The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland traditionally meets each year on the first Monday in June for a week-long series of deliberations on its varied work in Ireland and overseas. The Assembly opens at 7pm on Monday in the Assembly Hall, Wellington Place, Belfast, and will continue until June 9th. Some 1,200 delegates, ministers and lay people will attend. Among the visiting dignitaries will be the Rev Andrew McLellan; the moderator of the Church of Scotland; the Rev Peter McIntosh, of the United Reformed Church; and Rev Glyn Jones, of the Presbyterian Church of Wales. The Church of Ireland, The Methodist Church in Ireland, and Reformed Churches of Romania, Cuba and Sudan will also be represented.
The Lord Lieutenant will attend, as is the custom when the General Assembly meets in Belfast. Perhaps a precedent is about to be established by the attendance of the President of the Republic, Mrs Mary McAleese, with her husband, Dr Martin McAleese. When the General Assembly has met in Dublin in the past, Presidents Eamon de Valera and Mrs Mary Robinson have accepted invitations. Mrs McAleese is the first President to attend an opening of the Assembly in Belfast.
The Assembly will open with worship. This opening service will be broadcast live by BBC Radio Ulster commencing at 7pm. The Moderator of the Assembly for 1999/2000, The Rev Dr John Lockington, will address the Assembly and follow with some reflections on his year as Moderator. The duly-elected Moderator for the year 2000/1, the Rev Dr Trevor Morrow (Lucan, Republic of Ireland), will then be installed and is expected to dilate on the theme for his year as Moderator - Jesus for the Twenty-First Century.
The last person to be elected Moderator from the Republic, in 1964, was the late Rev Dr S. J. Park, Minister of Dun Laoghaire. Dr Morrow considers his election an honour to be shared with the Presbyterians in the Republic, and it is his hope that the President will share in this honour as well.
An increased emphasis on the importance of worship will be apparent at this Millennium Assembly. An arrangements committee has agreed that the customary mid-day worship sessions should be increased by 15 minutes each day. These sessions are open to the public as well as delegates to the Assembly. Dr Morrow has commented that part of the Assembly is to transact the business necessary for the functioning of the Church, but it is vital that the people also come together in praise, thanksgiving and prayer. Dr Morrow would encourage all to participate in these as vibrant, exciting and challenging times of worship. The Rev Dr Leighton Ford, a brother-in-law of the American evangelist Billy Graham is to be a speaker at the midday worship sessions on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. This internationally renowned speaker, a minister of the Presbyterian Church in the USA, will speak on Love of the Father; The Grace of the Lord Jesus; and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Dr Morrow will follow each address with comment.
Worship will be conducted by the Rev Dr Russell Birney (Ballymena). Praise will be led by musicians from a 2020 orchestra, which was formed in 1997 and performed the same office for the Coleraine Conference 2020 Vision, 1997.
Dr Ford will be the main speaker at an Assembly Rally on Wednesday evening at 7.45pm in the Assembly Hall.
At the Assembly the situation in the north will be of supreme importance. In its report "Hopes and Frustrations", the Church and Government Committee will give the political process the consideration and respect it merits, and try to encourage Presbyterians to seek a mutually acceptable political accommodation. The Assembly is expected to congratulate the Royal Ulster Constabulary on the award of the George Cross, and also to encourage people from all religious backgrounds to apply to serve the community in the police force.
In a resolution from the Board of Communications the Assembly will be asked to authorise a new book of praise for Irish Presbyterians. But whether there is need to go to such costly lengths rather than use one of the books of praise already on the market will be hotly debated.
The crisis faced by the farming community in the north will be considered and a call to the British Government to respond with short-term assistance and a long-term strategy is expected. A plan for the development of a small complex of sheltered accommodation for disabled with learning disabilities will be broached. Drugs and addiction and accommodation for the addicted; investment in defence companies; intolerance and anti-Christian violence of Hindus and Muslims in Indonesia; Third World debt relief, and concern about the escalation of the divorce rate will be some of the issues dealt with by the Assembly.
A closing address by Dr Morrow will be given on Friday at 3pm.