A Church under reconstruction

There’s a wonderful poem in the book Preaching while the church is under reconstruction, by the late Thomas H Troeger.

I like the phrase ‘a church under reconstruction’ because I believe that is what we are.

The Church of Scotland as we know it is a church of familiar surroundings, established traditions and long-standing ways of working. However, things feel different, even uncomfortable for us, and we have experienced this more acutely through the last three difficult years.

It is fair to say that our Church is facing a crisis of leadership. Many of our ministers, elders and staff of the church are by necessity taking on more work due to the reorganisation of parishes. These women and men are without doubt a tremendous group of committed, hard-working people who are persevering in spite of facing very difficult and uncertain futures.

The situation we find ourselves in is taking its toll on all of our church leaders and we need to look after them.

Moving in a new direction as a church with such embedded and distinctive ways of doing things was always going to be difficult. Navigating change needs to take account of the loss and grief felt, among committees and forums and presbyteries and congregations. Each jostling for rights of way as people with vision earnestly endeavour to lead our church in a new direction.

Looking at our organisation alone will never get us to the place of becoming a missional community in this new world, but it can act as a wonderful vehicle for the journey. Missional leadership and resources for mission lie within our Presbyteries and we must look to them to develop our future by taking small, significant steps.

For the first time in a long time there is an opportunity for us to get past the old central structures. We now have a platform to work from. Our direction is now very much focused on the local and experimentation that will take different forms of expression depending on the local context. For example, the planting of 100 new worshipping communities will allow us to flesh out a pioneering culture in a new era of mission and evangelism.

We’re in a time of change still ‘under reconstruction’ where we must be less concerned with survival and more concerned with modelling a new distinctive body, the kind prepared to sacrifice itself for new life. This reconstruction starts from the strong foundation of our past traditions. However, we know in our hearts that an exact replica of things past will no longer work for us and that things will never be the same. There is a future with hope for this old church, but it is not as the institution we have known and loved. The challenge lies in applying the best skills in the right way and at the right time enabling people to be led through changing and difficult times. It is essential for spreading common understanding and a sense of purpose. It is as a missionary movement we must encourage where presbyteries and congregations no longer look to the centre for the solutions but become the solutions themselves with their own reform agenda under a cohesive vision. It takes good leadership and strong well-trained leadership.

What I have learned in my ministry and various roles in the church is that in response to the moral decline of this age and a lack of interest in church today, the local church is stronger in its witness, nurture and service when we gather with enthusiasm and work together in a common aim. There is no better place to do that than as groups of congregations, fully resourced presbyteries openly sharing resources and ideas, with the weight of the national church behind them, who lead like Jesus and lead others toward Jesus, envisioning and equipping for mission. This is where we must have the confidence to invest, enabled by the launch of the Seed’s for Growth Fund.

How might this way of working become the norm, engaging leadership in the local contexts, supported by the reformed structures to design initiatives and new models of church while we allocate resources against new priorities of the Faith Action Programme?

How do you make it great fun? As our presbyteries and congregations wrestle with these questions the important change we need in terms of leadership is to emphasise the importance of supporting them and encouraging them in training, finance, inspiration and celebration.

Go to the people

live among them,

learn from them,

love them,

start with what they know,

build on what they have,

but of the best leaders,

and the task is done,

the people remark we have done

it ourselves.

We need the Spirit and the faith.

As Assembly Trustees we are striving to progress the reform agenda set out for us by the General Assembly to use all our gifts in drawing together all sections of the church, resourcing presbyteries and congregations, underpinned by national support. What a responsibility we all have in reconstructing our church for tomorrow. We also need to remind ourselves that this is the church of Jesus Christ. He already is at work calling the next generation to follow him. In turn, we must be tuned into the nature and purpose of that calling lest we find ourselves thwarting the work of the Holy Spirit.

God has given us the resources. Let us never be afraid to use them.

Rev David S Cameron Convener, Assembly Trustees