Moderator set for a tour of Iveagh Presbytery

The tour, which will be his penultimate tour as Moderator, will include a poignant return to Scarva Street Presbyterian Church in Banbridge where he will preach. It was here, over half a century ago, that Dr Bruce was baptised.

This will be a busy day at the start of a busy week of engagements which will see him preach in a number of local Presbyterian churches, meet ministers and their spouses from across the presbytery, visit schools and nursing homes, and meet with local business leaders.

With 20 separate engagements ahead of him, Dr Bruce, who will be accompanied by his wife Zoë, will start his tour by preaching at the morning services in Magherally Presbyterian and Kates bridge Presbyterian Churches – the first of five services where he will preach over the two Sundays. That evening he will also conduct the first of two united services from Newmills Presbyterian Church for people from the Presbytery’s western congregations.

A second united service will take place the following Sunday from Third Rathfriland Presbyterian Church, for people from congregations in the eastern part of the presbytery to come and worship together. That morning he will also preach in Scarva Street Presbyterian. On Tuesday evening, as members of Presbytery gather for their March meeting in Drumlee Presbyterian, Dr Bruce will attend and conduct the opening worship.

“Presbytery tours are a wonderful opportunity for a Moderator to get ‘out and about’ and get to know the church, seeing first-hand the work that congregations are doing in the community on the ground. Zoë and I are very much looking forward to next week’s forthcoming tour,” Dr Bruce said.

“They are very much pastoral visits and after such difficult times I very much want to encourage the local Church, and especially our ministers, who have been on the frontline, acknowledging the work that they and their congregations have done, and are doing, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Throughout the week, there will be a strong focus on education, along with farming, with the Moderator visiting Rathfriland High School on Tuesday, where he will take the assembly, followed by a visit to Drumadonnell Primary School that afternoon. On Friday he will drop in to Banbridge Academy, taking part in a Q&A session with senior RE and politics students.

On Wednesday Dr Bruce will have lunch with PCI’s new Rural Chaplain, Rev Kenny Hanna and leading figures in the local farming and agri-sectors, including the President of the Ulster Farmers’ Union, Victor Chestnutt, to hear of the concerns they are facing. The Moderator will then make pastoral visits to farms in the Tandragee area. He will also meet with local business owners in Banbridge.

As Rev Gordon Best, Clerk of the Presbytery of Iveagh, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be welcoming Dr Bruce and Zoë to the Iveagh Presbytery. It will be a busy time and a rewarding one for all concerned.”