The following statement was issued today by the Free Presbyterian Church in Ballymoney in response to a protest mounted by members of the Burke family against Mr Mervyn Storey, an elder in the Ballymoney Church.
The protest was about the hypocrisy of Mr Storey occupying the chair of the Board of the Education Authority (EA), which is charged with administering advice to pupils entitled ‘Guidance for Schools on Supporting Transgender Young People’. The ‘guidance’, we are told in the document is issued to, ‘represent emerging good practice regarding the support of transgender young people and should be considered carefully.’
It basically entails an endorsement of the perversion of today and encourages support for any pupils that desire to embrace them!
Mervyn Storey was appointed by his friend, Education Minister Paul Givan, with effect from 1 January 2025.
The following statement from Hebron Session has much to say about the manner of the Burke protest and I am sure there will be those who share, at least to some measure, misgivings about what happened during the protest.
However, there seems to a losing sight of the hypocrisy of Mr Storey, one of the members of the Session which issued the statement. He is neither defended nor criticised. There is total silence regarding him!
As I have highlighted again in my article :—
‘Mervyn Storey challenged – why no answer?’
This is not the first time that Mr Storey has acted in a fashion contrary to his ordination oath as an elder.
Why has the Session of Hebron church made no mention of the wrong-doing of Mervyn Storey?
Silence and smoke-screens are not part of a faithful Christian witness.
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
8th August 2025
Statement from the Session of Hebron Free Presbyterian Church
8 August 2025
On Sunday night 3rd August 2025 our congregation in Hebron Free Presbyterian Church, Ballymoney, suffered an unseemly attack by some members of the Burke family from Co. Mayo. They entered our church property not to worship but create havoc, filmed without permission, and engaged in shouting and heckling, harassing those who had gathered to worship God. After a blessed day of Christian fellowship and gospel preaching, such behaviour on the part of the Burke’s was totally out of order. Their reprehensible conduct caused great annoyance to the entire congregation, especially to young children and some elderly who had to be evacuated through a side door to avoid their confrontational conduct. Their acclaimed purpose? To call into question our church’s integrity regarding its stance on the issue of transgenderism. Therefore, lest anyone should not be aware of the Burke’s methodology in placing doubt where it doesn’t belong, the Kirk Session of Hebron Free Presbyterian Church reaffirms unanimously our belief and acceptance of the Bible’s teaching on moral values.
We are utterly opposed to transgenderism, especially its ideology being promoted in our schools and wider society. We believe that God created two genders from the beginning and that there are only two biological sexes – male and female. The Bible teaches that ‘God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it…’ (Genesis 1:27,28). Four thousand years later, Jesus substantiated this when He stated, ‘Have ye not read, that He that made them at the beginning made them male and female’ (Matthew 19:4). It could hardly be clearer from the creation account that God did not intend sexuality and gender to be fluid, being expressed in a continuum. Rather, the absolute position confirmed in Scripture is that there are two sexes, male and female, and the primary determiner of a person’s sex is physical. Ultimately, transgenderism seeks to completely destroy the distinction between men and women that God in His wisdom has created. We commend those fellow-believers who take a stand for Biblical truth within their employment where this transgender ideology is promoted. As Christians we are to speak the truth in love, applying biblical principles without compromise but with compassion (Ephesians 4:15); ultimately pointing others to life changing repentance and faith in Christ.
The above statement clarifies our view on the sinful trends and practices by the LGBTQ community and their organisations. We pray for all men and women, irrespective of their particular sins in the sight of God, that they might be brought to true repentance and faith in Christ and find mercy and grace in His sight.
As a Bible-believing Church which has preached Christ in all His fulness since its inception, we find it deeply offensive and reprehensible, that Mrs. Burke would stand outside our premises and point to the church building and shout, ‘This is the gates of Hell.’ This woman claims to be a Christian, but her slanderous behaviour on Sunday evening does not bear any resemblance to Christ or to a genuine possession of the fruit of the Spirit.
We would like to express our sincere thanks and appreciation to all who have contacted us to express their support of our Church and their absolute disgust at this vicious, angry and aggressive attack on God’s people. It is our prayer that Mrs Burke and her family members might find a path to repentance from the conduct they exhibited on the Lord’s Day.
Signed by:
The Kirk Session of Hebron Free Presbyterian Church