Arrochar Parish Church
General Assembly Report
These are a wonderful set of reports of the 2003 General Assembly given each day by Douglas Aitken on the Church of Scotland Web-site:
Welcome to Edinburgh and to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
I'm Douglas Aitken and for the next week I will be posting an audio report as the Assembly breaks for lunch each day and again when the days work is done.
The Assembly is the Annual General Meeting of the Church and its policy and doctrine maker and its final court of appeal. So it is an important body with considerable responsibilities. It is made up of representative ministers from each of the Presbyteries (something like diocese) and for each minister a church elder.
Together with representative deacons. This adds up this year to 837 Commissioners to which are added corresponding members delegates from other churches visitors, Youth representatives and Overseas Staff on leave a grand total of 960 people.
It began, as always, with the formal business the election of the new Moderator, the Right Rev. Professor Ian Torrance son of a previous Moderator and the speech of the Queen's Representative the Lord High Commissioner, Lord Steel also the son of a former Moderator.
Then after a Garden Party in the grounds of Holyrood Palace the Assembly got down to serious business and serious business it was. Over the past decade and more the membership of the Church has been falling and, with it, the income while the central administration has tended to grow with boards and committees being largely independent. So the Report of the Assembly Council sought to bring the separate boards together in groups or clusters each cluster supporting a particular priority in the work of the Church in the country and across the world.
And the Council proposed and the Assembly agreed with very little debate that the first priority is the support of the local congregations in their ministry to their communities because that's where the real work of promoting the Gospel is done; and the second priority was the provision and support of staffing for the work.
These were agreed to be the crucial areas of the Church's work and to have first call on the available funding. After that the rest of the work is to quote the Report to engage with the world and with the World Church to express vocal support and practical concern for those in need; and to express views on political, social, ethical and religious issues. It sounds something like an election manifesto, really and like a manifesto dependent on the available funding.
Which is what the Board of Stewardship and Finance is about. They reported that while congregational giving had increased it had not increased sufficiently which means that during this week some hard decisions will have to be taken.
But the Church is not as much of the media suggests, in meltdown. There is a crisis, yes, but a Church which is built on faith sees the crisis as an opportunity for review and renewal and a chance to change the mindset of the past. In real terms the financial situation requires the church to make cuts amounting to £2.3 million over the next five years. Part of the problem is, of course, the parlous state of the world's financial markets and in five years that might change again for the better. So the Church is concerned but in no way despondent. But as one commissioner put it "There's plenty money in the Church; only it's in its members' pockets!"
The membership of the Church, it was said must think carefully about their giving.
The Assembly Council also raised the issue of the eldership and its place in and contribution to the life of the church. 40,000 elders is a huge resource on which to draw and the Council made the point that the Church should expect more of its elders and the elders should expect more of themselves. The pastoral and worship ministries of the Church must become more and more a team ministry with elders trained to lead worship and even to moderate or chair meetings of the Congregational court or council known as the Kirk Session.
These are responsibilities that hitherto have been the sole right of the minister but are about to change. The issue of Elders chairing Kirk Sessions produced the liveliest debate of Saturday evening and was approved by a large majority to be sent down to the church at large for confirmation. If it is confirmed as seems likely it will be enacted by next year's Assembly.
Change, I suspect change for the better, I believe not just caused by money or the lack of it but change with a view to mission and winning lives for Christ will be a common theme throughout the week and not before time.
From Edinburgh, until our next report, goodbye.
Assembly update 2 - Monday 19 May, 2003 - 3.00 pm
Sunday evening at the General Assembly has a format which has become a tradition.
On that evening the immediate past Moderator gives an account of his year of office reporting diligence it is called the presbyteries he has toured and the Church he has visited across the world.
Dr Findlay Macdonald concluded his report that his world experience had left him with an enhanced faith in Christ and a deepened confidence in the Church.
Then the delegates and visitors are welcomed first from sister churches in the United Kingdom and then those from the world church - this year representing a variety of churches in some 25 different countries.
