Category Archives: PC Ireland

Presbyterian Headlines For The Week Ending October 6, 2013

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And now for this past week’s – and yes, I really do mean this this past week singular – news headlines. A bit more than last week happening out there.

As I mentioned in the last post, the news from Mizoram is a bit of a hold-over because it hit as a developing story right at the end of the preceding week. So here are the headlines for the Presbyterian synod in northeast India related to the upcoming elections:

Church urges parties not to use insurgents in Mizoram polls – from Business Standard; “[T]he largest church in the state also urged all political parties,
candidates and campaigners not to indulge in character assassination,
baseless allegations against political opponents and use muscle and
money power to get elected.”

Mizoram sets up election watchdog – from The Morung Express; the watchdog group is supported by the Synod

Mizoram synod asks voters to shun poll prophets – from Times of India; “The Mizoram synod of the Presbyterian Church of India, in its poll
message to the masses, urged the voters to reject so-called
prophecies and predictions on which party would win the coming assembly
elections in the state. The synod said such self-proclaimed prophets did
not believe in God.”

Mizoram parties appeal to Election Commission for changing Assembly poll schedule – from The Economic Times; To move voting to more convenient times and move the counting day off of Sunday

Moving on, there was an important series of headlines from Northern Ireland this week as well:

Churches launch peace initiative in Northern Ireland – from Christian Today; An interdenominational effort that includes the Presbyterian church.

Graffiti daubed on walls of Ballyarnett Presbyterian Church – from BBC News; “Sectarian graffiti has been daubed on the walls of a Protestant church in Londonderry.”

Bishop Good condemns graffiti attack on Ballyarnett Presbyterian Church – from Diocese of Derry Raphoe press release

And near by in Scotland two Church of Scotland clergymen of some note left the Kirk and were received into membership in the Free Church of Scotland:

More ministers defect over gay clergy row – from The Scotsman

Moving to Africa:

Zuma: ‘Church must help with difference between right and wrong’ – from eNCA; in South Africa “Zuma urged the Evangelical Presbyterian Church to continue supporting government and helping to build a caring society.”

On Zuma’s conflation of church and state – a commentary on the event from PoliticsWeb

Presby Church, traditionalists clash in Beposo – from GhanaWeb; A clash resulted when a local church did not observe a request for no noise making that is part of a traditional festival.

In Michigan, a group trying to save a presbytery camp has a new bid:

Camp preservation group ups ante $2.9 million – from The Commercial Record

And if US Presbyterians who are furloughed as part of the government shutdown are looking for something to do here is what some are up to:

Furloughed NASA workers volunteering their time – from WVEC.com; “About a half a dozen volunteers are renovating a wing at Yorkminster Presbyterian Church in York County.”

Finally, it is commentary and not journalism from a religious news outlet, but an interesting piece that may be of interest to some Presbyterians:

The Emergent Pope: Pope Francis Meets Frances Schaeffer – from The Christian Post

 

OK, so is it really Monday and I am now caught up on headlines? I guess I am getting a handle on this. Got a couple more things in draft form now so this might be a good week for blogging. We will see.

Presbyterian News Headlines For The Week (Plus Some) Ending August 4, 2013

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This past week was an eventful one for Presbyterians and here are some of the relevant news headlines that caught my attention. I have added a couple of days since I am about to become preoccupied with a family event and may not get this post out next week. There is also one headline not included that I am hoping to blog on separately.

The PC(USA) held their Big Tent event and there were a couple of headlines that came out of that, at least in the hometown paper.

Presbyterians in the ‘Big Tent,’ thinking out of the box – from the Louisville Courier-Journal

Faith & Works | Presbyterians talk renewal – from the Louisville Courier-Journal

At the same time a discussion in the PC(USA) — a discussion that actually started a few months ago — went viral and hit the mainstream media. The discussion is about one particular hymn, In Christ Alone, not appearing in the new hymnal because the authors would not agree to an alteration in one line.

Presbyterians’ decision to drop hymn stirs debate – from USA Today

Mainline Protestants Abandon Orthodoxy, Exhibit XXXVI – from National Review Online

And news about a PC(USA) affiliated school

Montreat College plans merger with Point University – from Asheville Citizen-Times

Across the pond a headline concerning the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland visiting a now-closed infamous prison as development of the site is considered:

Top Presbyterian set to visit Maze site – from News Letter

And next door – the Moderator of the Church of Scotland begins tweeting and quickly has something to tweet about from her holiday in Spain:

Moderator’s tweet success on first day – from Herald Scotland

Holidaying Moderator tweets about bag theft on Barcelona beach – from Herald Scotland

Finally, three headlines about African Presbyterians:

Ghana: Let’s Seek God’s Face On National Challenges – Moderator – from allAfrica

CCAP Nkhoma Synod warns Malawi govt. against legalizing abortion – The Maravi Post

Nigeria: Presbyterian Church Lauds National Assembly for Criminalising Same-Sex Marriage – from allAfrica

That’s it for now. Have a good week.

