General Assembly 2019

COUNCIL OF ASSEMBLY / RADICAL ACTION PLAN

The centrepiece of the Council of Assembly’s report is of course the Radical Action Plan for reform of the Church, as instructed by last year’s General Assembly.

The plan (which can be seen in full on the Church website, along with all the reports to the Assembly) envisages reforms at national, presbytery and parish level, a major investment in ‘new ways of doing church’, collaborative working with other churches and organisations, improved training and support for all leadership roles in the Church and a particular focus on engaging with people aged under 40.

The first of 16 tasks is the establishment of a growth fund of £20-25m, to be spent from 2020-2026 on ‘initiatives to develop mission through new ecclesial communities and church planting’. It is, says the report, ‘about supporting the whole Church… to do the new things which we believe God is calling us to’. The money is to be spent in all areas where the church is active, and will be focused on engaging with young people, on building on the Church’s work addressing loneliness, poverty and injustice at local levels, and on encouraging people to develop and exercise their ministries.

The second task is wholesale reform of the regional structure, which is to see the present 45 presbyteries reduced to around 12 ‘units’ (either united presbyteries or presbyteries closely co-operating) by 2025.

At local level, the plan envisages ‘new forms of church structures’, to include Presbytery Mission Initiatives and Hub-Style ministries. This, it says, will allow the church to keep a presence and exercise mission in communities even where numbers are very low, but releasing such congregations from the traditional requirements of church and civil law, which might otherwise make it impossible for them to continue. The same structures could also be used for fresh expressions.

Also locally, the size and responsibilities of Kirk Sessions is to be reviewed, with the aim of reducing the size of sessions and enabling shorter terms of active service for elders; and new ways to support congregations in long-term vacancies are to be developed. Another task is to offer support at a regional and local level to congregations on buildings, safeguarding, accountancy, employment and partnership work.

In terms of the national structure, the report notes that this is largely in the remit of the Special Commission on Structural Reform (see opposite) but it commits to ‘refocus(ing) the national staff team to focus on equipping and supporting local churches’.

The focus on the under-40s is to be achieved through learning from those churches that are successful with young people and families, both in Scotland and worldwide; the creation of a group supporting more contemporary forms of worship; exploring new forms of ministry focusing on children and young people; prioritising funding for ‘training, mentoring and peer group development’ and investing in digital strategies and the use of social media.

The call for more partnership working with other churches and organisations recognises that the Church is struggling to find the resources to fulfil its commitment to a territorial ministry throughout Scotland:

“By working effectively with others we maximise resources, create significant opportunities for encounter and witness, and increase the number of individuals and organisations within wider society who support and are invested in the work of the Church.”

There are also proposals for a new platform for easier access to Church resources; for flexible education, training and support programmes for everyone in any ministerial or other leadership role; for reforms to the system of Ministries and Mission contributions and the current vacancy allowance; and for support of the General Trustees’ ‘Well-equipped spaces in the right places’ initiative (see below) to tackle the Church’s buildings issues.

Finally the Council calls for all national Councils and Committees to focus their activities on implementing the plan in the second half of 2019, and for a ‘season of prayer and preparation’ across the church from September-December. “The Action Plan should be thought of, first and foremost, as an act of faith”, it says.

Away from the Plan, the Council reports that it is still unable to bring a proposal on the future of the National Offices; and asks that the General Assembly ‘set aside this matter for the time being’ while the implications of the Action Plan and Fergusson Commission are considered. A further report is to come to the 2020 General Assembly. £500,000 has been allocated for urgent work on the offices this year.

The plan envisages reforms at national, presbytery and parish level, a major investment in ‘new ways of doing church’, collaborative working with other churches and organisations, improved training and support for all leadership roles in the Church and a particular focus on engaging with people aged under 40.

On finance, the Council warns that there has again been a reduction in offerings, as well as a drop in income from legacies last year. This year, the amount required from congregations was increased by over £500,000, while Councils and Committees were asked to achieve budget savings of about the same. Councils, committees and support services operated at close to budget, but that was a deficit budget of over £4m.

The Council states that it has again approved deficit budgets for 2019, but says that ‘this position is not sustainable beyond the short term’. Proposed budgets for 2020 will, as usual, be presented in a supplementary report, so were not available at the time of writing.

SPECIAL COMMISSION ON STRUCTURAL REFORM

This report was published as Life and Work went to press. It proposes:

• A new trustee body to replace the Council of Assembly

• Administrative costs within the central organisation to be reduced by 20-30%

• A reduction in the number of Councils: the Commission suggests merging Ministries with Mission and Discipleship into an ‘inward facing’ body, and World Mission and Church and Society into an ‘outward facing’ one

• The Social Care Council (CrossReach) to become an ‘arm’s-length’ organisation

The full report is available in the General Assembly Order of Proceedings on the Church of Scotland website.