So the business of Sunday evening was an appropriate preparation for the work of this morning here in Edinburgh when the Board of World Mission was due to report.
However, before that took place, the Assembly fulfilled another tradition.
For the past 30 years the Assembly has begun Monday morning with the celebration of Communion in the Hall. A beautiful, moving and dignified service in which the commissioners confirmed their unity and their one-ness in Christ before they are divided by debate.
The Report of the Board of World Mission swept a caring and concerned eye across a world in crisis and conflict bringing before the Assembly cameo pictures of the situation of the Church in 33 individual countries, together with East and West Europe and the Balkans.
In his speech to the Assembly the convener of the Board spoke of the war in Iraq and how there was a hope within the Church that it might lead to a resolution of the conflict and the establishment of peace in the Holy Land.
But then he moved on to concentrate on three issues which are at the heart of the board's work at the present moment.
The first was the withdrawal of the Church's staff from their work in Pakistan.
This was a painful necessity because the safety of the staff could not be guaranteed in the current inter-faith conflict in the land which came to a climax with the murders at Murree Christian School and Taxila Hospital.
The tone of the comment and the report suggests that the situation is unlikely to change in the near future and the board is concentrating on the support of the local Church in Pakistan.
The second issue was the progress of the first stage f the new Christian Centre at Tiberias on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The convener reported that the first stage is due to be completed by the end of October and he hoped, first that it may prove to be a place where inter-faith dialogue might be engaged where young people from Jewish, Christian and Moslem communities might meet together and learn about each other's cultures with a view to their being able to live together in the land in peace.
And he then encouraged people from Scotland to visit the centre in large numbers.
The third issue highlighted by the convener was the ongoing special HIV/AIDS appeal. Since the appeal was launched in February of this year some £128,00 has already been given but much more is required and will go on being required over many years to come.
There followed a series of contributions from overseas delegates from Palestine, Korea, Kenya, Malawi and Canada giving a kind of glimpse into the breadth of influence that the Church exercises still and the high regard in which it is held on every continent.
One issue that was bound to rise was the current situation in the Holy Land. The Rev Paraic Raemon from the World Alliance of Reformed Churches launched a strong attack on the current Government of Israel describing it as the most brutal and cynical Government that Israel has ever suffered under and going on to say that no Israeli Government has ever come to terms with the fact that there can be no peace until Israel withdraws completely from all the occupied territories.
Until that happens he concluded people from both communities will continue to suffer and die. It is a view held by many people in the Church but the Rev Stanley Brooks, while not disagreeing with the conclusion, he felt that it was unhelpful to make such strongly worded statements. He believes that there has to be understanding of the religious and political implications of the State of Israel in the Holy Land.
And the point was made that it was important to distinguish between the Government of Israel and the Jewish people.
The Church of Scotland Trust reported just before the lunch break asking the Assembly to encourage Church of Scotland congregations abroad to help complete their database of property across the world.
Assembly Update 3 - Monday 19 May, 2003 - 7.00 pm
This afternoon at the General Assembly the Committee on Ecumenical Relations presented its report.
The Report covers a wide range of ecumenical and inter-church relationships in which the Church of Scotland is currently involved.
For example, as instructed by last year's Assembly the committee has made approaches to other, smaller presbyterian churches in Scotland and found them all willing to take the first steps to establish new friendly relationships. As the committee declared they were "pushing at an open door!"
The Church's participation in the inter-church bodies in Scotland and the United Kingdom; in the Conference of European Churches; in the World Alliance of Reformed Churches; in the World Council of Churches were all underlined and various actual unions and associations were welcomed and encouraged.
The convener's presentation, however, concentrated on the Scottish Churches Initiative for Union report (the SCIFU Report for short) and a declaration of his belief that the proposal for union was as he put it "of the Spirit and of our time".
