Presbyterian Church General Assembly starts tomorrow
Rev. Dr Trevor Gribben will become the 179th person and eighth Clerk of Assembly to occupy the Moderator’s Chair since 1997.
The annual General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) runs for two days in Belfast from tomorrow (Tuesday).
Minsters and an elder from each of the congregations in County Cavan will attend from here.
The Assembly will run for two days from Tuesday, June 10 until Thursday, June 12 in Belfast.
This year’s General Assembly will also be significant for two other reasons in that this is the 185th anniversary of the very first Meeting of the General Assembly, which took place on July 10, 1840 in Belfast.
It’s also 120 years since the General Assembly met for the first time in Assembly Buildings.
As always, one of the main duties to fulfil in the annual event is the installation of the Church’s new Moderator.
The current Moderator Rt. Rev Dr Richard Murray will lead the installation service for his successor Rev. Dr Trevor Gribben on Wednesday afternoon.
Dr Gribben, the Clerk of the General Assembly, will become the 179th person to hold the Church’s highest office since the establishment of the Church in 1840. He will also be the eighth Clerk of Assembly to occupy the Moderator’s Chair since 1997.
“It is a significant change in role for Trevor and one that a General Assembly hasn’t seen in nearly 30 years,” said the Acting Clerk of the General Assembly, Rev. Dr David Allen.
“It is a great honour to be elected Moderator, and we wish him well and will keep him in our prayers, not only for this General Assembly, but for his year in office,” he added.
The Presbyterian Church in Ireland has around 185,000 members belonging to 500-plus congregations across 19 regional presbyteries throughout the island.
In the presbytery system of church government, each presbytery consists of ministers and elders who are drawn from local congregations and other ministries.
There are currently 19 regional presbyteries. The Presbytery of Monaghan and the Presbytery of Dublin and Munster in the Republic of Ireland, and the cross-border Presbytery of Derry and Donegal.
Dr Allen says the assembly “is a time when we give collective voice to issues of concern in the public square, which is important.”
And he added that while it will be a very different General Assembly for him and Dr Gribben “some things don’t change and that is the very purpose of the Assembly itself - an opportunity to hear the reports of the Church’s various councils and commissions, while debating and deciding matters that are central to the life and mission of PCI.”
The Acting Clerk also reminded those who are unable to attend the public gallery and who are interested in following the General Assembly, they can do so via livestream on www.presbyterianireland.org/ga2025 and on Facebook and X, using the hashtag #pciga25.