Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland
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The Non-subscribers derive their name and their liberal and tolerant identity from early eighteenth century Presbyterian ministers refusing to subscribe, or sign, the Westminster Confession, a standard Reformed statement of faith, at their ordination, forming in 1725 their Presbytery of Antrim. A similar phenomenon led to the 1830 creation of the Remonstrant Synod of Ulster. The two bodies, with the Synod of Munster, created the Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church In Ireland (NSPCI) in 1910.
Non-subscribing Presbyterians keep close contact with the Unitarians and are sometimes identified as such, though they are distinct bodies. The ministers of the NSPCI, however, share a common roster with the ministers of the predominately British General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches (GAUFCC) and NSPCI students study at GAUFCC ministerial colleges.
Today, the denomination has thirty-two churches in Northern Ireland and two churches in the Republic of Ireland, with a total of about four thousand members. They are served by fewer than twenty ministers; both women and men serve as ministers. The NSCPI is a member of the Irish Council of Churches, the European Liberal Protestant Network and the International Association for Religious Freedom.