IN this article I want to suggest how presbyteries and local congregations could re-envision their relationship and begin a much needed process to make Presbyterianism relevant and sustainable for the 21st century.

As a Church perhaps we need to embrace the use of technology to help us develop and nurture our existing worshipping communities and to also discover how it can be used help create and establish new communities of faith. Understanding networked digital technology may help provide the key to new growth and nurture.

Presbyteries have the potential to inspire and generate a new relationship with congregations at a time when many are feeling vulnerable and unsure of the future. No great national plan needs to be devised, or agreed, just a change of mindset among our decision makers and a willingness to experiment and become pioneers in our locality.

What could our presbyteries be doing that would re-energise the mission of the church? For a start, they can pool resources to enable worship and mission to be relevant, relational and local. If worship is our core business, presbyteries have the potential to create a critical mass for inspirational worship and ministry to be available to all.

The creation of a presbytery based live streaming worship portal on the web could be a useful tool for congregations, especially those seeking to refresh their worship style or those in vacancy. Having such a facility would create a variety of opportunities for co-ordinated mission among congregations.

The role of a presbytery requires to be adapted for the resourcing of the church in a proactive manner. The Church of Scotland already has a wealth of talent employed in various ministries in the parishes. We need to release their creative gifts for the benefit of all of our congregations. We can harness technology to allow resources and personnel to be used more widely across our denomination. Many of our ministers and church workers could be used to staff regional centres of excellence, or digital super-hubs, for training in a variety of areas including ministry and worship. This kind of infrastructure would undoubtedly help the local congregations flourish and grow because of the new improved ministry being developed and shared throughout the network of congregations.

During the recent roadshows promoted by the Council of Assembly there has been much talk about the potential of local hubstyle ministries A more radical suggestion in my mind is for presbyteries to turn themselves into hubs that drive the local congregations.

Kirk Sessions have more power to act in creative ways than they imagine. We do not need to break pastoral ties between ministers and congregations to set up structures whereby ministers are employed and deployed by presbyteries in different ways. All that is required is for local parties to voluntarily begin to work together and see where the pioneering needs to take place and begin to do it.

If we change the perception of presbytery to being more than a business meeting but to become a motivational centre for worship and Christian discipleship we have a form of Presbyterianism that has the potential to maximise all the personnel and resources in a region for the benefit of all the congregations.

Sanctuary First has been endorsed by Falkirk Presbytery to help develop these fresh perspectives. We'd like to invite other presbyteries to join with us to create the informal structures that will promote the idea of collaboration and interdependency as good practice.

The time has come to leave the old mindsets behind and begin to change perspectives and expectations by empowering the people of God to lead and to make an impact on our nation. Lets get networking.

This article forms part of a larger discussion that can be accessed on www.sanctuaryfirst.org.uk