Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland
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The Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland is a non-creedal Christian Church, which maintains a great emphasis on individual conscience in matters of Christian faith. The Church became part of the
General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches The General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches (GAUFCC or colloquially British Unitarians) is the umbrella organisation for Unitarian, Free Christians, and other liberal religious congregations in the United Kingdom and Irelan ...
on its foundation in 1928, although it is now recognised under the terms of the 2010 Accord with the General Assembly as an independent and fully functioning denomination in its own right. Non-subscribing Presbyterians continue to maintain a strong commitment to the worship of God, the person of Christ, and to the centrality of Scripture. This is in accordance with 'The Constitution and Code of Discipline' (1997) of the denomination, which states: 'That the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the rule of Christian Faith and Duty under the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ' and 'That it is the inalienable right of every Christian to search these records of Divine Truth for his own instruction and guidance, to form his own opinions with regard to what they teach and to worship God in sincerity, agreeably to the dictates of his own conscience, without privation, penalty or inconvenience by his fellow-men.' Whilst it continues, for historic reasons, friendly relations with the Unitarian and Free Christian General Assembly it does not share the latter's 'post-Christian' outlook and remains firmly part of the Christian family of faith. In common with most Protestant churches they affirm the two Biblical Sacraments of the Lord's Supper (Communion) and Baptism. Baptism is usually performed using the wording from Matthew 28, and this usage has increased in many places in recent years. The Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland is a founder of, and active within the Irish Council of Churches, and the
European Liberal Protestant Network {{unreferenced, date=July 2010 The European Liberal Protestant Network is an association of free Christians and Liberal Protestants of Europe. It had its inaugural meeting at Bad Boll, Germany, July 1998 among Protestant members of the Internationa ...
(ELPN). Today, the denomination has thirty-four congregations (thirty-three churches) on the island of Ireland, divided into three Presbyteries, with a total of about four thousand members. The denomination currently has twenty five ministers on its roll with both women and men serving as ministers. The NSCPI is also a member of the
International Association for Religious Freedom The International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF) is a charitable organization that works for religious freedom around the world. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1900, and is the oldest international group that promotes dialo ...
. It has also recorded year on year growth in recent years (source: General Synod Annual Reports).


History

The Church has its origins with those early 18th-century Presbyterian ministers who refused to subscribe at their ordination to the
Westminster Confession The Westminster Confession of Faith is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it became and remains the " subordinate standard" ...
, a standard Reformed (
Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...
) statement of faith; and who were placed, in 1725, in the Presbytery of Antrim. A similar disagreement led to the creation of th
Remonstrant Synod of Ulster
in 1830. In 1835 the two bodies together with the Synod of Munster formed the Association of Irish Non-subscribing Presbyterians. However, the foundation of the earliest of Irish Presbyterian congregations predates the formulation of the Westminster Confession, and the congregations of the Synod of Munster never subscribed to this. When the Presbytery of Antrim was formed, it received support from the Synod of Munster. As the eighteenth century progressed, the attitude to subscription within the Synod of Ulster became more relaxed. The Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland (NSPCI) was consolidated in 1910 when the Presbytery of Antrim, the Remonstrant Synod of Ulster and those congregations that had formed the Free Congregational Union (a radical group made up of a few congregations who had left the Remonstrant Synod or the Presbytery of Antrim) for a few years, formed the General Synod. By 1910 only three congregations of the original Synod of Munster remained in the south of Ireland. Although (like all the elements that came to form the General Synod in 1910) the Synod of Munster was and remained a member of the Association of Irish Non-subscribing Presbyterians, it did not formally join the General Synod until 1935.


Statement of uniting principles

The Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland has a statement of uniting principles which are: “We declare allegiance to the principle that: * the teaching of Christ must take precedence over the doctrines of a later time, and * Christian unity is to be sought, not in the uniformity of creed but in a common standard of duty and adherence to the commandments set out in the Bible. Our faith: * is governed by the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments of the
Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
* asserts and upholds the right of each and every individual to search these scriptural records for themselves and to use reason and personal conscience to discover God’s Divine Truth * removes Human Tests and Confessions of Faith that restrict private judgement and prevent free enquiry * upholds the beautiful simplicity of the great commandments as defined by Jesus Christ: “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and all your mind” and “You must love your neighbour as yourself.”


