Unprecedented hurt and anger after 2018 Presbyterian general assembly

Over 200 teaching and ruling elders (Presbyterian ministers and elders on Kirk Sessions) have released a statement, below, which they have entitled '˜A cry from the heart':
By The Newsroom
Published 6th Jul 2018, 01:01 BST
Updated 16th Jul 2018, 17:12 BST
The Presbyterian general assembly decided same-sex couples can no longer be full members of the church nor their children baptisedThe Presbyterian general assembly decided same-sex couples can no longer be full members of the church nor their children baptised
The Presbyterian general assembly decided same-sex couples can no longer be full members of the church nor their children baptised

As teaching and ruling elders in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, we acknowledge, and indeed share, the profound sense of hurt, dismay and anger currently being expressed in the wake of decisions taken at our 2018 general assembly.

This level of feeling is unprecedented in our pastoral experience.

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We are committed to doing all we can to ensure that the decisions which have prompted such a level of concern will be subject to the urgent attention they deserve, and for which many in the church are calling.

LettersLetters
Letters

We gladly acknowledge that we ourselves have been constantly enriched and challenged by the diversity of views found in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

Therefore, as we participate in this work of critical engagement and discernment, we hold that any unnecessary narrowing of the range of acceptable theological perspectives within the Presbyterian Church in Ireland will damage our credibility and limit our future.

We make this statement: as a prayerful expression of appropriate loyalty to the Presbyterian Church in Ireland at this moment in our history; as a necessary consequence of our ordination vows, which we take with the utmost seriousness; and by the grace of God, as an imperfect yet credible witness to our trust in Jesus Christ alone.

To God alone be the glory.

• The full list of the 232 signatories to the above letter:

Arthur Acheson

Martin Agnew

Derek Alexander

Frank Arnold

Liz Arthur

Maurice Arthur

Olive Bell

Ronnie Bell

Heather Best

Sandra Bickerstaff

Christopher Blake

Patricia Blake

Paul Blease

W. D. Boyd

Amy Brackenridge

John Brackenridge

Leonard Brown

Anne Buchanan

Christina Bradley

Hilary Brunt

Ronnie Calvert

Denis Campbell

Purvis Campbell

Audrey Carruthers

Walter Carruthers

Maureen Collins

Susan Cooke

Joan Cowle

Dennis Crawford

Jim Dale

Ann Davey

John Davey

Grace Davin

Prof John Davis

Helen Dawkins

Norma Dawson

Molly Deatherage

George Derby

Helen Derby

Lucinda Dickey

Rae Dickson

Roy Dickson

Sylvia Dingley

David Dodds

Alan Dowd

Derek Drysdale

Barbara Dunlop

Bill Dunlop

E. H. Dunlop

Gordon Dunlop

Roberta Dunlop

Johnston Dunseath

Pamela Elliot

Ronnie Elliot

John Erskine

Hilary Fairman

William Ferguson

David Flinn

Lorraine Foster

Jonny Frazer

Robin Frazer

John Fulton

Paul Fry

Cecil Graham

Gordon Gray

Jenny Gray

Mark Gray

Randal Gray

Joan Halliday

Rodney Hamill

Sylvia Hamill

Lesley Hamilton

Walter Hamilton

Sheila Hammonds

Dr Heather Hanna

Jill Hannah

Elspeth Haren

David Harrison

Denise Henry

Gavin Henry

Jon Henry

Cecil Hetherington

Mary Hewitson

Maurice Hobson

Gay Hogan

Alison Houston

Norman Houston

James Hudson

Brian Hughes

Liz Hughes

John G Hunter

Mary Hunter

Rosemary Hunter

Sarah Hunter

David Irwin

Hilary Jess

Ian Kelly

Alastair Kilgore

Heather Kilgore

Campbell Killick

Billy Kyle

Jeremy Kyle

Victor Laing

David Latimer

Dr Derek Lee

Dr Malcolm Lees

Muriel Lilly

R. G. Little

Jean Long

Janice Lowry

Robert Magee

Trevor Magowan

Dennison Mahood

Christopher Maitland

Jimmy Mallon

Lowry Manson

David Mark

Ben Matson

Kim McAnespie

Trish McBride

Sally McCahon

Chris McCall

Mervyn McCall

Colin McCandless

Derek McClelland

Ronald McClintock

Colin McClure

Bruce McCormack

Liz McCormack

Ian McCracken

Stephen McCracken

Sylvia McCracken

Fiona McCreedy

Margaret McCreedy

Richard McCreedy

William McCreedy

Colin McDowell

Mildred McIlwaine

Joyce McKee

Janis McKnight

Dennis McLeod

Elizabeth McLeod

Derek McMaster

Samuel Carson McMullan

Gillian McNaugher

Alastair McQuoid

Louise McWatters

Elaine Molyneaux

Richard Molyneaux

Susan Moore

Maud Moorhead

Hilary Morrow

Johnston Morrow

Judith Morrow

Mervyn A Morrow

Katherine Meyer

George Nesbitt

Robert Nesbitt

Ken Newell

Bobby Niblock

Elaine Nixon

Julie-May Noteman

Wilfred Orr

Dr Michael Parker

Ted Parks

George Patterson

Robert Patterson

Ruth Patterson

Winston Patterson

Judith Payne

Valerie Payne

Henry Plester

Eddie Poots

Kenneth Porter

Michael Potter

Marina Proseckina

Ian Rankin

David Purce

Roger Purce

Arthur Rainey

Desmond Rainey

Alastair Rankin

Margo Rankin

Laureen Rolston

Barbara Reid

Colleen Rimmer

John Robinson

Susan Rocke

Gordon Ruddle

Caroline Russell

Cecil Russell

Jane Savage

Ron Savage

Anne Scott

Joan Scott

Malcolm Scott

Bill Shaw

Ralph Sheppard

Lyndsey Shields

Ann Simmons

Robin Simmons

Dot Simpson

Allen Sleith

Catherine Smith

Ruth Smith

Steven Smyrl

Sadie Somerville

Alan Spence

Doreen Steenson

Ivor Stevenson

Heather Taylor

Gary Tenant

Joy Tennis

Audrey Thomas

Dave Thompson

Marion Thompson

Brian Topping

Bert Tosh

John Vance

Ann Walsh

David Walsh

Michael Warnock

Donald J Watts

Derek Weir

Alastair White

Leslie White

Merle White

Jeffrey Whitford

Campbell Wilson

W. Richard Wilson

David Workman

Gilbert Young

Related topics:IrelandPresbyterian Church