On Friday 27th February a sizeable congregation, including a goodly contingent from the Northern Synod gathered in the City Temple, in the heart of London, to remember the life and ministry of the Revd Arthur Macarthur.
Arthur was the last General Secretary of the Presbyterian Church of England, joint first General Secretary of the United Reformed Church, first Clerk of the United Reformed Church Assembly and Moderator both of the URC and the Presbyterian Assemblies. He was one of the founding fathers of the United Reformed Church and his concern for Unity and Order, a lively concern which helped enormously in bringing the URC into being was emphasised again and again in that service.
But that was not the only theme, nor even perhaps the main one. Helped by the Revd George Hood of Alnwick, who attended Sunday school with him, we began with memories of Arthur as a boy and young man. We were reminded of the early deaths of his father and sister and of the sacrifices attached to the decision to seek ordination.
We remembered his pastorates in Alnwick, in New Barnet and in North Shields. We remembered also his final post-retirement pastorate in Marlow and the pastoral gifts he brought to these.
The Revd George Walker, one time minister in Gateshead and Clerk to the Presbytery of Newcastle, reminded us of Arthur’s championship of the ordination of women, the guidance he provided and the skill with which he argued the case in Presbytery and Assembly.
It then took three people to remind us of Arthur’s role in the wider church where he both literally and metaphorically got his hands his hands dirty. As a young man he got involved with the work of the Waldensian Church in Italy, labouring in the building of the Agape Centre in Prali, and when Church House was bombed in 1945 he was one of those who worked to rescue documents and records from the ruins. the Revd Eric Alan told us about the involvement with the Waldensians, the Revd Professor David Thompson, who holds the chair of modern Church History in Cambridge, told us of Arthur’s significance in the British Churches and the Revd Kenneth Greet, a former Secretary of the Methodist Church and former Chair of the World Council of Churches who had succeeded Arthur as Moderator of the Free Church Federal Council shared personal memories of his work.
The Service was led by the Moderator of Assembly, assisted by the current General Secretary and Clerk and lessons were read by several people representing aspects of Arthur’s life. Again and again those who spoke returned to the text from Genesis Chapter 6, “In those days there were giants in the land” Arthur loved and served the URC faithfully but he had a particular love for our small corner. He will be much missed.
James Breslin