Meet the Moderator

In the June edition of the Presbyterian Herald, Christian journalist, broadcaster and podcaster, Will Leitch, interviewed PCI’s next Moderator, Rev Dr Richard Kerr. The article, entitled ‘Grasping God’s love’ is reproduced here as a long read.

Richard Kerr could be forgiven for wondering why he is becoming Moderator now. His installation comes when scrutiny of the Presbterian Church in Ireland is intense, and unrelenting. When the media coverage of our denomination is almost always negative, and our reputation in society has taken a nosedive.

I wonder, as a working journalist arriving at his door, how I will be received. Yet Richard welcomes me into the manse at Templepatrick Presbyterian Church, with a smile and a handshake, and puts the kettle on.

I realise I am visiting a place where generations have worshipped and served God for 400 years. The first minister at Templepatrick was Josias Welch, a grandson of John Knox, arriving in the mid-1620s as the Six Mile Water Revival was beginning. You might wonder how often this congregation has already cried out to God over the centuries about what is happening around them.

“I do believe in this call,” says Richard, when I ask why he allowed his name to go forward, and after a tie, had to wait through a second round of voting.

“I believe that when God calls, he equips, and I trust him for that going forward. Although I will be absolutely honest with you, I am in many ways stepping into this role as Moderator in fear and trembling.”

He goes on: “I’m not a big player; I’m not a political player in the Church. I never have been, I never wanted to be, and yet I guess I’ve always served.” It is hard to know where to start about the challenges Richard now faces. So, I raise them all: the Church’s central failures in safeguarding; the victims hurt and betrayed; the changes needed in governance; the investigations by the PSNI and Charity Commission for Northern Ireland.

I lay out the story of a denomination in crisis. “I’m taking on something in a Church that’s facing unprecedented challenges, a crisis of our own making,” he admits.

He talks of the many questions from ordinary Irish Presbyterians. “About where we’re going and what we’re doing and how we got ourselves to this place, and those are valid questions.

Absolutely.”

I ask Richard about the questions and challenges from wider society – from victims, the PSNI, the Charity Commission and other bodies. “There are big questions outside the denomination as well,” he agrees.

“And I think there are a lot of misunderstandings about that, but also about the role of Moderator and what you’re actually stepping into. I am not a CEO.

“I have limited power, but in some ways, I am a figurehead and perhaps a spokesperson to some extent for the denomination. At a critical time.”

Richard says he has no inside information about what went wrong with safeguarding or governance within Assembly Buildings, and knows the answers he will get whilst active investigations are continuing, might be limited.

He pauses, and then goes on.

“What has happened in our central safeguarding, and the failures in that aremtotally unacceptable. They are a matter of shame for us as a denomination. And it did bring reproach on the name of Jesus Christ, who is our Saviour, our Lord, and Head of the Church, and that pains me deeply.

“I would want to say just how much it grieves me that people have been harmed and hurt by our failings in all of this. Because at the end of the day, this is about the people whom we pastor as a Church and how we have let them down.”

I ask him about the failings.

“I am a part of the Church,” he concedes. “As Moderator I cannot wash my hands of this, but also, and this is important, and I want to stress this, I believe already we’re trying to put things right.”

We both agree that an apology without action is worth very little, and this is why Richard is determined that the changes being made needed to happen, no matter how long overdue or how costly.

“I think there’s no doubt that our central governance was stretched to breaking point,” he goes on.

He has already welcomed publicly the investigations into Church conduct and procedures and wants everything brought out into the open. But he takes care to say that the vast majority of safeguarding in churches across Ireland has been excellent, and he acknowledges the good work done by many people, people who were shocked to see the failures made in Assembly Buildings.

“I want to emphasise that we still have a message that the society in which we live and operate needs to hear, that our Church members need to hear,” he explains.

“A God who so loved the world. A God who loves people, in our congregations, in our communities, people who have been hurt and harmed, people who are in leadership and responsibility, and indeed people who’ve got it wrong at times as well, because none of us are perfect, and all of us are part of this denomination.”

