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A NEW year brings fresh promise of hope and in the secular world, a quest for new beginnings and resolutions.

What will 2017 hold for the Church of Scotland, both locally and centrally? In this year which marks the 500th anniversary of the Reformation – the transformative time which started when Martin Luther pinned his 95 theses to a church door in Wittenberg, thus sowing the seeds for the Scottish Reformation – what lessons are there for our Church today?

The Reformation offered a new view of Christianity and broke the traditions that had grown around 1500 years of faith. It rippled out across Europe, transforming, revolutionising and fragmenting – challenging long-held principles and beliefs.

It was a shocking, turbulent and occasionally violent time. Yet it marked the birth of a different Christian path, one which would take root in Scotland less than half a century later.

Today, the Church of Scotland stands on the brink of some seemingly insurmountable challenges: an ageing and declining membership, declining offerings, not enough ministers to fill existing vacancies – as a large number of existing ministers head towards retirement – and too many buildings, sitting alongside the 21st century challenges of secularism and the communications revolution that has transformed the way we live, work and talk to each other.

Roadshows staged by the Council of Assembly across the length and breadth of the land are seeking to discern the views of the grass roots of the Church as plans are laid for the future.

The Reformation offered a new view of Christianity and broke the traditions that had grown around 1500 years of faith.

Perhaps inspiration for the change and reform that needs to take place can be drawn from that first Reformation in Germany half a millennia ago in discerning the path that lies ahead.

It is clear that the Church cannot continue in its present form: hard questions have to be answered about territorial ministry and whether a minister of Word and Sacrament can be committed to every existing congregation.

Tough questions also have to be considered over church buildings and the cost of maintaining some that are no longer fit for purpose.

Questions over recruitment to the ministry have, to some extent, already been addressed, but the commitment to this area has to continue to sustain the ministry at the heart of our church life.

However, like those early reformers who risked everything to create our Church we have to listen carefully for the quiet voice of the Spirit and ignore unnecessary distractions to consider how the Church might look in 20, 50 or 100 years’ time and plan and prepare accordingly – and bear in mind that the Church should not be shaped to suit the will of the people, but rather that of the call of God.

Editor