Man with a mission

“MY first encounter with ‘something more’ was through nature. My Dad and I would look at the night sky together, and I became amazed by the beauty and wonder of the world. That sense of wonder and awe continued to grow, as did my desire to learn more about the one I felt was behind it all.

“Later, my family and I would visit churches when on holiday abroad. In the quiet, dark, and empty space of the church sanctuary, I felt the same sense of awe, and knew that – in spite of the unpopularity of faith – I would rather be wrong with God than right with the world.”

The Rev Dr Liam Fraser is remembering the first time he was aware of a presence, a ‘something bigger’ than himself. Liam, an academic, an author and a pioneer minister, remembers that sense of wonder he felt as a child. He is married to Samantha, and the couple have two boys named Theo (4) and Sebastian (2). Samantha and Liam met at New College, where both studied divinity. They were married in 2012 at Greyfriars Kirk, and now live in the west of Edinburgh. Liam is keen that his ministry reaches those outside the traditional church model.

“I was raised in the Church of Scotland at Mayfield Salisbury Parish Church in Edinburgh, under the ministry of the much-loved Very Rev Dr Bill McDonald. While I remember Bill as a kindly figure, and was not unhappy in Church, I have no memory of ever feeling spiritual while I was there.

“My main memory of Sunday School– where my mother was the Head Sunday School Teacher – was of PVC glue, craft, and the thick smell of dust on the floor of the hall where we would sit cross-legged. When I was old enough to express an opinion on the matter, I – like the other 100+ children in the Sunday School – chose to stop going to church, and instead enjoyed Sunday mornings in bed.

“I was not a Christian at this point, however. My first real awareness of God’s grace was during a car journey along Clerk Street at the age of fourteen. All of a sudden, for reasons unknown, I remembered something my mother had told me about Joe Ritchie, Assistant Minister at Mayfield Salisbury.

“Joe, along with his wife Frances, had been a good friend to our family, and Joe had once told her that his only wish for me was that I would grow up to be a good man. As we crossed Bernard Terrace and moved into South Clerk Street, I knew that I was not good, and that God wanted so much more for me.

“From this point on, I began to gain a greater conception of the goodness of God, and the beauty of Christ. Previously the Bible meant nothing to me, but now the Gospels and Epistles took on a new force and vitality. The words of Christ, and the theology of Paul, began to speak as if they had been personally addressed to me, and from that point on I knew I could do nothing else but follow Him.”

The call had been heard, but in the way of these things, life had a tendency to put obstacles in the way. Practical obstacles, like making a living.

“After secondary school at George Watson’s College in Edinburgh I stumbled into law, as it is one of the careers that clever, respectable middle-class people are meant to do. Given how poor a reason that is for studying something, however, it is little surprise that I deeply disliked my first two years of it. Things got better during third and fourth year, however, when I got the opportunity to study philosophy of law and constitutional law, and take the improbablynamed ‘Law and Love’ class of my teacher Zenon Bankowski.

“Zenon’s class made a big impression on me, and his observation that apparent opponents can share the same attitude and underlying beliefs helped inform the method that I would later use in my first book.

“After coming to faith, however, I knew I had to study theology, and so I went on to study divinity at New College, Edinburgh. I completed my Bachelor of Divinity and my Masters there, before being accepted into training for the ministry, during which I wrote my PhD.

“My PhD was the substance of my first book, called Atheism, Fundamentalism, and the Protestant Reformation (Cambridge University Press, 2018) and before it was even released had provoked a response from some in the new atheist community, who, shall we say, were not very impressed! Yet the way they failed to be impressed was important, as their rejection of the idea that Christianity was compatible with science and reason was premised on the very issue that the book addressed – that, for new atheists, moderate or liberal forms of Christianity are not true Christianity, and that the only legitimate kind of faith is fundamentalist in nature. As such, I haven’t minded dodging their spears, as it rather confirms my thesis!

“On a happier note, I have now had a number of dialogues with student and adult members of the Humanist Society of Scotland, and have been surprised by many of their responses. There is a general feeling that prominent atheists such as Richard Dawkins have overstepped the mark, and that it is possible for the religious and the non-religious to discuss matters of faith in a civilised way.”

It is this spirit of ‘reaching out to others’ that has led Liam into his first ministry proper, as a pioneer minister at the university where he studied.

“The Church of Scotland, recognising its decreasing ability to reach the people of Scotland with the Gospel, has experimented over the last few decades with a number of new forms of ministry. One of these is pioneer ministry. There are currently six pioneer ministers employed centrally by the Church, as well as a larger number of Church of Scotland members, elders, and ministers employed by Presbyteries and congregations in pioneering roles. I am employed by the Presbytery of Edinburgh, and currently serve as Church of Scotland Campus Minister at the University of Edinburgh.

At Edinburgh, I have been engaged in just about every conceivable type of mission and outreach! We started off with our community gardening project Holyrood Harvest.

