View from the pulpit

The Rev Scott Rennie describes the challenges and differences in ministry at London: Crown Court.

SOMETIMES in life you need a change, to stop yourself going stale. Sometimes the Spirit gives you a nudge to stop yourself getting too complacent or comfortable, and so I received a call to Crown Court Church of Scotland in the heart of Covent Garden and London’s theatreland in early 2022.

The forerunners of my congregation made the journey south from Edinburgh with King James VI back in 1603 and there has been a Scottish Presbyterian presence in London ever since.

It’s astonishing to think in London there are 270,000 Scots living in London, more than the population of Scotland’s third city and my home, Aberdeen. Both ourselves and St Columba’s in Knightsbridge provide a home and Scottish Christian and cultural presence in the midst of this diverse, vibrant and truly world city.

But there is more to ministry here than simply that. We are joined by people from Ghana, Malawi, Germany, the United States, and many other countries with churches in the reformed tradition; as well as Londoners looking for an inclusive and welcoming church where they can live, love and worship.

Serving in a church which is truly gathered (over not only Greater London but even the Home Counties) is a huge change for me – a different challenge altogether from serving in a local parish setting. Community has to be carefully nurtured and attended to, especially when the possibilities to gather together are less common during the week.

The question Jesus was once asked: “who is my neighbour?”, is an interesting one when your church community all reside miles away from the community in which you meet together. How do we serve both of these groups of neighbours in our lives? At Crown Court we are embarking on the beginning of a new season in our 300 year old journey. We are about to renew our mission and ministry in Covent Garden and invest in our building as a means to better serving the Covent Garden community around us – residents, office workers, shop workers and tourists.

Crown Court, being in Westminster has always had a strong link with Parliament. I am fortunate to meet politicians and decision makers at UK level, represent the Kirk from time to time, and build relationships that can help the Kirk nationally in its life and work. One initiative that we are currently exploring is a chaplaincy to the Palace of Westminster for all Scots who have to come south and be away from their families through the week. Sympathy for politicians in the current age is not overwhelming, but Scots serving at Westminster are away from home and their loved ones, in an extremely pressured job, and they need loved and cared for like the rest of us. They are also our neighbour, and in a politically febrile time they need a safe space to be themselves and to be released from the pressure cooker that is political life.

Leading a London congregation means getting used to a community that is fluid and transient. People often leave to move their family out of the city for affordable housing and quieter living, or to return home to Scotland or wherever their home country is. At the same time, we are extremely fortunate to have a regular stream of committed young people coming to join our fellowship, and to serve as office-bearers in congregational life. I think I have more younger office-bearers now than I have ever had in 24 years of ministry!