Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland

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The Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland (non-underwriting Presbyterian Church of Ireland , Irish Eaglais Preispitéireach Neamh-aontaithe na hÉireann) is a liberal Protestant church in Ireland with a focus on the historic Northern Ireland County Antrim and Down .

history

The movement of the Non-Subscribing Presbyterians in Ireland originated in 1725 when clergymen of the Presbyterian Church around John Abernethy refused to sign the acceptance (subscription) of the Westminster Confession on the occasion of their inauguration and united themselves to the Presbytery of Antrim, since they the Bible as a sufficient source of their Looking at beliefs. A second group, the Remonstrant Synod of Ulster, emerged in 1829 when 17 congregations around the liberal and Enlightenment- influenced theologian Henry Montgomery left the Presbyterian Synod of Ulster . These two groups, mainly represented in the northeast of the island, joined together in 1910 to form the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland ; 1935 joined the Synod of Munster in the southwest of the island.

The Church today consists of 33 wards (31 in Northern Ireland, 2 in the Republic) in three presbyteries with approximately 4,100 members. It is based in Carrickfergus .

theology

The Non-Subscribing Presbyterians reject man-made confessions and their binding force for the individual believer as well as for the church out of respect for the individual faith of the individual. According to their own statements, the Non-Subscribing Presbyterians represent a liberal and tolerant form of Christian faith, at the center of which is the individual interpretation of the Bible guided by reason and one's own conscience .

Ecumenism

The Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland is affiliated with the Irish Council of Churches , the European Liberal Protestant Network and the International Association for Religious Freedom and cooperates closely, for example in the training of theologians, with those in the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches united British Unitarians .

Web links

Homepage of the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland