General Assembly 2024

Thomas Baldwin casts an eye over some of the reports to this year’s General Assembly.

ASSEMBLY TRUSTEES

The Assembly Trustees state that their report ‘is about maintaining the course on which we set out, learning from our journey to date, continuing to undertake important course corrections when appropriate and picking up the pace as there is much greater clarity around the next steps that need to be taken. Whilst the majority of the targets set in 2019 have been successfully progressed there is clearly much still to do and we can now build on the foundations set by Presbytery Mission Planning, the establishment of the new Presbyteries, so vital to our future, and the wide range of achievements made to date’.

Progress so far includes ‘moving towards a leaner central organisation whilst reducing bureaucracy’. The transition to new larger presbyteries is now mostly complete, and the Trustees say ‘transferring responsibility and accountability for delivery to them for regional ministry and finance is a critical step’. In future the national office will ‘provide only what is absolutely necessary in terms of support to the local and that required to meet our statutory and regulatory requirements’. A prioritisation exercise is currently taking place working towards this aim.

However, the report warns that despite the progress so far the financial situation is still ‘not sustainable, with costs continuing to outstrip income [the 2024 budget has a deficit of over £8.1m], and that without ‘further radical systemic change… we will be facing an existential threat in a relatively short period of time’. On current trends, the General Fund will be exhausted by 2032, and the Trustees says that ‘there is no option but to ensure an end to deficit budgets and to have a plan to achieve this’. The total number of planned ministry posts remains at the previously approved 600 plus 60 vacancies, although the Trustees warn that ministerial retirements and resignations have ‘surpassed estimates’ in recent years, and that ‘the Church of Scotland currently lacks the necessary number of people discerning a call to ministry to alter the current allocation assumptions without causing an imbalance of ministries across Scotland’.

The Trustees, Faith Action Programme Leadership Team and Legal Questions Committee are to bring a report to the 2025 Assembly considering how the model of ministerial tenure ‘should be understood and develop in the context of the needs of the Church in the 21st Century and modern charity law requirements’. This year’s report warns that ‘it is apparent that the Church can no longer afford to operate its existing model of ministry, of which tenure is an integral part’.

The Trustees say that ‘growth of the Church is at the core’ of their plans, and the past year has seen the first grant awards from the £25m Seeds for Growth funding, and the emergence of some New Worshipping Communities. They add that they ‘believe that local growth will lead to increased local income’.

FAITH ACTION PROGRAMME LEADERSHIP TEAM

The Faith Action Programme brings together the work of the former Faith Nurture and Faith Action forums, which in turn were formed from the old Ministries, Mission and Discipleship, Church and Society and World Mission councils. The Faith Action Programme Leadership Team (FAPLT), reporting to the General Assembly for the first time, reports that it has faced ‘a mammoth task’ in understanding the work that was already going on, and to establish where the newly-created body fits within the Church organisation. There are still questions, including whether the ‘Resource and Presence’ group fits with the work of Faith Action, and whether the Presbytery Mission Planning Implementation Group should become a programme group with the Leadership Team, which the report says they are still ‘pondering and praying into’. They add that the work will take time, and ask for patience and trust.

The report includes a section on the position of Church of Scotland representatives on Local Education Authority Committees. The appointment of such representatives was the responsibility of the national Education Committee until 2020, and has passed to Faith Action. The report proposes that that responsibility now be transferred to presbyteries. It also calls for an ‘open, engaging (and) transparent’ public debate where a local authority is considering a change to religious representation on LEA committees, arguing that the role of Church representatives is held in high regard and makes ‘a positive difference to the lives of schools and young people’.

On the subject of children and young people, congregations are encouraged to get involved with ‘other ways’ of reaching young people and families, including initiatives such as Messy Church, Forest Church, holiday clubs, toddler groups and youth groups, where it says there is ‘significant growth’. Training and support is offered to support school chaplaincy, and there is information and resources through a Children and Youth Newsletter and Now You’re Talking Facebook Group. A Church of Scotland Village was held at Scripture Union Scotland’s Magnitude Festival last year, and will be repeated this year, and commissioners are urged to encourage young people in their congregation to take part in this.

The Assembly is asked to adopt a new ‘Terms of Responsibility for Ministers Serving in the Church of Scotland’, which will be included in the Ministers’ Handbook. The report states that the terms ‘are not innovative, and are linked to the promises made by ministers in their ordination vows, and they set out some key points relating to what any good minister should already know and be doing’.

A review of the pay and conditions of people who serve as locum ministers concludes that it would be inappropriate to introduce contracts of employment for such roles, but ‘recognises that there is scope for improving the locum experience’. It also points to the pastoral care available to ministers, a new support allowance allowing access to support services and spiritual accompaniment, a new allowance towards funded retreats for ministers and deacons and access to counselling. Congregations are reminded to ‘exercise their duty of care’ to ministers and other office holders.

The new Church Hymnary Supplement, ‘God Welcomes All’, is commended to the Church.

The report recognises the growth in lay people becoming local worship leaders across Scotland. A section of the deliverance instructs the FAPLT to conduct research and consultation into the use of local worship leaders and Readers, and produce recommendations ‘on how these roles should be shaped to best support the emerging shape of the Church of Scotland and its worshipping communities’.

A section on poverty encourages presbyteries to engage with Priority Areas to explore how the Church can continue to support those areas. It also calls for the introduction of a Minimum Income Guarantee in Scotland, and proposes that FAPLT and the Theological Forum ‘explore theological perspectives on this issue’.