Presbyterian News Headlines For The Week Ending July 27, 2013

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Getting caught up on reading, and I may post a summary of a few of the earlier articles of interest, but here is the summary for the past week.

Claremore’s Christ Presbyterian Church burns to ground – from Tulsa World

Just one week after Claremore church burned down, Christ Presbyterian Church comes back together – from KJRH

Presbyterian Group Appoints First Openly Transgender Director of Mainline Protestant Organization – from Sojourners

Ghana: Women Challenged to Take Leadership Roles – from allAfrica; “The Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana
(PCG), Rev. Dr. Samuel Ayete-Nyampong, has called on women in Africa,
with specific reference to Ghana, to challenge themselves to take up
leadership positions in the running of the country.”

Clergyman urges Ghanaians to accept Supreme Court ruling – from Ghana Web;
the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ghana urged the country to accept the soon to be announced court ruling regarding the presidential election following the death a year ago of President Mills.

Kirk joins forces with CofE to take on payday loan firms – from Herald Scotland

Petition calls for chaplains move at Antrim hospital to be scrapped – from the Belfast News Letter; the plan to assign hospital chaplains to wards and work with patients across denominations is protested

This seemed to be a busy week for church demolition stories, although one is also an expansion

Klondyke Welsh Presbyterian Chapel can be demolished, High Court rules – from Liverpool Echo; the Court has cleared the way for development on the site

End of an era – from Price County Daily; “The First Presbyterian Church in Phillips will soon be demolished to
make room for a new multi-purpose building that will serve a variety of
needs for the community.”

Demolition and expansion at Milwaukee’s oldest congregation: Slideshow – from The Business Journal; old offices of Immanuel Presbyterian Church to add parking and two new wings on the church

General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church Of Ireland — Youth and Children: A Tale Of The Tweets

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I have been having fun the last couple of days following the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. There is no live streaming so the vast majority of what I can find out in real time is through Twitter.

A few transcripts and audio selections have found their way onto the internet. The church has posted the text of the addresses by the outgoing Moderator and the incoming Moderator. To hear parts of the Assembly you can check out a number of audio clips that Alan in Belfast has posted on his blog as part of his coverage of the Assembly meeting.  In addition, he has posted the report of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland Youth and Children Council (PCIYAC) from earlier today. (part 1, part 2)

And getting down to the subject of the Board of Youth and Children’s Ministries, they were fairly vocal in the debate yesterday concerning the proposal by the Structures Committee to reorganize and consolidate Boards. In particular, they were concerned about their loss of Board status as they would be included with the Council For Congregational Life and Witness. In the end the Structures proposal was not adopted this year by the vote of 190 to 119 so they continue as they are for another year.

This afternoon was the report of the Board of Youth and Children’s Ministries itself. The report went well, as you can hear for yourself on the audio clips above, lasting just over 40 minutes. One of the highlights was a video promoting Messy Church. Another was the celebration of the 125th anniversary of the Boys Brigade program and the impact that it has had, including a couple of testimonials from the floor. As for the seven resolutions in the report, nothing controversial that raised any real objections.

What did catch a number of people’s attention was the turnout of Assembly members for the report, at least at the beginning.

When the report began it was preceded by a prayer that included these lines transcribed from the audio clip:

“We thank you for those who serve within this Board, for the work of this past year. And now as they report help them to communicate to us what’s on their hearts and what’s of importance to them and to us.”

Thanks to Twitter we have some comments and pictures of the meeting space at about the time the prayer was being said. Among those tweets are these two:

 
James Currie @JCBelfast

Hall unfortunately nearly empty for the Youth and Children’s Board Report #pciga13 pic.twitter.com/pBrBMJTtD3
 

James McCormick @jamesmcc77

Not much interest in Youth & Children from PCI members. Poor show folks. #pciga13 pic.twitter.com/yUdxIRPj9o
 



As the prayer said “…what’s of importance to them and to us.” Not many of the “us.”