The proposals are about shaping a church for ministry and mission in the Scotland of today and tomorrow. The report calls on the participating churches the Church of Scotland, the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Methodist Church and the United Free Church to reaffirm their commitment to the goal of full visible unity; to welcome the theological principles of the SCIFU report which are an expression of that commitment; to approve the SCIFU proposal in general terms as an appropriate model for pursuing full visible unity in Scotland recognising that there are many stages in the process; to initiate consultation throughout the life of the four churches; to promote and facilitate the piloting of the model locally; and to continue the search for full visible unity through a new group appointed by the four churches.
There was a lively debate as was to be expected. There will always be a group within any church which will oppose any form of union or association with other churches simply on principle. The debate this afternoon was not apparently generated by that kind of prejudice.
Rather it was inspired by two things in particular - first, that there is little evidence that united churches take the Gospel forward with increased power and energy; and, second, and perhaps more important, there is a growing reality of friendship and co-operation between denominations at congregational level which questions the need to formalise it in organic union whatever form that union might take.
As a result there were three major counter-motions to the committee's proposals and recommendations. The first moved that the Assembly depart from all discussions towards unity. The second moved the agreement with some but not all of the committee's recommendations; and the third proposed that the committee establish three pilot schemes one in an urban priority area, one in a middle-class area and one in a strictly rural context that they should run for five years and report on their success or otherwise to a future Assembly.
In a reply to a question earlier in the day the convener had declared that if you can share a vision people will go to extraordinary lengths to catch the vision. Today, the Assembly proved him wrong, at least in this instance because they voted by a majority for the first counter-motion requiring the Church of Scotland to depart from SCIFU discussions altogether.
The Assembly went on to consider a number of other issues but our report on them and on Tuesday morning's debates will be at 3.00 pm British Summer time tomorrow.
Assembly Update 4 - Tuesday, 20 May, 2003 - 3.00 pm
Before the close of business on monday, the General Assembly returned to the report of the board of stewardship and finance which had been held over from Saturday evening when the assembly ran out of time. It generated some debate on the giving of the church. The suggestion that church giving should be by subscription was rejected as much as anything because it would make the church no better than the golf club but also because giving is seen to be a response to an individual's understanding and experience of the love of God.
And each individual retains the right to value that love for themselves that in turn generated a debate on tithing. One minister declared that her preaching on tithing had raised her parish income by 40%. but a former moderator who is also a former convener of the board reminded the assembly that the biblical word on tithing was that the tithe was not of one's total income but of the increase in income over the previous year. In the end the assembly voted against the imposition of tithing as a norm for church membership but agreed to look again at the biblical basis for tithing.
Tuesday morning began with the report of the panel on doctrine. This is the only board on which no time limit is placed on contributions from the floor.
The single subject under discussion was the matter of baptism. The convener underlined the church's concern by pointing out that while in 1961 50% of children born were baptised in the kirk the present figure is 17%. This indicates, he concluded, that the celebration of baptism has become less and less a feature of scottish communal life - which has led the panel to look again at its understanding of baptism.
One matter that the panel was clear about is that "believer's baptism" that is baptism of adults on profession of faith should be given as much importance in the church as infant baptism. the debate however covered both the theology of baptism and its practice in the church with the pastoral care of children and parents as a priority.
The main thrust of the report was to soften the rules of baptism in order to make it more inclusive on the grounds that the care of children in the community and the support of their parents are the basic christian responsibility of the church. Perhaps especially there was the concern for the administration and recognition of baptism in emergency situations agreeing that while baptism is normally administered by a minister the baptism by a nurse or other committed lay person is equally valid where circumstances make it essential and unavoidable.
The legal act on baptism had not been updated for forty years and after a long and often involved and complex debate the church has taken a step forward to meet the needs of a new era in the social and religious structure of society.
One particularly important decision was the motion asking the panel on doctrine to prepare a service of thanksgiving for a child, either still living or dead.
After two hours of theological debate the assembly turned to the board of communication which reported diligence concerning its work. Within the department is the church's publishing house, the St Andrew press, the church's audio-video unit - pathway productions; the highly professional and creative design section, the church's monthly magazine - life and work, the media relations unit, which includes the management of this website which the assembly warmly appreciated.
