For somewhere around £11.9m the Presbyterian Church in Ireland could have the finest Conference Centre in the whole of the island! We could also have everything we need to comply with the legal regulations for disability access, a fine set of offices and the old assembly hall refurbished. The only problem is that we don't have a spare £11.9m to spare, not to mention the amount needed to fit out the offices!

This has caused a lot of discussion within the denomination and not without some pain. The questions surround the issue of "mission" and how we want to reach out to the community. The building cannot be the witness. There are those who think that we have too much love and devotion for our buildings and not enough for the people or even for the Lord. My own congregation is struggling with a severe lack of resources, both finance and people. Then there are other congregations, mostly in the suburbs, where there is no shortage of either. We are sitting on an inter-face within a community torn apart by the troubles and by the loyalist feuds. The community here has become very skeptical about the work of the churches because most of the Christians left whenever and however they could. This was due to the twin problems of the troubles and the government policy of refurbishing the old houses. In the 1970s the greater Shankill community had around 70,000 people but today that number has shrunk to around 15,000

When I told my son of the decision of the General Assembly his response was, "Oh well tough luck on the poor!", using his best sarcastic voice . Surely the day has come for us to realize that we neither have the number of people we used to have and , anyway, would we not rather follow the meekness of the Fisher of Men? During our worship times we have been drawn to the glory of the cross and to the meekness of the master so why do we decide to keep this symbol of triumph and spiritual imperialism?