Belfast riots: Presbyterian General Assembly closes early, with moderator praying for 'mercy' upon the nation

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland closed early again today in light of concerns about ongoing disorder – with the moderator praying for ‘mercy’ for the country.

After a full morning of business, the Assistant Clerk of the Assembly, Rev David Allen told the assembly that they had been keeping an eye on political developments over the morning.

Representatives from over 500 congregations from across the island of Ireland had gathered at Assembly Buildings in Belfast for the annual gathering where key decisions are made about the future of the church.

And because of major cancellations to public transport they decided they had no choice but to close the assembly at 1pm. On Tuesday business had also closed early, at 4pm.

It takes their staff an hour to close the building and they wanted to make sure that they and delegates could get home safely, he said.

“So, we have a very serious responsibility to them,” he said. “So, in light of this moderator, we must end the business now and not have business this afternoon. It had been our intention up until quite recently that we would have business this afternoon, but with the public transport situation, we simply can't do that and allow both people in this house and our staff to get home safely, and that is our primary responsibility."

Closing the session in prayer, Moderator Rev Richard Murray again prayed for calm across the country – as he had done when opening the day’s business.

He prayed: “Father, we continue to pray for our country at this time, and we were troubled to hear these reports coming in this morning from the news, and we commit our country to you, and we pray your hand upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us.”

The cancellation of afternoon business meant the delay of the formal installation of the new moderator Rev Richard Kerr, which is now planned for Thursday morning.