It was suggested from the floor that everybody should use the website and that it would be helpful if those who accessed it were to give feedback on its usefulness and suggestions for its development. in that, it is over to you.
Assembly update 5 - Tuesday, 20 May, 2003 - 7.00 pm
Tuesday afternoon at the General Assembly began with the report of the Board of National Mission. The Convener referred to a recent census of numbers of members and worshippers in the churches of Scotland. He drew attention to the fact that the membership of the Church of Scotland had declined by 10% in the last decade of the 20th Century and the average attendance at worship had fallen from 18% in 1984 to around 11% last year.
It underlines the reality that the mission of the church is to an ever more secular society which is more mobile than ever before and obsessed with personal wealth while the poor are allowed to get poorer, all this placing increasing, unrealistic demands on the ministry.
The convener raised a number of specific issues:
First, the fact that new Employment Legislation means that the contracts of Project Workers that exceed 4 years are deemed to be permanent, which means that the Church will be unable to make alterations when new circumstances prevail, a fact which would place an impossible burden on the finances of the Board. This issue was addressed later in the debate by a motion from the Presbytery of Glasgow urging the central committees of the Church to find funding for Project Workers as a matter of priority.
This was accepted by the Convener because it fitted perfectly into the thinking of the Assembly Council accepted by the Assembly on Saturday and supported by National Mission.
The second issue raised by the Convener was the need to raise the profile of the mission of the church in urban priority areas.
Third, the need to pursue the findings of the Taskforce for Change established following last year's Assembly. In this area, the key factor is the need for the mission of the Church to be fulfilled by a team within an area rather than a single parish.
Such a team would include ministers and elders, special workers and youth workers, family workers and community development workers and all the members of local congregations. In other words, the understanding of team ministry must be broadened to the whole church and community of faith if the mission of the Gospel is to be fulfilled.
Fourth, the encouragement and development of prison chaplaincy in co-operation with the Prison Service. The Board believe that chaplains should properly become full members of Prison Service staff, though sadly the Prison Service has said that it cannot in fact fund this proposal.
And Fifth, the Convener expressed the need to continue the development of the Netherbow Storytelling Centre at John Knox's house in Edinburgh's Royal Mile. This redevelopment is costed at £3.24 million and the centre will cost £90,000 a year to run. However, the hope and expectation is that the centre will generate sufficient funding by its work, which, along with external funding, will meet its annual running costs and reduce the cost to the Church.
In all of these issues the commitment of the Church must be and will always be to accept the challenge - "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel."
In the context of Mission and Evangelism resources, attention was drawn to the fact that current Guild funding of the Kirk's project among the Asian community in Glasgow, which celebrated its 40th year recently, is about to come to an end. The question was asked whether there were guarantees that the work would continue to be funded by the Church. The Convener could not guarantee funding beyond 2005. Like all the work of the church, there is a growing concern that the resources may not be there to continue it.
One matter that came up late in the afternoon was the motion from the Presbytery of Stirling asking the Assembly to urge the Post Office to consider issuing a series of stamps at Christmas celebrating the birth of Christ and it was pointed out from the floor that to declare that this is a multicultural society is no excuse not to accede to the request because Islam honours Jesus too, as a prophet. The Assembly accepted the motion - put their stamp of approval on it you might say.
Tomorrow, Wednesday, here in Edinburgh, the Church and Nation Committee reports. Join us for our next update at about 3.00 pm.
Assembly Update 6 - 21 May, 2003 - 3.00 pm
Wednesday morning at the General Assembly is, by tradition, Church and Nation Day.
Before the Scottish Parliament was recreated four years ago the Church and Nation Report was regarded by media and people alike as the only political forum in the land.
There is always a complete cross-section of Scottish society in the Assembly and all shades of political opinion are represented, so, now that the Scottish Parliament is constituted the place of the Church and Nation Report in the nation has hardly diminished.
The session began, however With a speech by Afif Emile Safieh a Palestinian from Jerusalem who was formally the Palestinian General representative to Britain and is now the Palestinian General Representative to the Holy See.
