Presbyterian Church in Ireland's Moderator for 2021 - who has Donegal background - is confirmed

For the first time since 1894, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland Church has announced  that its current Moderator, Rt Rev Dr David Bruce – whose paternal grandmother’s family farmed near Ramelton - will be nominated to the General Assembly to serve for a second term of office.

Moderators of the General Assembly of the church are formally elected annually by the Assembly at its opening meeting, the nominee having been selected by PCI’s 19 regional presbyteries earlier that year.

Rev Trevor Gribben, Clerk of the General Assembly and General Secretary of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland explained that following normal practice, towards the end of 2020, PCI’s presbyteries forwarded to him the names of ministers who they would like to see considered as the denomination’s next Moderator. As Clerk of Assembly he then wrote individually to each minister to see if they would be willing to permit their name to go forward to the next stage - the selection of the Moderator-Designate by voting in presbyteries meeting separately across Ireland in February.

“When I heard back from each colleague, only one minister, David Bruce, our current Moderator, consented to his name going before presbyteries for consideration, which by convention should have taken place on the first Tuesday in February,” Mr Gribben said.

“Taking an overview of the current situation, with our presbyteries not being able to meet physically, due to current restrictions in both jurisdictions, and the fact that only one name was under consideration, the General Council’s Standing Committee, acting with delegated authority, unanimously agreed that Dr Bruce’s name be forwarded to the General Assembly for appointment as Moderator for the 2021-2022 church year.”

Speaking about the decision, Dr Bruce said, “I am of course, deeply honoured to be asked by our Church to be its next Moderator. To be considered for a second time is also truly humbling. When I was first nominated a year ago, no one could have possibly anticipated the challenges that we would face the following month, let alone a year on. The whole of our society – indeed the entire world – has had to face a pandemic which has devastated economies, destabilised governments and led to the deaths of millions of people. Perhaps the world will never know the full cost of the spread of Covid-19 and its variants.”

For many years the Moderator’s grandmother, who he knew as a young boy, farmed land near Ramelton, only to sell up and move a few years before partition. The family bought a small farm on what would become the northern side of the new border in County Derry.

Concluding his comments about his second nomination, Dr Bruce, who lives near Lisburn, said, “My wife Zoe and I hope that, regulations permitting, we may be able to travel across Ireland to visit and encourage congregations, and presbyteries during the year.

There are currently 19 presbyteries. The Presbytery of Derry and Donegal is cross border, with congregations located in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The Presbytery of Monaghan and the Presbytery of Dublin and Munster are located in the Republic of Ireland, while the remainder are in Northern Ireland.