General Assembly visit welcomed

The move was greeted by the Minister of First Derry Presbyterian Church, Rev Dr David Latimer, who said it was an opportunity to send out a positive message to the wider community. The General Assembly last met in Londonderry back in 1933, and the visit to the City in 2013 will the first time in 40 years that the meeting has been held outside Belfast. “It is very important that the Church has chosen to leave Belfast, because it is the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. Since World War II the General Assembly has travelled to Dublin for meetings, but the preferred and most frequent location is Belfast and every year Presbyterians from all over Ireland converge on where the General Assembly is. Since 2013 is our year of culture the Presbytery of Derry and Donegal issued an invite to the general Assembly to consider Northern Ireland’s second City as a venue for 2013. “It was discussed by the General Board and the proposal was put to the General Assembly on Thursday that it should meet in Derry/Londonderry. It was unanimously agreed,” said Rev Dr Latimer. “I am very pleased that the decision to come here has been made, because it will be an opportunity for the Presbyterian Church locally to stand alongside other Churches and other denominations in the City to promote those things that we all agree on, and more than anything else we agree that God is good for people and that is something that all the churches together can proclaim as a positive message. “It is also an opportunity for ripples of hop to spread out and uplift the lives of individuals and families and whole communities. “It is important that when they are here that the members of the Church sample fringe events so that the Church can interact with the community. “It is an opportunity for the Church, along with the other Churches, to identify those values that make every community better, and those values are enshrined within the Christian Faith and are special to us all,” he said. Rev Dr Latimer said he saw the visit of the General Assembly as an opportunity for the General Assembly to “come to Derry/Londonderry and experience the distinctive culture the city had to offer, to contribute to it, and to promote a positive message of the attractiveness of the city and the benefits it has to offer”.