Now to be fair, these pictures were taken at the beginning of the report right after a short 15 minute break and the lines for coffee this week are reported to be very long. And the hall did fill up a bit more after this. Furthermore, this was not the only report with very low attendance at the beginning. But the reports on Twitter still seem to indicate that it never did fill up the way it had for some of the more high-profile reports. And comparisons continued later in the day.

So I am sitting here wondering do I really need to spell this out? Do I really need to point out that when we talk about the younger generation and their importance to the church and then we don’t show up for the report about their ministries it sends a pretty mixed message? Do I need to rant on about the theme of the Assembly being about transformation and then the report about working with the generation we are trying to transform the church for has so few people listening to it?

No I don’t think I need to do any of that. But what struck me about the events of today is that when there is so much concern and discussion about whether the church has a future I must admit that I was very surprised at the apparent lack of attention that was paid to an important Board that has responsibility for the youngest members of the Body of Christ, the ones that have the most riding on the future.

OK, rant over. Commentary mode off.

We now return to our regularly scheduled stream of tweets.

2013 General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church In Ireland

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Beginning in a few hours we turn our attention to the western side of the North Channel for the penultimate General Assembly in the British Isles. At 7:00 PM this evening, Monday 3 May, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland will convene. This year will be a bit different as the Assembly takes one of their very occasional trips away from the Assembly Hall in Belfast (the last time was 22 years ago), this year to meet at the Millennium Forum in Londonderry.

If you are interested, here is some helpful information:

  • The Church has produced an excellent outline of their meeting on the Assembly page. There is also a news item with a narrative of the meeting and highlights for each day
  • The reports that were published in advance are available on the Reports Page
  • There are usually news reports from The Press Office. There is the news page or I will update if a separate page is used.
  • If you need a polity refresher you should check out their unified document, The Code as well as their Guide to Assembly Procedure
  • In the past the PCI has done a wonderful and prolific job of tweeting the Assembly at @pciassembly. For the meeting the hashtag is #pciga13
  • Other Twitter accounts related to the church that could be interesting are @PCIYAC from the Youth and Children department and @pciSPUD from the Youth Assembly
  • The best observer of the GA to keep an eye on is Alan in Belfast on both Twitter @AlanInBelfast,  and his blog Alan in Belfast
  • The local news site Slugger O’Toole with their Twitter @sluggerotoole is also a good source that might have some coverage
  • Finally, there will probably be PCI commissioners tweeting. Let me start with the moderator of a past General Assembly @staffordcarson. (And on a side note, Dr. Carson is up for approval by the Assembly to a new position. UPDATE: He was approved as the new Principal of Union College. ) Update: I would add to the list James Currie (@jcbelfast) who is active with PCIYAC and pciSPUD.

Regarding live streaming we have this unfortunate statement from the Arrangements Committee (pg. 7):

Web Streaming and ‘Twitter’
9. The Arrangements Committee regrets that due to technical restrictions, the General Assembly will not be streamed this year.  However, proceedings may be followed on ‘Twitter’

The raises a couple of questions in my mind, one being the quotes around Twitter. (Are those scare quotes?)
But further, in an advanced facility such as the Millennium Forum why are there technical issues with streaming? It seems the key word is… restrictions. It leads me to conclude that the requirements of the venue are that they handle the streaming at a cost which is prohibitive to the church. Another thing I see is that portions will be broadcast by the BBC so there may be restrictions to competition there. It may be something else but those are my guesses at the moment. For those of us who enjoy the stream and are interested in the business and decisions reached we still have Twitter but the lack of streaming is a disappointment when it seems easy enough to do.

There are two evening events of some interest. The first is a series of seminars on Tuesday evening at Magee College. It was founded by Presbyterians but is now a branch of the University of Ulster. The series of presentations will reflect on Presbyterian history and tradition. The second is “Christ Transforming Culture” on Wednesday night in the meeting space. As the description says of the event “Through drama and music the Moderator and others will lead an
exploration of how the Assembly theme, ‘A Place of Transformation’
impacts on the Church and individual Christians and on the culture of
where they work and witness.”

A number of interesting items of business on the docket. There is a report on Baptism from the Doctrine Committee (pg. 13 of the report) The report concludes that baptism by immersion is not necessary and is not the most appropriate method but does not recommend forbidding it.

There is an interesting report from an Advisory Committee to the General Board that includes a section (beginning on page 32) about helping resolve conflict in congregations. The many recommendations include better training of Elders and this:

(iii) The Church should seriously consider the Church of Scotland and PC USA [sic] model of having an interim Minister for up to a year, where there has been a long ministry of say 15 years or more. This would allow a Congregation to adjust, grieve if necessary, think of themselves without the previous Minister, deal with any outstanding issues and prepare themselves for a call.

