Presbyterian General Assembly 2023: With membership drop of 6.5% church considers 'most radical reconfiguration in living memory'

Ahead of the Annual General Assembly in Belfast this week - which concludes tomorrow, Rev Gribben had revealed that the current number of 67 vacancies for ministers is a larger number than normal.

Figures presented to the assembly in its official 'Blue Book' report also show that from 2020-21 there has been a drop of 4000 contributing families – or 6.5%.

Yesterday the assembly also approved the closure of several churches in the south.

Rev Gary McDowell, speaking on behalf of Dublin Munster Presbytery, said the congregations of Wexford and Enniscorthy would be dissolved this year.

With a congregation in the area dating back to 1681, he said, in more recent times it has gone into "quite a serious and rapid decline" with between four and eleven members at the two services.

Similarly, Clerk of Monaghan Presbytery, the Rev Darryl Edwards, told the assembly the congregation of Ballymote in Connacht, Co Sligo, which dates back to 1759, would also be closing.

On a clear positive note, however, he said their members are now being welcomed by "the growing and vibrant congregation of Sligo some 25 minutes up the road."

The assembly also heard yesterday that the congregations of Great Victoria Street and Windsor in Belfast are to be merged, as are congregations at Kircubbin and Glastry in Newtownards.

As a result of the wider decline in membership, Rev Gribben said the church has created its very first "Green Paper" a term which usually signifies a proposed policy document by Government - from the Reconfiguration of Ministry Task Group.

“It’s a Green Paper, our very first, because this is the start of an important process which could ultimately see the most radical reconfiguration in ministry in living memory," he said ahead of last night’s debate.

He too noted that the denomination is, however, "greatly encouraged" by the growth in some congregations in the Republic, with new churches planted in Maynooth, Donabate and Balbriggan, as well as a number in Belfast.

Some key proposals are to put more resources into such growing congregations and training up non-clergy to support the strategy.

• Yesterday’s News Letter reported that the General Assembly rejected a draft code of conduct to stop ministers from dissenting excessively in the media. In fact, members voted to accept the overwhelming majority of a report on the matter, but sent one controversial clause back for consideration. They requested greater clarity on what it would mean to “publicly promote a view which undermines a stated position of the church, whether doctrinal, moral, or administrative”. A report will come back to next year’s General Assembly on the matter.