Former Tyrone-based minister to take on top church position

THE Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) has announced that former Strabane minister Reverend Trevor Gribben, Clerk of the General Assembly and General Secretary of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, will be its next moderator.

Known as the Moderator-Designate, the 63-year-old who was minster for Leckpatrick some years ago, will be officially nominated, elected and installed as moderator of the General Assembly when it meets this June, succeeding Rt Rev Dr Richard Murray.

“These are challenging days for the church, as we seek to live out our calling in an increasingly pluralist and sometimes even hostile world. But these are also great days of opportunity,” he said after his election on Tuesday night.

“The world might be changing, but the world still needs the Lord and the message of the Gospel hasn’t changed. The good news of salvation and new life that is freely available by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, is needed today as much as in days gone by.”