2016 General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church In Ireland

bushThe Assembly meeting in Canada has adjourned a few minutes ago and there is plenty to chew on from that meeting, but there is not time for that now. This week the meeting schedule has us drinking from a fire hose and we have to move on to the next one.

About the time I will be posting this the Presbyterian Church in Ireland will be convening their 2016 General Assembly with what is usually an exceptional worship service and the installation of the new Moderator, the Rev. Dr. Frank Sellar. The Assembly runs through Friday 10 June. As the meeting gets going here is some info to help follow along:

  • The live stream is embedded in the main Assembly event page and below it the programme of streaming highlights for the week.
  • The special Wednesday evening program is themed “A Community of Global Concern” and will be live streamed. In addition, following the Assembly’s adjournment there will be the traditional Youth Night on Saturday evening, which will also be live streamed.
  • More background for the Assembly can be found on the Assembly Resources page but I do not yet see the Reports or the full Order of Business posted there yet. Update: The Assembly reports page has gone live now.
  • The polity documents include the main document, The Code, as well as the helpful A Guide to Assembly Procedure.
  • The News page will carry official press releases and news items including the pre-Assembly press release which contains a rundown of the major moments and business at the Assembly this year.

There are plenty of social media contact points for the Assembly, beginning with the official Twitter account @PCIAssembly which in the past has provided a very helpful and comprehensive news feed on the actions of the Assembly. The official moderator’s feed at @PCIModerator has become a great source as well. We will see if Rev. Sellar tweets during GA and how much he shares in his moderatorial year. The official hashtag for the Assembly is #pciga16.

Other ministries of the church that have Twitter accounts are Presbyterian Women (@PWinIreland), Mission Ireland (@MissionIreland) and PCI Global Missions (@PCIOverseas). Fair warning that the latter two don’t seem to have seen much action in a which, similar to another account, Life in PCI (@lifeinpci), that seems to have gone dormant.  We will see if any of these might come to life again for this Assembly.

The other set of social media contacts to keep an eye on are those related to the Youth Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. They can be followed at a couple of different Twitter handles including the Youth Assembly account for PCI SPUD (@pcispud), and the Youth and Children’s Ministry account @PCIYAC. They have previously hosted Fringe Events and you can watch their Facebook page to see what they might be up to this year.

The list of others to watch for interesting and useful updates must start with prolific reporter and insightful commentator Alan in Belfast (@alaninbelfast). For those active in leadership in the church I would point to former Moderator Rob Craig (@RobCraig54) and Cheryl Meban (@cherylmeban) who is active with WCRC and PCI board leadership. So far there seems to be potential from Stuart Morrow (@stuart_morrow) and John Hamilton (@john_nornirn). Will update with others as appropriate.

Certainly have a look at the preview piece for a brief summary of the many topics before the Assembly this year. A report from an Abortion Task Force is getting some press coverage for its recommendation that the church only condone abortion if the life of the mother is at stake. One of the issues that has surfaced at most GA’s in recent years has been that of church officers in same-sex relationships and same-sex weddings in the church. The PCI has consistently stood against these but the passage of same-sex marriage in the Republic of Ireland – which has PCI congregations – has made it advisable for the General Assembly to consider their policies and practices in this regard. There are also a couple of important anniversaries this year related to events that shaped Ireland. This includes the Battle of the Somme in WWI and the events of 1916 in Ireland.

As always, our prayers are with the Assembly and their discernment and guidance by the Holy Spirit. We look forward to following their work.

But be warned, they may be the only one live streamed this week, but other Assemblies are out there as well. More on that shortly.

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