Ron Johnstone - Moderator Election

Moderator Election

In September 2007, the Presbytery of the Free Presbyterian Church met for the annual elections for a moderator, in which Ian Paisley had won every year since the church's founding, bar one. After a stormy meeting, Paisley decided to step down in January 2008. Paisley said that the church was 'facing a real crisis', due to his role as First Minister in a power-sharing executive with the republican Sinn Féin party, which prompted his decision to step down. On 18 January 2008, at Dungannon Free Presbyterian Church, Johnstone was unanimously elected as the new moderator, thus ending Paisley's tenure. The former moderator was in good spirits, as he introduced his successor to the press. As Johnstone left the press hastily, he said, when questioned by a reporter, "It was a united meeting, decisions were unanimous". Johnstone paid tribute to Paisley and reiterated the church's stance against Ecumenism, the Roman Catholic Church and the Charismatic Movement.