GENERAL TRUSTEES

The ‘Well equipped spaces in the right places’ report takes the form of a consultation paper seeking the views of the Church, which will enable an Asset Plan to be drawn up and recommendations to be made next year. Presbyteries and congregations are encouraged to engage with the process.

The paper states that the General Trustees believe ‘many good things are happening’, and that ‘the opportunity is there to build on the good things’ but that ‘the current way of managing and developing the congregational estate no longer meets the needs of much of the Church’.

It estimates that around half of Church of Scotland congregations have ‘neither skills nor resources’ to properly manage their land and buildings, while ‘many Presbyteries are also finding it difficult to exercise their responsibilities in relation to planning of buildings and supervision’.

The paper says ‘the evidence points to the need for a reduction in the number of buildings, a continuing improvement in the quality of the Church’s congregational buildings and changes in the management model reflecting the skills available to congregations and presbyteries’.

Among its suggestions are to develop formal definitions of what constitutes ‘a well-equipped space’ and ‘in the right place’; a new system regulating inspection, reporting and maintenance; for Presbytery Plans to include presbytery-wide priorities for investment based on the overall mission plan; for presbyteries or groups of presbyteries to employ professional building officers; for measures to support congregations struggling with day-to-day fabric management; and for the General Trustees to take over management of redundant buildings until they are sold.

It also proposes that there should be more sharing of resources between congregations, and that sharing of space with other denominations should be encouraged.

One thing that is already happening is the development of a web-based database supporting Presbyteries and congregations in their administration of buildings and glebes.

CHURCH AND SOCIETY COUNCIL

A typically diverse Church and Society report includes a 35-section deliverance split across its seven key areas of work, as well as gender justice and violence against women, girls and children, which the Council of Assembly identified as a significant issue for the church in 2018.

On the economy, the Council reports on work on funeral poverty, welfare reform and ethical investment. The General Assembly is asked to welcome the devolution of social security benefits to the Scottish Government and to urge the UK Government to withdraw the ‘two child policy’ for benefits. The Council has expressed concern that the Scottish Government has not engaged with faith groups in drawing up guidance on funeral costs.

Under Caring for Creation, the deliverance notes ‘with concern that progress towards implementing the Paris climate agreement is falling far short of expectations’ and calls upon governments to ‘make the rapid transition to a low carbon economy a priority’. All congregations are urged to become eco-congregations.

On politics, the Council is instructed ‘to continue to facilitate informed public conversation about our future relationship with Europe’ and the Assembly to ‘recognise that good local decision making requires the people who will be affected by a decision to be involved in making it’.

The Building Global Friendships section welcomes the creation of the New Scots Integration Project and partnerships aimed at raising awareness of refugees; and urges politicians, commentators and people on social media to ‘choose words which build up respect and promote human dignity’.

Under health and wellbeing, the Society, Religion and Technology Project’s work around the ethical implications of genome testing and personalised medicine is encouraged. The role of congregations in supporting people ‘in spirit mind and body’ is celebrated. Along with work done by churches tackling ‘the growing demographic’ of people suffering chronic loneliness.

Isolation and loneliness is also covered in the local communities section, which welcomes publication of the Scottish Government’s strategy for tackling the issue. Congregations and church members are encouraged to take part in opportunities to improve community connectedness.

The Investing in Young People section welcomes a Scottish Government commitment to a new income supplement for low income families, and calls on the Government to considering topping up child benefit, which it says would immediately lift thousands of children out of poverty. It also calls on the Scottish Government to amend the law to match a UN recommendation that the minimum age of criminal responsibility should be 14.

The deliverance also welcomes the progress made in year one of the Church’s Gender Justice Initiative, and commends resources produced by the Violence Against Women Task Group.

WORLD MISSION COUNCIL

The World Mission report groups the work of the Council into three interconnected elements – presence, proclamation and practical action.

Examples of ‘presence’ facilitated by the Council include the sending out of people from Scotland to overseas partners and welcoming guests to Scotland. The latter includes providing accommodation for students from partner churches to study in Scotland; the former sending delegates to mission camps in Taiwan and the Czech Republic, as well as hosting a day of preparation for members of congregations planning twinning visits.

The section on ‘proclamation’ includes working with churches and other partner organisations to support Christians facing persecution in Pakistan, self-help groups for Dalit women in North India, a WCC forum working for peace on the Korean Peninsula and earthquake victims in Nepal.

