FAITH IN ACTION

The twelfth in a series of features which will offer updates from the Faith Action Programme.

As we focus on the hope and joy of Christmas, I know too that there are challenges for us ahead. This year through to 2028 will see a time of great change for our Church. Finances are difficult as we move forward, limiting our ability to employ the number of parish ministers and support staff that we are used to. Some of our much loved buildings are in need of costly repair or are no longer fit for purpose and will be closed and sold.

Our central services in the National Office will be similarly affected and the way we do our business as Faith Action staffing will change. This pruning is really painful for all of us. So what? The 1560 reformation was regarded as radical because it aimed to get the Church back to its biblical roots. So it is with the reform process that began in 2019, following the Special Commission Report. We set out now, somewhat like Moses and the Israelites on their journey through the desert. I think it is worth studying that history as we journey together, as it captures many of the challenges we face and explains some of our behaviours.

At this close of the year, I would like to encourage you all with one thing our faith assures us of – we journey, not alone, but with Christ at our side, into the future to which He is calling us. Like Nehemiah and the returning Israelites from the Babylonian exile, ‘we will rise up and build’ again, and the significance of the incarnation at Christmas could not be more pertinent or important for us than it is now.

The Faith Action Programme teams strive to support ministries, mission, public life policy, social justice and resourcing our businesses and the effect their presence have across our Church, nation and wider world. We wish you all a blessed Christmas and 2023.

“This year through to 2028 will see a time of great change for the Church.”

Pioneering and Fresh Expressions

We live in a time of widespread curiosity about spirituality and faith and a deep longing for belonging. At Christmas time in particular, many seek a more sacred meaning. Christians who are attentive to what the Spirit is doing are finding innovative ways to share the love of Jesus with people beyond the orbit of existing churches. ‘Fresh expressions of church’ are emerging. These focus on connecting with people without previous church associations and emphasise Christian formation. They aspire to be authentic, Jesuscentred community for people in a particular context.

In huge housing developments, such as Bertha Park in Perth and Millerhill in Midlothian, Christian pioneers are creating community-building and faith-exploring opportunities. Others are responding to the desire to re-connect with nature and taking church outside. Christian communities are emerging among people fighting addictions and those who share particular creative or sporting interests. A Facebook Group, Pioneering Scotland, connects about 250 pioneers.

Pioneering mission is not about doing something new for its own sake. Rather, we find ourselves doing a new thing because our Creator is always doing something new; still creating. Our calling is to be accomplices of Jesus and, as we respond to the call, ‘Follow me’, we find ourselves breaking new ground and seeing new ways of being church.

Disability Inclusion Working Group (DIWG)

In 2020, the Church of Scotland established its Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) group to enable the Church, as a whole, to enhance its practice and policy in this important area.

The EDI group then established three sub-groups to take forward its activity for the coming season, focusing on Racial Justice, Conduct and Culture; and Disability Inclusion.

What is the DIWG doing?

In order to support and enable congregations effectively to meet this aim, the DIWG has begun its work in the following ways:

• Gathering insights directly from those who have lived experience of disability, to inform the group’s understanding of the needs and resourcing required in the shaping of churches to be communities of belonging for all.

• Carrying out research into what is happening in Church of Scotland congregations and presbyteries to proactively shape churches to be communities of belonging for all, in particular for those with disability. This will enable the gathering of good news stories, resources and ideas that can be shared, and will enhance our understanding of the needs to be addressed.

• Carrying out a mapping exercise of organisations and services (secular and faith-based) already involved in enhancing disability inclusion in Scotland. This will inform our thinking about the needs that the DIWG should be addressing; to make these organisations and services more readily available to congregations, by providing clear signposting, and to see if there is scope for collaborative or complementary working.

To find out more, contact: rhclarke@churchofscotland.org.uk

Advent invites us to recall our faith history and to wait expectantly for the coming of the Lord.

As we recall the first coming of Christ at Christmas, we are invited to look forward to the second coming.

As we face the prospect of a darker and colder time of waiting, when rising prices at every turn means that money doesn’t stretch as far, and with the worry of how to afford Christmas when it’s hard enough to pay the bills, perhaps we need the promised hope brought by the Light of the World now more than ever.

As we reflect on our inner lives and our preparedness to receive Christ, we are invited to cast our eyes outward to the places waiting for the arrival of God-With-Us. It is out there that we see the suffering of war, the plight of those displaced by conflict or climate injustice, and the need for equity and justice not only to trickle down, but to flow like a mighty river.

Jesus was born into the reality of life, in the midst of oppression and military occupation; displaced yet purposefully placed into the heart of human experience. So, this Advent, we are invited not just to wait for the arrival of Emmanuel, but to enter into the work of Advent, where hope, joy, love and peace are not just symbolic candles to be lit, but realities to be borne out.

“As we recall the first coming of Christ at Christmas, we are invited to look forward to the second coming.”

For further information visit: www.churchofscotland.org.uk