He spoke of the Road Map for peace in Israel/Palestine as a window of opportunity but he questioned the need for it to take three years. He believes that if the occupied territories were occupied in six days they can be evacuated in six days which, he remarked, would let the Israelis rest on the seventh!
He believes that the State of Palestine will be resurrected. Ending "we have some experience of resurrection in Jerusalem!"
The Assembly then turned to the Church and Nation Report. It deals with diverse issues. The Convener took just three for his speech. First, the issue of domestic abuse. Saying that the time for words is past and the time for practical action is here and the church must be recognised as a safe haven for abused women, a sanctuary and a place of God's presence.
One issue that was raised from the floor was the need for training of ministers and lay people on ways of dealing with victims of violence.
The next issue taken up by the Convener was the question of nuclear weapons - an issue often debated by the Assembly but the time is right to look at it again.
America is examining the development of new nuclear weapons and of using them in war including in any pre-emptive strike. Even Britain's policy of no first strike is being questioned. He described a communion service outside the naval base on the River Clyde. He realised that close to where they stood were Britain's weapons of mass destruction. That comment led to the third issue - the war in Iraq.
He declared that the overwhelming belief of the church like the belief of every Christian Church in America save only the Southern Baptist Church was total opposition to the war. This introduced a considerable debate showing that all shades of opinion are present and vocal in the Assembly. But the Assembly supported the Committee's position that war is always a last resort that the United Nations must be respected that the use of cluster bombs near civilians is condemned.
Other issues taken up by the Committee give an indication of the breadth of the Church's interest and concern debt, asylum, Northern Ireland, taxation, the Post Office, the reform of the House of Lords, The Convention on the future of Europe, Trade justice and Zimbabwe.
On the Post Office, the committee commended the example from Birsay in Orkney where the church has opened its halls to accommodate the local sub Post Office, in the current climate of closures.
There were passionate speeches from the floor on many of these issues:
On Asylum Seekers - saying that the Church could do better.
On Northern Ireland - accepting that it is a divided community but deploring the suspension of the elections there and appreciating the support of the Church of Scotland in the peace process. The Convener emphasised that the Committee will continue to listen to voices across the whole community in the Province and not just to one side or the other.
On another matter, under the section on taxation, one of the characters of the Assembly, Mr Iain MacGregor, an elder from the Presbytery of Lochcarron - Skye, won the Assembly's approval for an addendum calling on the Scottish Executive to remove the Skye Bridge Tolls, which stand at £11.00 which he called a stealth tax. The income does not return to the community but to the coffers of the Bank of America which owns the bridge. It is an expensive way to go "over the sea to Skye."
The debate on the Church and Nation Report will continue into the afternoon and many commissioners will hope that time permits for a final addendum which congratulates Glasgow Celtic Football Club on reaching the UEFA cup final and wishes the team all the best in the game against Porto in Seville this evening.
Our next update will be this evening at 7.00 this evening.
Assembly Update 7 - Wednesday, 21 May, 2003 - 7.00 pm
The Assembly returned from their lunch on Wednesday to continue with the Report of Church and Nation but the first matter dealt with as a Motion from the Presbytery of South Argyll concerning the findings of a Royal Air Force inquiry about the crash of a Chinook Helicopter on the Mull of Kintyre nine years ago which declared that the two pilots were to blame and guilty of gross negligence.
29 people, including 25 senior members of the Northern Ireland Security Services were killed. Many other inquiries have all stated that the Air Force Inquiry findings are unsafe. In fact, at the time of the accident the Ministry of Defence were engaged in legal action against the builders of the aircraft which had developed a number of faults and was being taken out of service.
The Assembly stood to approve unanimously as an assurance to the families of the pilots the motion that the Church is supportive of them both in fact and in pastoral care.
The parents of one of the pilots were in the public gallery. The Assembly moved, then, to the area of Trade Justice. While this section is about the problems of the third world and the encouragement of people here to buy goods with the fair trade mark guaranteeing them a fair return for their labours. The Assembly also heard an appeal on the situation in farming in this country and a deliverance on the parlous state of the fishing industry.