That seems like a good time to bring up the people within Irish Presbyterianism who are unhappy, troubled or concerned, in a more vocal way. I specify the anonymous ‘Troubled Presbyterians’ group behind a vigorous email campaign to many in leadership, and Richard nods.

“Unfortunately, as Moderator I will not be able to solve all of the issues of our Church. But it is important in my role that I point people to Christ. I think what unites us in Christ is way greater than what divides us. And therefore, we need to rally round what it is that we’re about. Around the gospel, around what is core to our very existence and it has to be part of our vision for where we go forward.”

Richard is clear as he outlines his approach to the critics. No Moderator can change Church culture overnight. He has limited powers and does not want to create unrealistic expectations.

He wants to be pastoral, wants to listen, and understand what has gone wrong.

“Where it can be positive and be beneficial to restoring relationships and addressing grievances and hurts, I will do what I can.”

With this in mind, I ask him about the calls for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland to look to its own problems for now, and not to be so prominent in civic society in the year ahead. Others have warned against taking this approach too far, especially when we are called to be salt and light in our communities.

Richard thinks for a moment. “I would always believe that if we’re not outward facing, we have lost something of our calling,” he concludes.

“We are always to be missional as a church. And I guess that my own story is a reflection of that to some extent.”

Not one to miss an extremely polite hint, I ask Richard about his upbringing.

Richard Kerr was born in Banbridge, but raised in Ramelton in County Donegal, where his father worked as a colporteur for the Reformed Presbyterian Church. He recalls sitting with his brothers around their mum in a big armchair whilst she read them Bible stories.

At school, he and his brothers were always the most sought-after on teams for Bible quizzes, because of their impressive knowledge of Scripture.

Passing through the Derry-Donegal fellowship his father helped to found, Richard went on to study at Gurteen Agricultural College in County Tipperary. He served a three-year apprenticeship, staying with the families of three master farmers, and attending churches of several different denominations.

“When I was a 12-year-old lad, I went down on my knees and I asked Jesus to be my Saviour and my Lord,” he tells me. 

“There was very much an act of surrender that I would serve, and that my allegiance would be to him.” 

Later he would look to service overseas. He married Brenda and they served with PCI, spending 11 years in Malawi, working in rural development and healthcare. Their most exciting times in Africa revolved around the growth of the church, and when they welcomed their three children. They now have four grandchildren. 

I ask him how that experience overseas can help him represent Presbyterians in Ireland, and Richard doesn’t hesitate. 

“The God who was in Malawi is exactly the same God who’s here. The God who changed lives in Malawi and built a church, and where we saw things happening, has not gone away.” 

He looks into the distance for a moment.

“I live in a community here in Templepatrick that is affluent. People are middle class, they’re well off. And sometimes, quite frankly, that is a barrier to faith because people are secure in their pensions and in all that they have set aside. Whereas in Malawi, I met people who had nothing and therefore were far more reliant on God for the everyday, their daily bread, the things they needed. And I think that is a challenge for us in the West.”

Over the years, Richard has volunteered with various organisations and ministries involved in welcoming strangers to Northern Ireland, helping them settle and learn English. These are immigrants, who are sometimes met with suspicion, disdain and hostility. In Malawi, he explains, he, a stranger, was welcomed, and accepted, and loved.

The tea in the pot is no longer warm. Richard has things to do and I am aware of it. I start to pack up my recorder, notebook and pens. But Richard is reflecting on the celebrations for 400 years of Templepatrick Presbyterian Church, and how those 16 generations of God’s people must have faced many crises, many challenges, and seen many blessings, just as we do now.

So I ask him how he will pastor 500 congregations across Ireland who are looking for hope and leadership in difficult times.

“If we grasp just who God is, and the extent of his love for us and what he has done for us, I think that changes who we are,” says Richard.

“He’s in the midst of this, whether it is in the good things that are happening as they are here and in many congregations across the land. But also with those people who are hurting and grieving because things have not happened the way they should have done.

“We are valued, we are precious, and he has called us to himself into something much bigger than we are. And that’s exciting, you know, and I believe that with all my heart.”