisters of mine”, it increases the opportunity for Christ to powerfully work to mature His character in us…” he said.
Mission in Ireland
A large portion of the evening’s discussions focused on the work of the Council for Mission in Ireland. The focus of the work of the Council is to develop the denominations strategic priorities in all-age mission across Ireland and to plan major church-wide initiatives at a General Assembly level. Among many other responsibilities, the Council also considers new church development looking at locations which might be suitable for church planting, while overseeing the delivery of a chaplaincy service in the Forces, Hospitals, Hospices, Universities, Colleges and Prisons across Ireland helping to bring a ministry of presence to those in need.
The General Assembly discussed and passed resolutions relating to a review into the Church’s Home Mission, and commended the important work of chaplaincy across a range of areas.
Very Rev. Dr. Frank Sellar, convenor of the Council for Mission in Ireland proposed the adoption of the Council’s report. Quoting the late Jewish scholar Zygmund Bauman, and German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dr. Sellar spoke of the need for the Christian community to be “vigilant and agile in order to speak wisely and prophetically into our current context and situation.”
He also spoke of his “anticipation that the Home Mission scheme of our Church might become a dynamic process of missional development for some congregations to engage with, rather than a static destination or status which remains unchanged over the years.”
Referring to a table in the report listing the 50 largest towns in Ireland, north and south by population, Dr. Sellar said, “This is a visual reminder to us of the major challenge, which exists to our life and witness and as a stimulus, as we consider where currently there is and where there is not yet a Presbyterian presence.
“Lest we become discouraged, if someone had said to me 35 years ago that we might be about to construct a brand new meeting place in Maynooth, I might have said ‘inconceivable’. What, I wonder, might yet be possible in the next number of years with renewed largeness of faith and vision?”
In seconding the report, Rev. David Bruce, Secretary of the Council, spoke of the feeling felt by many of the ground “shifting beneath our feet. The seemingly firm foundations of faith and rationality, which have underpinned a Christian worldview for centuries, have become pliable, even liquid, so that it sometimes feels as if we are sinking into a quicksand of subjectivism where nothing is right because everything is right, and tolerance is the new fundamentalism,” he said.
“Nowhere is this draught felt more keenly than on University campuses where open conversation around the world of these essential ideas happens constantly. This conversation needs to be encouraged and joined by Christians as key stakeholders in the future of this place, especially with those who hold a contrary vision to ours…
“This unique place of mission in our universities has long been recognised by the churches who have supported both an institutional presence on campus and in the University senate through chaplaincy, and supported by prayers, gifts and volunteering the vital work of Christian Unions and other student-led mission movements.”
The provision of Chaplaincy featured heavily in discussions, with General Assembly noting the Church’s submission to the Northern Health and Social Care Trust expressing the Church’s concern over the proposed introduction of a generic model of Chaplaincy. The report presented acknowledges some of the strengths of a generic system, while also detailing a number of concerns of a move to such a system.
In a consolidated resolution, the General Assembly affirmed the work of the Strategy for Mission Committee in its proposals for the deployment of a Rural Chaplain. The Council’s Report stated that “There is a general recognition of a unique spiritual need among the farming community – often including young men, and their families working in isolated locations, and in trying economic times.
‘Other agencies (including Rural Support, and the Ulster Farmers’ Union) advocating on behalf of rural communities have encouraged the Church to progress this. The initial intention is that a chaplain be appointed to work in three Presbytery areas, focusing initially on the weekly livestock markets, seeking to build connections with farmers, and helping to make connections with local churches. ‘
As in previous years, Forces Chaplains were presented to the Moderator. PCI as a long pastoral association with the Army at Regular and Reserve levels and with the various youth organisations such as Cadets. As one of the recognised ‘Sending Churches’, the denomination has ‘sent’, or provided chaplains to the military in the UK for over 100 years.
After the presentation, the Moderator, Dr. McMullen asked all in the House engaged in chaplaincy - be it forces, prisons, universities and colleges or healthcare – to stand. He then prayed for them.
GDPR
The final session of the day was given to the work of the General Council and a number of its Task Groups and committees. With the recent implementation of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) into European law, the Assembly heard the steps that have been taken to ensure the Church’s compliance with the new directives. In one resolution the General Assembly authorised ‘the General Council to bring in any necessary guidelines and interim regulations’ relating to GDPR at all levels across the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.
Proposing this section of the General Council’s Report, the Deputy Clerk of the General Assembly, the Rev. Jim Stothers, in a light hearted moment said that there was a joke going round Twitter that “maybe helps us get things in proportion: He's making a list, He's checking it twice, He's gonna find out who's naughty or nice. Santa Claus is in contravention of article 4 of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679.
“The fact that we have our Code is of a great benefit. It’s recognised by bodies like the Information Commissioners Office as our constitution, and so the General Assembly’s Solicitor has advised that we have something in the Code about GDPR. This will include how we share data among congregations, presbyteries and the General Assembly.”
A resolution was passed to allow the General Council to provide guidelines in the interim in advance of the Code being amended. The session also looked at the engagement of presbyteries, charity registration and how prayer, essential to the life and ministry of the Church, is co-ordinated centrally.
Most of the public sessions will be streamed live via this website. All public session proceedings can also be followed via live Twitter feed @pciassembly using the hashtag #PCIGA18.
Details of each day’s business of the 2018 General Assembly can be found at www.presbyterianireland.org/GA18 along with the resolutions and reports before the General Assembly contained in the Blue Book. The General Assembly will close tomorrow, Friday, 8th June.