’One journey, many roads’

FEATURE

FEATURE

THE Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has made a powerful plea for an understanding world ‘where people are more tolerant of each other’.

Speaking at the annual Gathering of the Church of Scotland Guild in Dundee in September, the Rt Rev Susan Brown said: “I want this world to be a more understanding one, one where people are more tolerant of each other.”

Mrs Brown paid tribute to the Guild for its role in tackling isolation and loneliness.

“What every single Guild through the length and breadth of this land does and does well is bring people together to make connections. Keep making this happen.

Keep playing your part because it is an important part in breaking down isolation and loneliness.”

Earlier the Moderator had spoken of her personal call to faith and the ministry of the national church.

“It has not always been an easy journey, but it is one where every step of the way I was doing what God wanted me to do. I didn’t always get it right, but I felt God was with me, ushering me along.”

She spoke of the impact of individual people who were welcoming to young people and emphasised the importance of their actions. “Small actions make a difference,” she said.

Mrs Brown, the first woman minister in the Church of Scotland in the Highlands, described how she first felt a call to ministry in her teens.

“It didn’t actually occur to me that I had never met a minister who was female.

It never entered my thoughts. I simply knew God was calling me.”

For the first time Guild members at the Gathering celebrated an Agape communion, led by Mrs Brown who said: “This is not a communion but an Agape – a love feast.”

The Moderator was presented with a scarf in the Guild tartan by this year’s National Convener, Patricia Robertson.

Earlier, outgoing National Convener Marge Paterson said it had been a ‘great honour for me to serve the Guild’ as she was presented with her past Conveners’ badge by Mrs Robertson.

Some 2000 Guild members gathered at the Caird Hall in Dundee for the Gathering, joined by 800 further members at 32 locations watching live.

During the day, it was revealed the Guild had raised more than £750,000 for its six partner projects over its last three year partnership strategy.

For 2015-18, the home-based projects were: Ascension Trust Scotland and the Street Pastors Care for the Family’s Let’s Stick Together programme; All Friends Together and the work of Prospects, which supports churches in sharing fellowship with people with learning disabilities. The overseas projects were Christian Aid’s work helping people in Bolivia cope with the consequences of climate change; Mission International’s Haiti Project, building a school, community centre and church in the city of Ouanaminthe; and Feed the Minds’ work in trying to stop the practice of female genital mutilation.

It didn’t actually occur to me that I had never met a minister who was female. It never entered my thoughts. I simply knew God was calling me.

Since 1969, the Guild has raised around £6.75m for its project partners.

The six projects adopted by the Guild over the next three years with a themed strategy of ‘One Journey, Many Roads’ are: the Boys’ Brigade Scotland, the Church of Scotland’s World Mission Council, the church’s social care arm CrossReach, the Free to Live Trust, the Sailors’ Society and Malawi Fruits. They were introduced to the Gathering by representatives of each project.

The projects featured in the September and October issues of Life and Work.

In the afternoon, the Gathering also heard from Tamsin Dingwall, the Moderator of the National Youth Assembly (which is an honorary member of the Guild) who movingly described her journey to faith – and of her shock and surprise at being nominated as NYA Moderator.

She highlighted how she had only attended NYA for the first time in 2017 and been elected as Moderator in 2018.

“It (the NYA) is the most welcoming space you will ever go to,” she said.

Tamsin, who only attended church for the first time at the age of 21, added: “It is an amazing fellowship with people your own age.”

Musical accompaniment for the day was provided by Roger Clegg, organist at Old Parish Church, Kirriemuir and a short musical interlude in the afternoon featured the singing of a Zambian deaconess at the forefront of one of the Guild’s new partner projects to help young unmarried mothers and their children.

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

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