On Zimbabwe the Assembly called for prayers for the people of Zimbabwe and encouraged the Government to continue its humanitarian work and its efforts within the Commonwealth for a just solution to the current situation.
The Assembly also agreed to encourage congregations to increase their awareness of the nuclear issue and to engage in peaceful protest against the nuclear weapons that are on our land, whatever the cost.
Finally, the motion that I mentioned in our last update, regarding the message of congratulations and good wishes to Glasgow Celtic Football Club in their match against Porto in the UEFA Cup final this evening was proposed by two supporters of Glasgow Rangers and passed by the Assembly without a vote.
The Assembly then turned to the report of a joint report prepared by three committees on the theology of Land and Covenant in Israel. It was presented by a former Moderator who is an emeritus professor of Old Testament. It is a theological document which has been prepared for study by the Church. There are a number of issues raised in it - for example, to listen to a Palestinian Christian and an Orthodox Jew speaking on the same subject of the Land, it is obvious that the Bible is saying different things to each of them. The question of the modern State of Israel and the Bible is a complex issue which requires study. Professor Davidson made the point very clearly that to question the existence of the State of Israel must not in any way be seen as anti-semitic and he added that there is an unacceptable rise in anti-Semitism.
The minister of St Andrew's Church of Scotland in Jerusalem asked that the Assembly authorise the report to be translated into both Hebrew and Arabic so that it may be a basis for discussion in Israel/Palestine and that a conference be organised later this year between all those whom the study group had met while there, in order to take forward the dialogue begun by the group's investigations. Both these requests were agreed by the Assembly.
The next item on the agenda for today was the report of the 2002 Youth Assembly. Presented by the Acting Principal Clerk as Moderator of the Youth Assembly.
The work of the Youth Assembly has been rearranged so that the views of the young people can properly influence the work of the General Assembly. There are a number of resolutions - 61 to be exact, that have come from the Youth Assembly. Asked to choose which of them is the most important, one of the youth delegates picked out a motion urging better contacts between parishes and universities to support young people living away from home, while another chose the motion encouraging congregations to be inclusive - using people of all ages to use their talents for the service of the Church.
The Assembly obviously appreciated both the report from the Youth Assembly and the contribution of the youth delegates to the General Assembly itself.
The Church of Scotland Guild reported that they have just launched their projects for the next six years under the theme "Dare to Care" They will let the Guild concentrate their work on the most neglected and rejected people both in Scotland and in Egypt and Guatemala.
The final item of business for the day was the motion from the Presbyteries of Greenock and Paisley and a similar motion from the Presbyteries of South Argyll, Dunoon, Lorn &Mull asking the Assembly to agree to and pass appropriate Acts uniting them.
The Assembly agreed and the five Presbyteries will /become two to be called The Presbytery of Greenock and Paisley and The Presbytery of Argyll respectively.
Business on Thursday begins with the report of the Committee on Chaplains to HM Forces many of whom will be present in the Hall. We will report on that and on other business at 3.00.
Assembly update 8 - Thursday, 22 May, 2003 - 3.00 pm
The first item of business on the Thursday of the Assembly is always the Report of the Committee on Chaplains to Her Majesty's forces. As many Chaplains as possible are present together with senior officers of all three services - Admirals, Generals and Air Marshalls whose presence is an act of appreciation of the work of the chaplains. And that was basically the theme of the Convener's speech. He underlined the pastoral work in the field and among the families, especially of those who were wounded and killed in action. He also placed on record the support organisation set up by the Committee during the war in Iraq, to facilitate the communication between chaplains in the field and parish ministers in Scotland where service personnel were killed or wounded. And he ended his speech by drawing attention to the contribution of the chaplains in the reconstruction of Iraq, citing a letter from the Session Clerk of the Presbyterian Church in Basrah who indicated that for more than a hundred years there have been five Presbyterian congregations in Iraq, two in Baghdad, and one each in Mousl, Kirkuk and Basrah. The letter expressed appreciation of the work of the Rev James Aitchison which showed that we are all one in Christ. And the letter said that the Basrah congregation had only 30 families but "the church may be small but our faith is big."
