Historic online Assembly

HISTORY was made on October 2 when the Church of Scotland convened its first General Assembly held mostly online.

With only the Moderator, speakers, officials and technical crew in the Assembly Hall in Edinburgh, around 730 Commissioners took part, speaking and voting through video conferencing technology. Thousands more watched the proceedings through the livestream on Facebook and on the Church of Scotland website.

They heard the Moderator, the Rt Rev Dr Martin Fair, open the assembly with a warning that if the Church were to become overwhelmingly concerned with its own survival, it would fail. Instead, he called for the Church to be outwardly-focussed as it faces the challenge of both Covid-19 and its own historic decline. He said: “The internal mechanics count for nothing if they don’t lead us to being more outwardly-focussed, more missional than ever.”

During the truncated assembly, which took place over an evening and a day, there were discussions focusing on the challenges facing the Church (both long-standing and those caused or exacerbated by the pandemic) and on the Church’s response to the ongoing protests about racial injustice.

Key debates and decisions

Amidst warnings that the Church’s total annual income could fall by up to £30m this year due to the pandemic, the assembly approved a cut of 18% to the ministry and mission contributions churches will be asked to contribute to the central organisation next year. It also approved targeted cuts of £4m to the budgets of the two central forums – Faith Nurture and Faith Impact – but even so was warned by the Assembly Trustees that the Church would need to take £8m from reserves next year.

The Trustees won the support of the assembly to explore the implications of unifying the two forums – which were only formed in January - into a single body.During the Faith Impact debate, the assembly affirmed that Black Lives Matter, reaffirmed that racism is a sin and committed to a future report on the legacy of slavery and the Church. However, this was not accepted without some debate on the Black Lives Matter organisation and whether it was compatible with Christian values.

The assembly agreed a motion calling for the Church at all levels to work towards achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2030; and that Faith Impact will report to next year’s Assembly ‘on the ethical, scientific and theological arguments for and against urgent disinvestment from oil and gas companies’.

The Convener of the Faith Nurture Forum, the Rev Rosemary Frew, urged the church to build on the innovations that have been forced upon it by the epidemic. She said: “As we look to the future, a future with fewer buildings and fewer ministers of word and sacrament, we must continue to explore new ways of being church and build on our lockdown learnings.”

The Moderator of the last National Youth Assembly (NYA), Dana McQuater, paid tribute to the former moderators and staff who had supported the NYA over 25 years. She said it had been difficult for those involved in the NYA to understand why it had been brought to an end, but added: “We look forward in hope to young people finding new ways to become involved in the decision making of this church.”

The General Trustees presented its report on ‘well-equipped spaces in the right places’, with chairman Raymond Young urging the Church to be willing to ‘prune’ its building estate, while dealing sensitively with the disposal of unneeded buildings, and to work in partnership with other denominations and community groups on new buildings.

*A longer report of the assembly is available in a special supplement downloadable from the Life and Work website, and there will be further reports in next month’s magazine.

This article appears in the November 2020 Issue of Life and Work

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