Presbyterian moderator reflects on how 2020 caused ‘breaking of mould’ for church

By The Newsroom
Published 4th Oct 2021, 14:12 BST
With the easing of some Covid regulations and the opening up of society in general, ministers and elders from the Presbyterian Church in Ireland’s (PCI) 500-plus congregations met in person in Belfast today for the all-Ireland denomination’s General Assembly. PCI’s Clerk of the General Assembly and General Secretary, Rev Trevor Gribben (left), and the Church’s Moderator, Right Reverend Dr David Bruce, are pictured with some of the ‘Blue Book’, which contain all the Reports, and upwards of 80 resolutions, that will be discussed and debated by members over the next three days.With the easing of some Covid regulations and the opening up of society in general, ministers and elders from the Presbyterian Church in Ireland’s (PCI) 500-plus congregations met in person in Belfast today for the all-Ireland denomination’s General Assembly. PCI’s Clerk of the General Assembly and General Secretary, Rev Trevor Gribben (left), and the Church’s Moderator, Right Reverend Dr David Bruce, are pictured with some of the ‘Blue Book’, which contain all the Reports, and upwards of 80 resolutions, that will be discussed and debated by members over the next three days.
With the easing of some Covid regulations and the opening up of society in general, ministers and elders from the Presbyterian Church in Ireland’s (PCI) 500-plus congregations met in person in Belfast today for the all-Ireland denomination’s General Assembly. PCI’s Clerk of the General Assembly and General Secretary, Rev Trevor Gribben (left), and the Church’s Moderator, Right Reverend Dr David Bruce, are pictured with some of the ‘Blue Book’, which contain all the Reports, and upwards of 80 resolutions, that will be discussed and debated by members over the next three days.
Beginning his second term of office as Presbyterian Moderator this morning Right Rev Dr David Bruce reflected on a year when “moulds were broken and new ways of doing and being church were conceived”.

Dr Bruce is only the seventh Moderator to serve two terms in office, and the first to do so in the last 127 years.

In his opening service address to the in-person, socially distanced gathering at Assembly Buildings this morning, Dr Bruce thanked the General Assembly for his fresh opportunity to serve.

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Reflecting on the year that has passed, Dr Bruce listed the struggles faced locally and globally including Covid, furlough, Brexit, the Northern Ireland Protocol, global recession, bushfires, tropical cyclones, cancel culture, and mental health crises.

“Small wonder perhaps that Time magazine labelled 2020 as ‘one of the worst years to be alive in modern history’,” he said.

Dr Bruce continued: “Yet 2020 was the year our grandson was born – and his smile lights up the room. It was the year I was privileged to celebrate 100th birthdays with 17 centenarians around the church, and was deeply moved by their stories. During this year, I heard stories of congregations growing while in lockdown – of the curious and afraid, finding hope and forgiveness in Christ online while watching our ministers explain the gospel.

“This was the year when moulds were broken and new ways of doing and being church were conceived. Yes it’s been hard, but as I often quote from Frederick Faber’s great old hymn, ‘Thrice blessed is he to who is given, the instinct that can tell, that God is on the field when he is most invisible’.”

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Towards the end of his address, Dr Bruce unveiled his theme for his remaining year in office. By simply substituting one letter from ‘Home’, his theme for 2020-2021, its successor will be ‘Hope’.

He said that “the puritans who shaped the theology of the reformation were above all else, a people of hope. They believed in the power of the Gospel to transform society – and so they pushed the church out in mission. For them, the world was not a wreck from which people must be plucked, but was the property of Christ to be reclaimed for him.”

The General Assembly will meet in Assembly Buildings until Wednesday. For the business before the Assembly, news stories and other information, including daily minutes, visit www.presbyterianireland.org/GA21

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