The work of the chaplains in all three services, but particularly in the army, was praised by the Adjutant General of the British Army, Lieutenant-General Sir Alistair Irwin, wearing for the occasion, as appropriate for a former officer in the regiment, his Black Watch kilt.
The Chaplains were followed by the report of the Board of Parish Education. The Convener pointed out that the past year has been one of learning that working in the church can never be static with everything always being what it has always been. Instead, the church and, with it, the Board, has to be open to constant change. Education changes and available funding changes This has become a challenge. In the case of the Board, funding change has meant a degree of downsizing, office closure, staff redundancies and, in particular, the closure at the end of this year of the Scottish Churches Open College (often known as SCOC). This latter event generated considerable debate some of it passionate and heated. Much concern was expressed about continuing education of the laity of the church and the continuing provision of resources. As the College was an ecumenical facility, there were a number of comments hoping that the ecumenical element would not be lost. The Board is committed to exploring all avenues of education and resourcing for the future. But that promise was not enough for a number of commissioners. There are 135 students in training of which 85 are Church of Scotland members including 52 Readers-in-training. (The Readership is a lay ministry group for the leading of worship and pastoral support.) The provision of a theologically trained laity is regarded as essential for the support of the ordained ministry. But, with the assurance that the Board will be consulting widely and ecumenically for alternative provision for that training, the Assembly simply noted that the College will close at the end of the year.
The Board was also asked by youth delegates, to bring back children's participation in the Assembly and this was accepted with pleasure.
One motion invited the Board of Practice to investigate the need for child-care to allow attendance of the Assembly and to provide it if it proves to be needed.
The Convener also accepted an addendum which asked that the Board enter discussions with the Board of Communication with a view to uniting the Scottish Christian Press and the St Andrew Press, the two publishing organisations of the Church. (Though, as the Convener pointed out, many other Boards also publish their own materials.)
There was a supplementary report presented by the Board to take up the matter of the training of Readers. It says that the closure of the Scottish Churches Open College will in no way reduce the level of support for the Readership. Alternative sources of training courses have already been investigated and as I have said before, the Board will be working with its ecumenical partners to find other sources of education across all its responsibilities. A proposal that Readers, who are in effect parish assistants to a minister, helping in worship and pastoral care, might be eligible to be locums in church vacancies, perhaps with additional training, was not put to the Assembly on the advice of the Principal Clerk on the grounds that it was, perhaps, a too dramatic step to take simply on a motion from the floor. The motion will, however, be raised at another point in the Assembly.
The debate continues and our next update will be posted at 7.00 this evening.
Assembly update 9 - Thursday, 22 May, 2003 - 7.00 pm
The afternoon session began with report of the Pension Trustees. The Assembly was aware that the deficit on the pension fund had reached a total of £50 million. This, said the Convener, was not solely due to the fall in the stock market. It was also due to the fact that retired people are living longer. The deficit will require an increase in contributions. The stock market has indeed been a contributing factor. In the last four years the stock market has fallen dramatically and, though it may well have bottomed out, it could take as long as fifty years for the market to return to the level it was four years ago. This means that the Pension Trustees will have to enter negotiation with the Boards of the Church who will have to pay increased contributions to the Pension Fund. This will not be an easy series of discussions. The current deficit is in the region of £4 million per year.
One Commissioner moved from the floor that the Pension Trustees should adopt socially and environmentally responsible investment, quoting the company making HIV/AIDS drugs having been made to halve the cost of these drugs in Third World nations as result of pressure from investors. He also asked that a special socially responsible investment manager be appointed to keep watch over the companies in which the church's funds are invested. The Convener was not prepared to accept an instruction. The Trustees already follow a socially responsible investment policy; and they believe that another investment manager would give rise to unnecessary expense. The Assembly agreed with the Convener.