FAPLT is instructed to ‘share the voices of Palestinian Christians’, and calls on the whole Church to pray for peace in the Middle East, and restates the 2015 General Assembly’s call for the recognition of the State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel. Politicians and the media are urged to avoid ‘dehumanising and hostile language’ for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

GENERAL TRUSTEES

The General Trustees report that the number of applications they have received for work on the Church’s buildings, and the financial assistance they have offered, have both been lower than normal in recent years, as only emergencies and essential repairs were considered while the Presbytery Mission Planning process was ongoing. Now that most Plans are approved, they expect the volume of applications to return to normal levels and have contacted presbyteries ‘with a view to encouraging congregations to make appropriate application for works to buildings and, if required, financial assistance thereon’.

The Trustees report that over the last year, the Presbytery Support and Buildings Committee has overseen the completion of the Bertha Park Presbytery Mission Initiative, which involved the acquisition and fitting out of a shop unit in the Bertha Park suburb of Perth. ‘The Committee has also supported presbyteries and congregations on various initiatives to generate income using buildings and sites identified for retention in the Presbytery Mission Plans… (and) has sought to work with partners in the transfer of redundant sites for the purpose of the provision of social housing’.

A parish in Barra has provided an area of its glebeland for social housing, which will see 12 houses built by a local charity. Congregations with glebeland are encouraged to ‘engage with the Trustees in the management’ of such land, whether by leasing or selling it, or using it for mission purposes. Congregations are reminded that any income generated will be ‘for the benefit of the local congregation’.

A review of manse provision recommends that it should remain the default position for housing Church of Scotland ministers, noting that any change could result in ministers losing the tax exemption that is currently in place. The report says the level of information on manse conditions returned by presbyteries is ‘disappointing’. Congregations are reminded of their duty to maintain manses ‘to the highest standards of habitability’, and presbyteries of their oversight obligations.

SOCIAL CARE COUNCIL

The CrossReach report notes a number of highlights during the year, including the 20th anniversary of the Sunflower Garden service for children affected by family drug and alcohol use, a positive report on the Dochas project in Stornoway, generous gifts to several facilities in the Older People’s services, the strengthening of visiting arrangements at HMP Perth, and Scottish Government funding of over £2m to expand Beechwood House in Inverness.

The report notes that recruitment remains difficult and lists a number of initiatives CrossReach is taking to retain staff, including the recognition of long service and the opportunity to gain qualifications, and the provision of chaplains to offer spiritual care to staff. It also notes CrossReach’s involvement in the campaign to bring care workers’ pay up to the same level as NHS staff, noting ‘While progress has been made, with some previously excluded categories of children’s workers now being included in the Scottish Government pay deal, there remains much to do if those working in care are to be appropriately recognised for their skills and expertise.’

The board also warns of threats to services posed by local authority funding cuts, including the closure of the Glasgow Support Supported Living Services in Yoker. It says the cuts and disruption ‘have caused significant distress to supported people, their families and employees as few alternatives to these vital services are being offered. Each of the operational leads have been doing what they can to support those most affected by these difficult funding decisions.’

The report continues: “Whilst the huge financial challenges experienced by Health and Social Partnerships are recognised and understood, there is a sense of inevitability that the short-term savings being made today can only lead to greater expense for tomorrow.”

SAFEGUARDING

The Safeguarding report notes that the Disclosure Scotland Act 2020, now due to be enacted in April 2025, will mean ‘significant changes’ to its processes. In particular, it warns that ensuring accurate records on the approximately 40,000 people undertaking regulated work for the church (including volunteers) is a challenge, and says that the current system of volunteer Safeguarding Co-ordinators maintaining records ‘is not working’. The deliverance instructs the Committee to ‘develop and implement processes and working practices’ which will comply with the Act, and Kirk Sessions and Presbyteries to co-operate with those processes and practices.

The report also includes a Support for Survivors of Historical Abuse Policy, which is recommended for approval and implementation at all levels of the Church.

OVERTURES AND CASES 

The Overture approving a new Book of Confessions for the Church of Scotland has been passed by a sufficient majority of presbyteries to be presented to the General Assembly for final approval; however, taking into account comments and proposed amendments received, the Theological Forum has recommended that it be sent back to presbyteries ‘in a slightly amended form’.

THEOLOGICAL FORUM 

In addition to comment on the proposed Book of Confessions (see Overtures and Cases, above), the majority of the Theological Forum’s report is made up of a new report into Transgender Identities in the Church of Scotland. Briefly examining biblical and theological understandings, as well as the lived experience of transgender people within the Church, the report concludes by urging ‘the exercise of charity and grace on all sides… The vital point we wish to assert is really very simple. Transgender people are part of the Church of Scotland and they are welcome.’

CHURCH OF SCOTLAND GUILD 

The Guild recognises that changes taking place in the wider Church will have an impact on its own membership and organisation, but also suggests that they provide opportunities. In a church union, the Guild can ‘play a pivotal part in the success of a union if they embrace the new situation’, and there have been ‘a number of examples’ of the growth of a Guild in a united congregation, where people have had the chance to join a Guild for the first time.

The Guild states that where two or more congregations are united then the Guilds of those churches should do likewise; however, in rural areas it says ‘we hope it would be possible for a Guild to meet in a village hall or in a hotel, or other community space providing continued Christian witness’.

Among the developments across the year, the Guild in Faifley, Clydebank, has helped develop a community cinema initiative; while in Millport the Guild has worked with the congregation and local school to open a polycrub, a sheltered area for growing produce. Further afield, the partner project scheme has helped fund the opening of a facility for children with additional needs in Uganda, and has provided 42 scholarships widening access to theological education for women in Brazil.

The Guild’s National Conference has agreed a more streamlined structure which, it believes, ‘enhances the sustainability of the Guild at regional level’. The report concludes: ‘The Church of Scotland Guild is in good heart. We recognise the challenges we face but believe that God still has work for us to do and will equip us for the road ahead as we seek to serve him in our branches, in our communities, in Scotland and in the wider world.’