“At Edinburgh, I have been engaged in just about every conceivable type of mission and outreach! We started off with our community gardening project Holyrood Harvest. We begin the day with prayer, before students and locals work reclaimed waste ground in Dumbiedykes council estate and make it bloom. We have also run community meals, as well as setting up new forms of worship. One of the highlights for me has also been our engagement with the Humanist Society. We’ve held a number of debates and events with them, and have – I think – communicated to them something of the rationality and goodness of the Christian faith.

“Pioneer ministers currently working in the Church of Scotland have a variety of views about what pioneer ministry is. The common definition used in England, the Netherlands and the United States, however, is that a pioneer minister is someone who creates a new worshipping community. Because this new community is diff erent from existing forms of church, pioneer ministry will often take the form of a ‘fresh expression’ of church, which means that it experiments with new ways of worship and how to be a church community that make sense to 21st century people.

“That said, most pioneer projects in Scotland are not, I would say, fresh expressions. They are usually church plants, where a large ‘sending’ church attempts to plant a new church with a team of its members. The worship in the new church is usually a little diff erent from the sending church, and may be more tailored toward non-Christians, but it is usually not that diff erent.

“There is now a general consensus amongst theologians and church leaders that mission is never just the mission of the Church but the mission of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is God who is principally at work, and it is the Church’s role to discern his will, and to partner with him in reaching the lost and the broken of Scotland.

“What God wills to do in Scotland is to usher in a new creation, seen first in the life, death and – most importantly – resurrection of Jesus Christ. He wants heaven to break upon the earth. Through its ministry and outreach the Church witnesses to what God is doing in it and the world, and becomes an instrument in his hand.

“None of that happens, however, without discipleship. Discipleship is seeing ourselves not just as members of a congregation but as members of the Body of Christ, and as followers of Jesus. That means prayer, Bible study, and close, supportive relationships within the Church. That is because we cannot be Jesus’ followers without communicating with him, learning his will, and living it out in our dealings with others! If a Church is healthy, and has a good proportion of folk attempting to be disciples of Christ, mission will naturally follow, and will stand the best chance of witnessing to the Kingdom.

What God wills to do in Scotland is to usher in a new creation, seen first in the life, death and – most importantly – resurrection of Jesus Christ. He wants heaven to break upon the earth.

“The challenge for the Church of Scotland in particular is to remember that it is an agent of the Kingdom, and does not serve itself. If our mission is only about propping up a failing religious institution then we will fail, and deservedly so.”

Mission is the focus of Liam’s second book, currently in the pipeline.

“In the book I am now writing for Saint Andrew Press – Mission in Contemporary Scotland – I look at the theory, context, and practice of mission in today’s Scotland. The Church of Scotland plays an important role in this story, as its various successes and failures are crucial for understanding both the contemporary Scottish church scene and the secular nature of most of Scottish society.

“Of central importance to the weaker position of the Church of Scotland as compared to the Church of England is the eff ects of the Free Church Disruption in secularising key public institutions, the Kirk’s historic over-identification with Scottish culture, and the balance it has struck between uniformity and diversity.

New forms of ministry and mission such as pioneer ministry, church plants, fresh expressions, hub ministry, and so on are thus essential for increasing the diversity of ministry and mission within the Kirk, and making it possible to experiment with new forms of worship.

“The Kirk possesses the forms of diversity that make organisations weak and directionless – diversity of doctrine, diversity of goals – coupled with the kind of uniformity – principally in terms of worship and ministry – that mean it cannot respond quickly to changes in society. The Church of England possesses a much more diverse eco-system of worship styles and forms of ministry with a strong lay element, which mean that as one form of church culture declines, other forms of church culture – currently charismatic – can expand and fill the void.

“With less of the good form of diversity, the Kirk has struggled to keep up, while its doctrinal diversity has not only led to some of its more energetic and creative members leaving but has made co-operation with the growing evangelical and charismatic sectors very difficult, precisely at the time we need to learn from their experience.

“New forms of ministry and mission such as pioneer ministry, church plants, fresh expressions, hub ministry, and so on are thus essential for increasing the diversity of ministry and mission within the Kirk, and making it possible to experiment with new forms of worship.

“Crucial to this, however, will be the identification and training of church members and elders. The days of the ‘Scottish ideal’ of one person in each parish doing almost all ministry and mission is gone. The only hope we have is to multiply the number of leaders and centres of initiative and agency within our church, and to encourage them to be and do Church in new ways.

“England has a number of bodies carrying out research into the contemporary Church, and the opportunities and challenges for mission in English society. Currently, however, there are no equivalent bodies for Scotland, with the result that, much of the time, we are doing ministry and mission in the dark. My colleagues and I want to change this, and move beyond anecdote and assumption to robust evidence.

“By gaining a clearer picture of contemporary Scottish society in areas such as spirituality and openness to the Gospel, and a better grasp of what forms of mission work and which do not, we hope to provide guidance for policy makers that will help with the allocation of resources, and can be fed into training for Church members, elders, and those in the recognised ministries.” 