5 mins
A new Moderator
‘THE CALL TO SERVE IS AS IT WAS’
SPEAKING from a near-deserted Assembly Hall, the new Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has reminded the Church that its call to serve is unchanging, even in the extraordinary circumstances of the Coronavirus Covid-19 epidemic.
The Rt Rev Dr Martin Fair added that, like the first disciples of Jesus, the Church finds itself in uncharted territory, but that Jesus ‘calls us to Him and sends us out for Him – asking only that we trust Him’.
This was the first time in over 300 years that a General Assembly of the Church of Scotland had not been held. Instead, Dr Fair was installed as Moderator at a socially-distanced ceremony in the Assembly Hall in Edinburgh.
During the ceremony, watched by thousands of people online, the Moderator’s ring and cross were placed in a box by the outgoing Moderator, the Very Rev Colin Sinclair, before Dr Fair was invited to take them. Only Dr Fair and Mr Sinclair, their wives Elaine and Ruth, Principal Clerk the Rev Dr George Whyte, Procurator Laura Dunlop QC, British Sign Language interpreter the Rev Rosie Addis and the technical crew were in the hall.
Dr Fair said: “Many folks have said to me, ‘We’re so sorry it’s worked out like this, in your year’. I appreciate the kindness – and yes there are disappointments. Then again, it’s ‘life’. It comes at you. Not all of it you’d choose. Sometimes it sucks.
“But let me say this; it sucks a whole lot more for… those who need to bear the humiliation of food banks and soup kitchens and those around the world for whom food banks and soup kitchens are but the stuff of dreams. And those who struggle with poor mental health. And those who live in fear of the raised fist because the pressure of confinement got too much.
“For some, this is much more than inconvenience and disrupted plans.
“So yes, much has changed, much is horribly uncertain, and yet much remains. Primarily, our Lord, who is the same yesterday, today and forever. The call to serve is as it was.”
Mr Sinclair, in his speech as outgoing Moderator, said it had been ‘a rich experience’ for himself and Mrs Sinclair, both in the parts of the year that went as planned and the Covid-19-disrupted last two months, in which their daily reflections through Facebook Live built up a sizeable online following. He said: “It was not the ending we expected and for which we had planned. However we are grateful to God that when one door shut another door opened.”
Installation of the new Moderator was streamed live online
Photographs by Andy O’Brien
John Williams working at the General Assembly
Dr Fair paid tribute to the work of Mr and Mrs Sinclair, saying: “Little did you know when you started last May how things were going to finish, and yet you never flinched. Instead you rose to the challenge of ministering to us and leading us in these recent days as if you’d been preparing for it your whole life. And who knows that in God’s providence, you hadn’t been?”
PRESBYTERY MERGERS AGREED
New Presbyteries of Fife, Aberdeen and Shetland, and Clyde are to be formed, after no objections were received to the proposals before the start of what would have been the General Assembly this year.
The proposals were in a list of measures deemed non-controversial, but too urgent to wait until 2021, that was sent to members of last year’s Commission of Assembly.
Other measures included the appointment of the Rev Dr Martin Fair as Moderator, agreeing a reduction in size of the Social Care Council, and appointments to various committees and forums.
If four requests for a discussion on any of the measures had been received, a debate would have been held by videoconferencing on the day of Dr Fair’s installation. As it was, only one request was received, on the Social Care Council section of the deliverance, so all the measures were formally agreed.
The newly-merged Presbytery of Aberdeen and Shetland, which was first announced more than 18 months ago, was due to come into being on June 1. The Presbytery of the Clyde, which unites the existing Presbyteries of Dumbarton and Greenock & Paisley, will come into eff ect on September 1, with the Presbytery of Fife (merging Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and St Andrews) following on January 1 2021.
COUNTING THE COST
Church of Scotland congregations are expected to lose around a third of their income in 2020, totalling about £30m, due to the Coronavirus shutdown.
The estimated loss from Sunday collections, weddings, hall lets and fundraising is contained in a report issued by the Assembly Trustees for General Assembly Week in May, which warns that ‘palpable savings will have to be made’ in the Church’s finances, and that work on elements of the Radical Action Plan will have to be set aside in response to the crisis.
In the report the Trustees anticipate that the central church may not receive £20m of the contributions budgeted for from the parishes this year. They also warn that the Church is facing reduced income from investments, CrossReach (social care) activities and suspended trading activities.
Some money has been saved through furloughing staff , stopping non-essential work and cancelling the General Assembly, but, the report warns, ‘the response in financial terms cannot be limited to these actions’.
In response, a strategic plan is to be drawn up taking account of the unexpected financial challenges. The report states that this plan will ‘supersede the Radical Action Plan, while picking up those elements of the Radical Action Plan appropriate to the new landscape, and will accelerate the process of structural reform’.
One area that is being set aside ‘for the moment’ is the Growth Fund which was agreed last year. The report says: “The Church’s finances are much altered from 2019 and local congregations will now have needs of a diff erent order.”
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
Being a kidney dialysis patient who is shielding during the epidemic didn’t stop John Williams taking on his accustomed role as technical director of the General Assembly.
John, director of Oscus Media, carried out the role dressed in full personal protective equipment, with the agreement of his consultant. It was his 47th General Assembly.
He said: “We were delighted with how it went. It was a weird experience but it was very moving, and the comments [since] have been absolutely incredible.”
This article appears in the July 2020 Issue of Life and Work
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