EVANGELICAL PROTESTANT SOCIETY TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT 1 June 2022– 31 May 2023
Our work continued in 2022-23 on several fronts.
The EPS Council met on Saturday 26 November 2022 and on Saturday 4 March 2023 in Knock Evangelical Presbyterian Church, kindly granted. Several informal discussions took place between meetings.
At the meeting on 4 March, Mr Wallace Thompson’s consultancy contract was renewed on the basis of unchanged terms and conditions, for a further year, to run from 25 February 2023 to 24 February 2024. This arrangement has enabled him to continue to carry out vital administrative work for the Council on a remunerated basis.
Our quarterly magazine, the “Ulster Bulwark”, continued to be produced and edited by our Secretary, Mr Wallace Thompson. All our editions were designed and printed by Pepper Collective, a company based in Strabane. Targets for production were agreed with Pepper in advance, and all were met. The magazine was issued in early July (July-September 2022), early October (October-December 2022), early January (January-March 2023) and early April (April-June 2023). The magazine is A5 and has 20 pages.
Throughout the accounting period, new names were added to our mailing lists on a regular basis and an increasing number of people opted to receive the magazine by PDF.
Our Facebook page continued to expand and develop with many new followers being added. This has proved a very successful platform for us. Our website was also regularly updated.
We rely entirely on donations and gifts which are gratefully received throughout the year, and in April 2023 we held our Annual Thanksgiving Appeal.
We held our annual Reformation meeting in Martyrs’ Memorial Free Presbyterian Church, Belfast, on Friday 28 October 2022. The guest speaker was Rev Daniel Henderson, minister of Moneyslane Free Presbyterian Church. His subject was “Is Protestantism Relevant in the 21[st] Century?”
Mr Thompson spoke at a Reformation service in Belfast City Mission Hall in Ballybeen on Lord’s Day 30 October 2022.
As part of the Semper Reformata Podcasts series, Bob McEvoy chatted to Mr Thompson about issues such as the origins and mission of the EPS, Historical Christianity, Credal Statements, Cultural Protestantism in Northern Ireland, and Protestantism and the Loyal Orders. The podcast was first broadcast on 12 July 2022 and is available at https://tinyurl.com/4bjwyhju
Mr Thompson also participated in several radio debates on the issue of Sunday sport.
We continued to promote our book on the life and times of Rev Hugh Hanna of Belfast. Written by local author, David Browne, the book casts much light on social, political and religious issues in Ulster in the second half of the 19[th] century.
We are a small organisation but we feel that we have much to offer and we will continue to seek to meet our charitable purposes and mission as best we can in the days that lie ahead.
We would like to add members to our Council of Reference so, if you are interested or know of anyone who might be, please get in touch with us on epsbulwark@yahoo.com. We are particularly keen to recruit those who might be able to help with the preparation and publication of the Ulster Bulwark.
Wallace Thompson
On behalf of the Trustees of the Evangelical Protestant Society