In my experience, both are good moves and I might suggest shortening that 15 years down a bit to ten or even seven.

There is also some tension related to the trajectory the Church of Scotland is following on same-sex partnerships and the ministry. There are a few points that this may present itself during the Assembly including the Church and Society report as well as Ecumenical Relations. In particular, the Moderator’s Advisory Committee of the General Board is looking to open conversations about human sexuality within the church.

Finally, the Priorities Committee of the General Board (report beginning on page 39) is conducting a Structures Review that is looking at the form and function of the church. Among the issues it sees that resonate with the findings of a similar panel I have been on is about communication between bodies within the church with the report saying ” The current engagement that takes place between Presbyteries and Boards is at times very sparse.” Like that understated wording.

Almost all of there are General Board committees and will be part of the General Board report on Tuesday.

So there is lots going on this week and we look to the social media outlets for updates. Our prayers are with the Assembly and the incoming Moderator, the Rev Rob Craig. May the Holy Spirit indeed be moving among you in your discussions and discernment.

Presbyterian News Headlines For The Week Ending May 25, 2013

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One primary intersection of major breaking news and the Presbyterian world this past week, with all due respect to the Scottish General Assemblies, was the tornado in Oklahoma. A few of the items related to that:

Oklahoma Tornado — May 2013, Index of Response – from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
Massive Tornado Hits Moore OK – from PCA Mission to North America
In the Aftermath of the Oklahoma Tornadoes, the Support of Volunteers is Key – from FEMA including PDA in the list of resources

Regarding last week’s General Assemblies, I am going to let the dust settle another day or two and deal with each of them in their own articles.

From Ireland we have two deadly car crashes that involved Presbyterian clergy and their families

Free Presbyterian minister dies in car accident – from the Belfast Newsletter
Wife of Presbyterian minister dies in road crash – from the Belfast Newsletter, includes comments from the Presbyterian Church in Ireland GA Moderator

Last week I mentioned a developing situation in Ghana with sexual misconduct charges brought against a minister. Among the continuing coverage this week is

Church Members Deny Sodomi Allegation Against Pastor – from SpyGhana

And finally, an interesting headline related to church dismissals in the PC(USA)

Opposing Groups Emerge In Presbyterian Church Discernment Process – from KUHF news

Presbyterian News Headlines For The Week Ending May 11, 2013

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With the Church of Scotland 2013 General Assembly beginning on Saturday I hope to complete a few more posts about the Assembly and its business later this week. For the moment, the big news headline was a meeting last week between representatives of the Church of Scotland and various Jewish groups. From this there was a softening of the stand and a rewrite of the controversial report. Some of the headlines:

The Inheritance of Abraham? A report on the ‘promised land’ – Press release from the Church of Scotland

Church of Scotland Agrees to Amend Controversial Report on Israel – from The Altemeiner

Kirk and Jewish leaders hold talks in bid to mend relations – from The Herald

It also caught my attention that the news had spread beyond Scotland and the UK to some American news sources:

Church of Scotland Report Angers Jewish Community – picked up by ABC News from an AP report

Church of Scotland report angers Jewish community – picked up by the Miami Herald from the same AP story

The Church of Scotland’s Less Than Awesome Report on Israel – from The Daily Beast

And there are still some critics of Israel, like The Very Reverend Gilleasbuig Macmillan, who spoke out this week. (Polity note: Rev. Macmillan holds the position of Dean of the Thistle which is one of three positions in addition to being a former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland that gets the title “The Very Reverend.”)

Leading Church of Scotland minister slams Israel’s treatment of Palestinians – from the Daily Record

In other news…

Presbytery of Chicago is forced to sell a camp due to financial needs, partly caused by an abuse case settlement.

Abuse case leads to dunes camp sale – from WOOD TV

Don’t Destroy ‘Thin Place’ – letter to the editor of the Commercial Record

Five years after the collapse of the Presbyterian Mutual Society in Ireland six of the directors have settled legal proceedings by agreeing not to act as corporate directors for up to six years (despite what that first headline says):

Collapsed Presbyterian Mutual Society chiefs will not become company directors again – from the Belfast Telegraph

Six Presbyterian Mutual Society directors agree to stand down – from the BBC News

Programming note: Because the Church of Scotland General Assembly will be in full swing next week it may impact my time to put together this headlines post. We will see.

