The General Disassembly of the Presbyterian Church

As I type the opening night of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland's General Assembly has been and gone, and I didn't. No change there then! One of these days I may make it along but not while I can still get out of an armchair under my own steam.

Years ago, the General Assembly was big news, taking up manys a column inch in the local papers. The Tuesday Communion would take place in May Street Church and then the Assembly members would process up to Church House, stopping traffic as they made their holy pilgrimage. The Assembly itself would be packed to the gills and each Congregation would expect their Minister to represent them during the weeks business.

But those days are well and truly gone. These days, the General Assembly is a grey affair and is usually half filled at best. It rarely makes the papers unless it debates something controversial - for 'controversial' please read 'something that normal society dealt with and got over 30 years ago'.

The sad truth is that the Presbyterian Church (as are other denominations and traditions) is becoming less and less relevant. I know that's a trite, cliched phrase, but it's true, and has been true for a number of years. 

So what's the solution? No easy answers I'm afraid. The only answer I can see is through faith, providing we understand faith as being traveling forward rather than clinging on to old ways of understanding. But that's a painful road to follow because there's comfort and security in maintaining what was, even if it's in terminal decline. I love the Woody Allen line, "We've come to  a crossroads in life. One direction leads to hopeless despair, the other to annihilation. We can only pray for God's guidance" (or something like that). 

It's not going to be easy but we, as a denomination, may need to go in altogether new and exciting ways if we're to survive. Otherwise it'll be like being the owner of a sick goldfish - all you can do is watch helplessly and wait for the inevitable.