And ‘practical action’ includes the Church of Scotland HIV Programme (with a mention for the Heart and Soul Swing Band, which has raised over £25,000 in six years); supporting the Thursdays in Black campaign highlighting the issue of violence against women; working with the Guild on a project helping teenage mothers in Zambia; and sending mission partners to support the Church and Society Programme of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian.

The deliverance also calls on the church to give thanks for the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon ‘through its accompaniment of Christians and Muslims alike’, marks the 50th anniversary of the World Mission Stamp Appeal, and encourages the church to continue to pray for peace and justice initiatives in South Sudan.

The attention of vacant congregations is called to the opportunity for congregations in Scotland to invite pastors from the Evangelical Church of the Czech Brethren to be their minister for a year or two.

COMMITTEE ON CHAPLAINS TO HM FORCES

The Chaplains’ report includes the customary appeals to eligible ministers to consider service as a Chaplain to the Forces, either regular or reserve. There is also, following debate last year, recognition of chaplains to the Cadet services. The Committee ‘heartily commends chaplaincy in all the Cadet organisations as a wonderful opportunity for mission to young people’.

The report also references the ongoing issue of the Registration of Ministries Act as it applies to Forces Chaplains (who had complained about having to apply and go through training before being designated Category O, and therefore eligible for parish ministry). The committee says that a change in the process of applying for a change of status ‘should help to demonstrate consistency of process amongst Forces Chaplains, and between Chaplains and other applicants’; and commits to keeping chaplains as up-to-date as possible on the information and training needed for Category O status.

The committee concludes: ‘While many Chaplains remain unhappy that that the Registration of Ministries process applies to them, they have committed themselves to making the very best of the situation’. Following last year’s adoption of the Armed Forces Covenant, the committee reports that most Presbyteries have appointed an Armed Forces Champion. Where they had struggled to identify a suitable person, the committee is working to suggest someone.

SAFEGUARDING COMMITTEE

The Safeguarding Committee calls for instructions to Presbyteries and Kirk Sessions to ensure that Locums should be registered to the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Scheme before they start work in congregations. This also applies to Interim Moderators, as the Locums’ line managers. Sessions are also instructed to conduct Basic Disclosure Checks on organists, church officers, caretakers, café workers and any other employees in leadership roles or positions of trust.

At central church level, the Committee asks for instructions to negotiate memoranda of understanding with various councils and departments, and the deliverance also instructs Councils to have clear safeguarding protocols in place for overseas projects.

CHURCH OF SCOTLAND GUILD

The Guild last year changed the structure of the national organisation, away from having standing committees, to small groups being established to complete specific tasks. This is to result in ‘a National Council that is familiar with the whole agenda and has the chance to work on broad policy and strategy rather than being caught up in… small details’.

They have also changed the names of the regional structures from ‘Presbyterial Councils’ to ‘Guilds Together’ groupings. The report states ‘The Guild is under no illusion that name changes will solve our problems, but they do offer us a chance to refresh our conception of what these groups are about’.

It also reports on the success of the Big Sing events and the Annual Gathering, as well as other events such as the Resource Co-ordinators’ Conference and Roadshow events. Looking Ahead, the Guild announces plans to strengthen its connections with Malawi though twinning relationships with the Presbytery Guilds there.

Guild Week is to move to September this year, to be launched at the Annual Gathering on September 7.

ECUMENICAL RELATIONS COMMITTEE

The Ecumenical Relations report explores how to translate the Ecumenical Policy of the Church of Scotland, agreed last year, into ‘a meaningful and effective strategy’ for ecumenism at local, national and international levels.

The Assembly is asked to approve a seven-point Local Ecumenical Strategy, with the Committee committing to engaging with presbyteries, sharing initiatives and resources and establishing and deepening links with Churches Together groups.

At national level, the Committee reports that Action of Churches Together in Scotland is to be succeeded by a new body, the Scottish Christian Forum. A Transition Group has been established and the process should be complete by the end of this year.

The report notes that the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland last year decided to no longer issue invitations to the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, or to accept invitations to the Church of Scotland gathering. However, the Committee notes that collaboration between the two churches is ongoing in various areas, including in Armed Forces Chaplaincy, and World Mission; and Committee representatives have met with representatives of the Irish church to discuss complementary working ‘where this was thought to be mutually beneficial.’

Engagement with the Scottish Episcopal Church has deepened ‘markedly’ through the Our Common Calling working group; and the latest biennial consultation with the Church of England took place last year on the theme ‘The Future Shape of Mission’.

Full Assembly reports are available on the Church of Scotland website at www.churchofscotland.org.uk