General Assembly Season 2013

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Ah, the First of May — the start of General Assembly Season 2013! 

Coffee? Check.
Alarm clocks set? Check.
Internet streaming? Check.

It looks like we are all ready to go so here is this year’s line-up:

  General Assembly
Presbyterian Church of Tasmania
  14 May 2013 (begins)

  General Assembly
Church of Scotland

18-24 May 2013
Edinburgh

  General Assembly
Free Church of Scotland Continuing
20-24 May, 2013
Edinburgh

  General Assembly
Free Church of Scotland
20-24 May 2013
Edinburgh

  General Assembly
Presbyterian Church of South Australia
  27 May 2013 (begins)
North Adelaide, S.A.

General Assembly
United Free Church of Scotland
 
29-31 May 2013
Perth

  139th General Assembly

Presbyterian Church in Canada
31 May – 3 June 2013
Toronto, Ontario

  General Assembly
Presbyterian Church in Ireland
 
3-7 June 2013
Londonderry

80th General Assembly

Orthodox Presbyterian Church
5-11 June 2013
St. Mary’s College
Moraga, California

Synod
Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland
10-12 June 2013
Dromore

209th Stated Meeting of the General Synod

Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church

11-13 June 2013
Bonclarken
Flat Rock, North Carolina

183rd General Assembly
Cumberland Presbyterian Church
17-21 June 2013
Murfreesboro, Tennessee

41st General Assembly

Presbyterian Church in America
17-21 June 2013
Greenville, South Carolina

33rd General Assembly

Evangelical Presbyterian Church
18-22 June 2013
Highlands Ranch, Colorado

  General Assembly
Presbyterian Church of Queensland

  24 June 2013 (begins)
Clayfield (Brisbane), QLD

  N.S.W. State Assembly
Presbyterian Church of Australia
in the State of New South Wales

 
1 July 2013 (begins)
Croydon, N.S.W.

  77th General Synod
Bible Presbyterian Church
1-6 August 2013
Grand Island, NY

  National Youth Assembly
Church of Scotland

16-19 August 2013
Dundee
(Technically not a governing
body, but still an Assembly I track)

  General Assembly
Presbyterian Church of Australia

9 September 2013 (begins)
Surry Hills (Sydney)
(note: this is a triennial Assembly)

  General Assembly
Presbyterian Church of Victoria
  October 2013

  General Assembly
Presbyterian Church in Western Australia
  25 October 2013
Bassendean, W.A.

A few branches have biennial assemblies so those with their next assembly in 2014 include the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand.

These are the ones that I am tracking at the moment.  I will update as
appropriate.  If I have missed one, or have information wrong or incomplete, please provide the appropriate information and I will update the list.

And, to make the GA season complete here are two more items…

The first is the series of articles I wrote as an introduction to Presbyterian General Assemblies five years ago.  My GA 101 series consists of the following

GA101: Preface
GA101: Introduction – Why in the world would anybody want to do it this way?
GA101: Connectionalism – The Presbyterian Big Picture
GA101: The Cast of Characters – A score card to identify the players
GA101: The Moderator – All Things In Moderation
GA101: Where does the GA business come from? – Incoming!
GA101: Doing the business of GA — Decently and in Order

Yes, what started as a six part series expanded into seven
completed articles with two more unfinished ones in the queue.  (Maybe
this will give me some motivation to finish those up.)

And finally, on to the ridiculous.  Lest we take ourselves too seriously, a couple years ago I had a little fun with the General Assembly and in the post passed along the GA drinking game and GA Bingo. Please play both responsibly.

So, for all the GA Junkies out there I wish you the best of GA
seasons.  May you enjoy the next few months of watching us do things
decently and in order!

Presbyterian News Headlines For The Week Ending April 27, 2013

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Here are a few of the global Presbyterianism headlines that caught my attention in the past week:

A couple of weeks ago the hot topic for the Church of Scotland was the report to the General Assembly from the Theological Commission on Same-sex Relationships and the Ministry. This past week the news shifted on to a Joint Report on the Implications for the Church of Scotland of Independence for Scotland. The recommendation that seems to have caught everyone’s attention is “In the event of Scottish Independence… that the monarch should have a Scottish coronation…” Among the articles covering this are:

Scottish independence: Church of Scotland to debate coronations – From the BBC

Kirk: Give future monarch a Scots coronation after Yes vote – From The Herald

And it was noted that the Free Church of Scotland would also be exploring this topic:

Free Church to Discuss Independence – Free Church of Scotland news article

In the Free Church of Scotland there is another interesting pastoral call following last month’s call of an Italian minister to Leith:

Anglican Minister to take Free Church Congregation – From The Scotsman

In Ireland, where the Presbyterian Church opposes same-sex marriage, a political leader came under fire for his views that differ from the church’s position:

Alliance leader David Ford stands down as church elder over his support for gay marriage– From The Irish Times

And from the Presbyterian Church of Ghana:

Indiscipline amongst the youth need to be checked – Okyenhene – From GhanaWeb [note: The Okyenhene is the royal leader of a clan in Eastern Ghana. he was speaking at a Presbyterian Church.]

