“Bangor Cares is a fantastic event, as it raises awareness of mental health challenges that we can all experience, while creating a culture of caring, and I am looking forward to speaking at the closing event. I will also be spending time with the staff at Action Mental Health New Horizons during the week, seeing how they assist people recovering from mental ill health,” Dr Henry said.
“We all have an important role to play in increasing awareness of mental health issues and being more supportive of those we know who may suffer from mental ill health. Our churches, and their pastoral care teams, play an important part in that and throughout next week I am looking forward to hearing about it and discovering more about the work of our Church locally.”
Known as a ‘Presbytery Tour’, Dr Henry will travel throughout Ards Presbytery next week, which is one of the Church’s 19 regional bodies. Stretching from Helens Bay round the North Down coast and down the Ards Peninsula, the Presbytery takes in 32 local congregations in all. He will open his tour by preaching in Strean Presbyterian, in Newtownards on tomorrow morning, closing it the following Sunday as he preaches in Conlig Presbyterian in the morning and Movilla Presbyterian in the evening.
“This is my first Presbytery Tour since becoming Moderator in June, and I am really looking forward to spending time encouraging local congregations and their ministers in their ministry, and seeing for myself the work of the local Church on the ground,” Dr Henry said.
“Ards is one of the largest presbyteries that we have, with many people engaged in significant activity in different walks of life, exemplifying what you might call ‘Christian citizenship’, as they work out their faith in Jesus every day, enjoying God in what they do as they serve others. I am very much looking forward to meeting them and saying ‘thank you’.”
As the Clerk of Presbytery, Rev John Flaherty, minister of Millisle and Ballycopeland Presbyterian Church, explained, there are around 19,000 people who have a connection with local PCI congregations. “Dr Henry will be meeting and worshiping with ministers in parish ministry at one event and some of our 400-plus elders at another during his week with us, while he will also take time to meet those involved in youth work.
“It will be a busy week for the Moderator and we are looking forward to having him. There is a strong educational focus to the tour, as he will be spending time at Millisle Primary School, where he will take assembly, and visit Clandeboye Primary. Movilla High School and Killard House Special School are also on the agenda. He will meet students and teachers and see the amazing work that they are doing, while hearing about some of the many challenges that they face,” Mr Flaherty said.
The Moderator will also pay a courtesy call on the Mayor of Ards and North Down Borough Council, visit the PSNI in Bangor and Woodlands Juvenile Justice Centre in Rathgael. In Trinity Cloughey Presbyterian on the Peninsula, Dr Henry will meet fishermen and farmers. Back in Bangor, he will lead a service for residents and staff at Sunnyside House, one of PCI’s residential care homes.
“While the tour will be a time of coming together in praise and worship, it will also involve a good bit of listening, especially around Brexit and the issues faced by local fishermen and farmers and their expectations of what may come. Meeting them will also enable us to reflect more widely on Brexit as a denomination, as we attempt to respond pastorally,” Dr Henry said.
Photos: (1) The Moderator, Dr William Henry (2) Scrabo Tower, Newtownards, County Town, one of the Presbytery's landmarks.