Structure

The denomination is constituted of three Presbyteries: the Presbytery of Antrim with 16 churches, the Presbytery of Bangor with 13 churches, and the United Presbytery and Synod of Munster with 4 churches. The Unitarian churches of Dublin and Cork publish a monthly magazine entitled 'Oscailt'.


Presbytery of Antrim

In 1725, the Synod of Ulster formed a new Presbytery of Antrim, consisting of the following 16 congregations: - *
Aghadowey Aghadowey ()Placenames NI
Ahoghill - Thomas Shaw - the congregation rejoined the Synod of Ulster after his death in 1731 * Antrim -
John Abernethy John Abernethy may refer to: * John Abernethy (bishop), Scottish bishop, died 1639 * John Abernethy (judge) (born 1947), Australian judge *John Abernethy (minister) (1680–1740), Presbyterian minister in Ireland *John Abernethy (surgeon) (1764–18 ...
*
Ballyclare Ballyclare () is a small town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 9,953 according to the 2011 census, and is located within the Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council area. It sits on the river Six Mile Water. The town ...
- Thomas Wilson * 1st
Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
- Samuel Haliday * 2nd
Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
- James Kirkpatrick *
Cairncastle Carincastle or Cairncastle (, and the English word "castle") is a small village and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland near the town of Larne and inland from the village of Ballygally. It had a population of 66 people in the 2001 Cen ...
- William Taylor *
Comber Comber ( , , locally ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies south of Newtownards, at the northern end of Strangford Lough. It is situated in the townland of Town Parks, the civil parish of Comber and the historic barony of Cast ...
- John Orr - the current non-subscribing congregation was not founded until 1838 *
Downpatrick Downpatrick () is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Its cathedral is said to be the bu ...
- Thomas Nevin * Dromore - ? Colvil *
Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...
- Patrick Simpson - the congregation rejoined the Synod of Ulster after his death in or before 1779 *
Duneane Duneane is a civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is situated in the historic barony of Toome Upper and contains the town of Toome. The name derives from the Irish: ''Dun Ean'' (fort of the birds). The parish is bounded by County ...
- John Henderson - the congregation rejoined the Synod of Ulster after his death in 1753 *
Holywood Holy Wood or Holywood may refer to: Places * Holywood, County Down, a town and townland in Northern Ireland ** Holywood, County Down (civil parish), a civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland ** Holywood railway station (Northern Ireland) * ...
- Michael Bruce *
Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic territory) is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight Roll-on/ro ...
- Josias Clugston * Moira - Samuel Harpur - the congregation rejoined the Synod of Ulster after his death in or before 1731 *
Newtownards Newtownards is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles (16 km) east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. It is in the Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Newtownard ...
- John Mears Newtownlimavady, under Joseph Osborne, is included in a list given by James Armstrong in ''A summary history of the Presbyterian churches in the City of Dublin''. However, William Dool Killen in ''History of the congregations of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland'' states that Osborne's ordination by the Presbytery of Antrim occurred after 1740. He and his congregation joined the Synod of Ulster in 1743.Limavady Ancestry - Church Records
/ref>


See also

* Free Christians (Britain)


Other Presbyterian denominations in Ireland

*
Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster :''Distinct from Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland and Free Church of Scotland (post 1900)'' The Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster ( ga, Eaglais Phreispitéireach Saor Uladh) is a Calvinist denomination founded by Ian Paisley in 1951. Doctr ...
*
Presbyterian Church in Ireland The Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI; ga, Eaglais Phreispitéireach in Éirinn; Ulster-Scots: ''Prisbytairin Kirk in Airlann'') is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the Republic of Ireland, and the largest Protestant denomination in ...
*
Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland is a Presbyterian church in Ireland. The church currently has forty-three congregations, of which thirty-five are located in Northern Ireland; the remaining eight are located in the Republic of Ireland. A ...
* Evangelical Presbyterian Church


References


Further reading

* * ''The Constitution and Code of Discipline'' of the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland (Carrickfergus, 1997), published by the General Synod of the NSPCI * *
The History of the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland. Essays and articles concerning the history, theology and identity of the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland


External links


Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church Of Ireland Nontrinitarian denominations in Ireland Presbyterianism in Northern Ireland Presbyterian denominations in Europe Unitarianism Christian organizations established in 1910 Presbyterian denominations established in the 20th century All-Ireland organisations Nontrinitarian denominations in the United Kingdom Presbyterianism in the Republic of Ireland