Marks of Mission: To transform unjust structures

In the fifth part of the series on the Marks of Mission, Thomas Baldwin considers the fourth, which relates to injustice and calls for peace.

BEFORE devolution in 1999, it was often said that the closest thing Scotland had to a Parliament was ‘Church and Nation Day’ at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

There was often huge interest as the Assembly would debate issues ranging from industrial relations and poverty to energy generation, medical ethics, international relations and nuclear weapons.

This is the stuff of the fourth Mark of Mission, which exhorts the Church ‘to transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and pursue peace and reconciliation’.

“If the third mark [responding to human need through loving service] is donating food to a foodbank, the fourth mark is asking why there is food poverty in Scotland and the UK today, and what do we need to do to make people’s lives less precarious,” says David Bradwell, the Church of Scotland Faith Impact Forum’s lead for public affairs and the Scottish Churches Parliamentary Officer. “And that’s when you have to engage in theological reflection and participate in the political landscape and make the points to media, politicians, civil servants and civil society organisations.”

In the Church of Scotland at the national level, that work is carried out through the Faith Impact Forum, the successor to the Church and Society Council and before that the Church and Nation Committee. These days, much of it takes place in co-operation with other churches and faiths, who are partners in groups such as the Scottish Churches Parliamentary Office and Scottish Faiths Action for Refugees.

In addition to engaging outwards, the Forum is also responsible for the Church’s self-examination, both in its modern practice – including task groups on violence against women and equality, diversity and inclusion – and its past. One major piece of work currently underway is examining the legacy of slavery in the Church. “It’s about recognising that the church is not a perfect institution and more work needs to be done internally,” says David, “But also, when we do speak into the public square on issues of justice, we can point to the practical work that is happening that we are trying to address ourselves.”

Although the number of Faith Impact staff has reduced, David says that the interest from the local Church is higher than ever: “I’m often told that although Church membership 50 years ago was a lot larger than it is now, local church work on social action projects today is more than it has ever been – whether that’s with homeless people or refugees and asylum seekers, foodbanks or environmental projects, so that gives me a lot of encouragement.

“The work that I and my immediate colleagues do, we know that there’s a community of church people wanting that work to be done on their behalf. And I know that local congregations think about this work and the work of the church is prayed for in political life and national life, and I’m very grateful for that too.”

Despite the Kirk’s long history of engagement in this sort of work, some dispute how central to mission it is, compared to recruiting new believers and loving service. A Life and Work correspondent earlier this year commented that this and the fifth Mark (which focuses on care of creation) were ‘not specifically Christian’.

The Rev Dr Richard Frazer, who was the last convener of the former Church and Society Council before it was absorbed into the Faith Impact Forum, disagrees. “I actually think the first two or three marks of mission become slightly irrelevant if we ignore the other ones,” he says. “I think it’s really important that our work is not just about converting people to Christianity, it’s also about modelling and shaping a just and fairer society.

“Right at the beginning of the New Testament Church, in the Acts of the Apostles, one of the things that the church made a decision about was that you needed people who would preach and teach and lead worship, but you also needed what they called deacons – people who were out there ensuring people weren’t living in poverty, calling out injustice, making sure that people were fed and housed and looked after. The first Christian to be martyred was St Stephen, who was one of the deacons of the church. “So if the church today is saying these issues around social justice and calling out injustice are less important, then they have failed to understand the nature of the New Testament church.”

While the Church has declined in numbers, and there isn’t the same level of public and media attention paid to it as there used to be, Richard says that through the quality of its work it can still have an influence.

“One of the things I found really rewarding [while convener of Church and Society] and really interesting was through the Scottish Churches Parliamentary Office (SCPO) we were able to see some of our research and some of our ideas and some of our practice being taken very seriously, and watched with great attention by the Scottish Government. We often found some of our ideas and thoughts would appear in Government policy.

”One of the things I’ve learned over my many years of ministry – and this is very rooted in the New Testament and the ministry of Jesus – is the importance of not doing things to people but doing things with people

“To give you an example, one of the things that emerged out of a conversation with a Government minister some years ago was an identified problem of coastal communities around Scotland being left behind. So the Church through SCPO was able to organise a series of gatherings, convened by local churches within these communities, and we were able to feed back to the Government some of the feelings that people had, some of the lived experience people had of living in these communities, that the Government found really helpful in terms of shaping their own policies.”

He adds that this work comes not from arrogance, of the Church thinking it knows what is best for society and trying to impose its will, but from ‘genuine, humble partnership’. “One of the things I’ve learned over my many years of ministry – and this is very rooted in the New Testament and the ministry of Jesus – is the importance of not doing things to people but doing things with people. Treating people with dignity, recognising that they have agency and worth as children of God, and not assuming you know what they need until you have asked them.

“And the thing I find more and more is that I don’t take Jesus with me into communities –I bump into him there.”