Politicians can’t fool Ghanaians any longer – Presby Moderator – From Vibe Ghana

Review Of The BBC Documentary “An Independent People”

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I had heard about the BBC – Northern Ireland producing a documentary on Ulster Presbyterians titled “An Independent People.” Well, it is now released and was broadcast on the BBC this past week with the final part airing last night.

Since it was on the BBC it is available on their iPlayer, but that did not help those of us outside the UK. Well, this past weekend I found it on YouTube and spent some time watching it. In short – I was not disappointed!

This is a documentary that presbynerds and those interested in Presbyterian church history will enjoy and I suspect that others with a more passing history of Presbyterianism will as well.  As I will explain in a moment, the first episode is a good general background for any Presbyterian and the second episode has some interesting background for Americans – Presbyterian or not.

This is a three-part documentary, each part one hour long, hosted by BBC NI religion correspondent William Crawley. The program presents the history of the Ulster Presbyterians with a wonderful balance of Mr. Crawley’s narrative, expert quotes, historical and current imagery, and plenty of location shots at historical sites. I don’t think there is a studio shot in the whole three hours.

But beyond the visual richness of the series it does a great job of explaining the history and the individuals behind it without taking sides in the many conflicts and controversies throughout the history. While it seemed to me that it presented a fairly complete history – and helped fill in several holes in my understanding of the Ulster Presbyterians – I do not have a deep enough knowledge of the history to know if there were any glaring errors or omissions.

It is also worthwhile to note that it sticks very close to the Ulster Presbyterians so when it talks about Scottish or American Presbyterians it is only to the extent that the Irish were involved. The primary exception is the very beginning when the origins of Presbyterianism in Geneva and Scotland are discussed.

The first episode titled “Taking Root” begins by recounting that early history and then the first wave of Scots to Ulster in the Plantation movement and resistance they found there. The next episode is “Seeds of Liberty” and talks about the Ulster Presbyterians in American and the ideas of the Enlightenment they brought with them that found expression in the American Revolution. It also discusses how that revolution, the French Revolution and the Enlightenment influenced Ireland. The final episode is “Union and Division” and traces the history in the Union of the UK and the divisions within Ireland as well as touching on the early Presbyterian missionary efforts.

The program was produced by Below the Radar for the BBC. You can find @williamcrawley and the show’s producer Fiona Keane (@fikeane) on Twitter. There are notices from both the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and the Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland promoting the show. In addition to the BBC the show was funded in part by the Ulster-Scots Broadcast Fund.

A trailer/ad is also available but I’m not sure it does the series justice — but what can you do in 30 seconds?

As you can probably figure out, the title reference to an independent people works on many levels. For those that think Presbyterian realignments are a new phenomenon this series makes it clear that it is not.  Mr. Crawley begins the third episode with this lede:

[P]resbyterianism has always been a fractious faith. The democracy that defines it also creates division and dissent.

While the Ulster Presbyterians have components of their history that are unique in the Presbyterian universe, much of their history has interesting influences and parallels throughout global, and especially western, Presbyterianism. This documentary does a good job of helping us see where those puzzle pieces fit in the larger picture.

UPDATE: After posting this I found that Gladys Ganiel had written about the series. Some interesting insights from her background living in both The States as well as currently in Belfast. She did alert me to one error in the program – the statement that Francis Makemie founded the first Presbyterian Church in America. The program could have meant the oldest active congregation but a Long Island congregation founded by English Presbyterians in the 1640’s is generally regarded as the first. Makemie did however organize the first presbytery. But Gladys has a good point that I remember no mention of Amy Carmichael in the third episode and generally little coverage of the role of women in the history. She has also written some thoughts on the first episode.

UPDATE: Another insightful review and discussion of the program by Steve Stockman on his blog Soul Surmise. (And thanks to @alaninbelfast for bringing it to my attention.)