Presbyterian General Assembly 2023: Leaders propose clamp down on clergy dissenting in the media - after LGBT rows - and reaffirming core beliefs on marriage

The Presbyterian Church in Ireland is to encourage its leaders to confine their dissent to internal meetings and not to rush to the media to undermine democratic decisions of the church.
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By Philip Bradfield
Published 15th Jun 2023, 20:16 BST
Updated 16th Jun 2023, 11:43 BST

The move is being formally linked to a new report which affirms its core beliefs – including the nature of marriage being between a man and a woman.

It comes after repeated clerics and elders have gone to the media in recent years to express their personal anger and dissent from the denomination's conservative teachings on marriage and LGBT relationships.

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The annual general assembly of the church's ministers and elders from across the island takes place in the church's Assembly Buildings in Belfast, starting on June 21, and runs for three days.

The Clerk of the Presbyterian General Assembly, Rev Trevor Gribben, highlighted two key reports to journalists for this year's meeting of the church leadership. One was focussing on regulating public dissent by clergy and elders and the other is to reaffirm core beliefs - including those on the nature of marriage.The Clerk of the Presbyterian General Assembly, Rev Trevor Gribben, highlighted two key reports to journalists for this year's meeting of the church leadership. One was focussing on regulating public dissent by clergy and elders and the other is to reaffirm core beliefs - including those on the nature of marriage.
The Clerk of the Presbyterian General Assembly, Rev Trevor Gribben, highlighted two key reports to journalists for this year's meeting of the church leadership. One was focussing on regulating public dissent by clergy and elders and the other is to reaffirm core beliefs - including those on the nature of marriage.

Speaking to journalists, Clerk of the General Assembly Rev Trevor Gribben highlighted two significant reports that would be debated.

The first, from the church's Decision and Dissent Task Group, makes clear that the primary place for debate and dissent takes place in the various meetings of the church at different levels.

He gave the hypothetical example of a minister who wanted to speak to BBC ‘Talkback’ to challenge the church spending a lot of money sending missionaries to Malawi, when people on the Shankill Road needed help.

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He would tell the minister, he said, that the church came to a collective decision on a budget and that the dissenter is “required to loyally implement that”.

It is acceptable for clergy or elders to express dissent in the media, he said, the key question is how.

He added: “If you're going on to radio and you're actually ringing [the BBC journalist] Mark Simpson and saying, 'I want to come on to talk about this because I'm annoyed – it's your motive [that matters].”

The second significant report, which he linked to the first, is an updated summary of the church's core beliefs.

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The six-page document reaffirms many traditional Presbyterian beliefs – including those which may conflict with liberal Presbyterians on LGBT matters.

It states that human beings “were created by God in his image, male and female” and that the faithful should ... “maintain chastity in thought and deed, being faithful within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman...”.

  • See the full reports in question here.
Related topics:Presbyterian ChurchIrelandBBC