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©Communications Dept., Presbyterian Church in Ireland
The next Moderator of the Presbyterian Church will be Rev Roy Patton (58), minister of Ballygilbert Presbyterian Church.
Mr Patton was nominated by 8 out of the 19 Presbyteries which met this evening throughout Ireland to vote for a new Moderator and will take up office on the 28 May in succession to Dr Ivan Patterson who continues as Moderator until that time.
Rev John Dickinson, minister of Carnmoney received 4 nominations, Rev Joseph Andrews of the Ballee congregation in Ballymena 3 nominations with Rev Rob Craig of Kilfennan and Clerk of Assembly Rev Donald Watts receiving 2 nominations each.
Commenting on his election Mr Patton who has been minister of Ballygilbert for the last 17 years said, “I am humbled by my nomination as Moderator and am very aware of my own shortcomings and the responsibility of the office. However I know God will give me the strength to fulfil the task to which he has called me and I have the confidence of the support of my wife and the prayers of my congregation and wider church family and friends.”
Voting for each candidate was as follows:
Rev Roy Patton (Ballygilbert) 8 Votes: Ards, Armagh, Dromore, Iveagh, Monaghan, Newry, Route, Templepatrick.
Rev John Dickinson (Carnmoney) 4 Votes: North Belfast, East Belfast Carrickfergus, Coleraine/Limavady,
Rev Joseph Andrews (Ballee, Ballymena) 3 Votes: Ballymena, Down, Omagh
Rev Rob Craig (Kilfennan, Londonderry) 2 Votes: Derry/Donegal, Tyrone.
Rev Donald Watts (Clerk of Assembly) 2 Votes: South Belfast, Dublin/Munster.
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Rev Roy Patton (58) has been minister of Ballygilbert Presbyterian Church in Co Down for the last 17 years.
He describes his ministry as one of encouraging congregational life and reaching out into the community believing that a church should be “a living, caring community of Christ’s people reaching out to others.”
To emphasis this Mr Patton’s 400 family strong Ballygilbert congregation have recently completed an extension and renovations to their buildings alongside the Belfast to Bangor main road. “These are much more inviting and welcoming and have allowed us to be more engaged with the community we seek to serve,” he added.
Born on 1st July 1953, the son of a Monaghan farming family Robert (Roy) Alexander Patton was brought up in Ballybay, where his brother still runs the farm. He attended First Ballybay Presbyterian Church and was locally educated at Derryvalley National School, Ballybay Vocational School and Monaghan Collegiate. In 1977 he graduated with a BA in History, Philosophy and New Testament Studies from Trinity College, Dublin and followed this up with a BD from New College in Edinburgh. He completed his training for the Presbyterian ministry at Union Theological College in Belfast in 1980.
Mr Patton was ordained in January 1981 as assistant minister in St Enoch’s in North Belfast before being called to Newry’s Downshire Road congregation in 1983. Eleven years later in 1994 he became minister of Ballygilbert outside Bangor in Co Down.
In his wider ministry Mr Patton has focused on mission, outreach and evangelism. This was first evident in his involvement with Nexus Ireland, a reconciliation programme run by the Presbyterian Church’s Youth Board and based at the Lucan Youth Centre outside Dublin. More recently he became convener of the Church’s Board of Mission in Ireland encouraging local congregation to be more mission minded in reaching out to their local community.
Mr Patton has also had the opportunity to travel overseas with both church wide and congregational teams to Malawi, Kenya and Romania where he has been involved in building churches, supporting hospitals, visiting dev projects and working at special camps for young people.
With little time for other interests Mr Patton describes himself as an armchair sports enthusiast with particular interest in rugby and football.
He is married to Daphne.
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