From The Editor

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NEARLY every Friday on our website www.lifeandwork.org we have a feature which we have named ‘Looking Back’. We dip into the vast Life and Work archive and find articles and news from yesteryear that we believe may be of interest to our readers.

We are blessed to have every single copy of Life and Work stretching over 139 years to January 1879 when the magazine was launched by our founder Professor (later the Very Rev) Archibald Charteris.

Whilst much has changed in nearly a century and half – particularly the technology used to produce the magazine, language and design – it is remarkable how much has stayed the same.

Our registers and news pages were as much a part of the first issue as they are today.

But the themes that concerned the hearts and minds of yesteryear continue to be broadly similar in some of the debates taking place today.

Falling numbers, concern about young people not being present in the pews and the closure and opening of buildings are regular themes.

There are also regular missions to those deemed to be most in need according to each generation.

Whilst we are living today in an era of unprecedented change and huge challenge, it is fascinating that some (but not all) of the problems that we face are eternal. This year, celebrates the Year of Young People (aged from eight to 26). It is a Scottish Government initiative which the Church of Scotland has been proud to support. Whilst celebrating the gifts and contributions of the youthful voices within our churches, church halls and mission outreach work, it also of ers a renewed focus onto the Church’s relationship with its young people.

Children in particular can be appreciated and welcomed for their gifts and be made to feel an integral and whole part of the Church family.

With an estimated 20 per cent of churches reporting that they have no youngsters in the pews every week – in crèche, Sunday School (or equivalent) and Youth Groups, it again raises important questions on how children in particular can be appreciated and welcomed for their gifts and be made to feel an integral and whole part of the Church family. I’m not suggesting that churches radically overhaul their services simply for the benefit of young people or cease outreach work which specfically targets youngsters in a community, but rather to consider initatives which can involve young, old and middle aged working together towards a common goal.

If there could be a single legacy of the Year of Young People (and of this season of Easter of renewed hope), it would be a vision of a Church seeking to be more inclusive, bridging generations from young to old in finding a way forward for all to come together (on occasion) and celebrate life in all its fullness through a mutual love of God through the teaching of Jesus.

Lynne McNeil Editor

This article appears in the April 2018 Issue of Life and Work

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