The Housing and Loan Fund exists to provide for the needs of retired ministers and their widows. They own 207 houses which are rented to retired ministers and they have loans to ministers outstanding to a level of about £3 million. The Convener made the point that this is not just a practical service to ministers, it also has a pastoral significance.
That lead on nicely to the report of the Board of Ministry. In fact, this is largely an internal matter for the church, but it does give the Convener an opportunity to outline the thinking of the Ministry Department in the atmosphere of change.
Work is progressing on helping congregations to be well-staffed and dynamic for the ministry in a society that has moved away from God to a secular society that is more selfish and less loving, but in which many people are searching for a spiritual dimension.
About 200 congregations are currently without a minister and this is likely to continue to increase for another seven to ten years. But recent enquirers' conferences produced some 100 applicants for the ministry. That could produce about 60 new students; and changes to age limits will allow ministers, if their congregation and the Presbytery agree, to continue in service to the age of 70. The possibility of other kinds of non-stipendiary ministries are being considered.
The kind of issues that were discussed as, indeed they always are, were stipend and travel expenses. But this year the development of the Interim Ministry came before the Assembly - the provision of a minister for the limited period of 18 months while a congregation takes time to consider its future; it can also be a healing ministry when a congregation has been through a period of crisis or when two congregations have been joined in a union. This is greatly appreciated and Presbyteries are encouraged to take note of the regulations when considering vacancies.
One of the motions proposed from the floor asked the Board to look again at the full meaning of the ministry of word and sacrament over against other forms of ministry exercised by Readers, Auxiliary ministers, elders and others. Another, considering the question of child protection, asked for training for ministers on sexual harassment. A third asked for consideration of the possibility of Deacons being in charge of parishes. All these were accepted by the Assembly, but a petition asking for the possibility of ministers being eligible for induction to charges regardless of age - that is over 65 years - was defeated, even though it was pointed out that by 2006, European law will make age restriction for employment illegal.
Another proposal to be raised asked the Board to consider ways in which appropriate provision can be made within the theological curriculum for Gaelic speakers - Gaelic being the native language of the Highlands and Islands was edited and accepted.
At the end of what was a long and often tedious day, the Rev John Bell presented the report of the Committee to revise the Church Hymnary. With humour and sincerity giving the image of a new book which includes something for every taste and every age. And in response to a question about what the new book will cost, he said that he was not able to give that yet, but a book that is expected to last for 30 years will surely be worth more than a penguin novel and cost less than three fish suppers!
Assembly update 10 - Friday, 23 May, 2003 - 3.00 pm
Commissioners who came to this General Assembly expecting that Friday afternoon would be free of business before the final formal session in the evening, will have received a mighty shock. The routine has been changed and this final day is as full of business as every other day. It began with two reports appointing people to the boards of the church and to special committees. Then came the report of the Board of Social Responsibility. The work of this Board is the embodiment of the caring work of the Church. Through 81 units, it seeks to care for people in their old age, those with dementia, mental health problems, those who are homeless, who have Learning Disabilities, alcohol and drug dependency, epilepsy, those who offend as well as children and families. It is a broad sweep of caring that costs a total of nearly £40 million each year. Indeed it is the second largest care organisation in Scotland. But, like all agencies, the question of finance has become a serious issue. This has led the Board to begin a complete review of its caring work.
The Convener pointed out that the cost of providing care exceeded income last year by £5.7 million. Over the past 12 years some £39 million of the Board's reserves has been used to subsidise the care of older people. In addition, the Board has spent £16 million improving the fabric of the old folks' homes. The disparity between income and expenditure is largely due to The Scottish Executive and Local Authorities' failure to pay the required level of funding for residential care of older people. With reserves now standing at less than £8 million, the church cannot continue to subsidise local authorities. The Assembly regretted the situation but commended the review first of its 30 homes for the aged and then for the 51 other units in its programme.
Another issue that was raised by the Convener was the moral dilemma of designer children, that is a form of genetic engineering. The Board sees the idea of choosing the sex of one's children by sperm sorting as a step on the road to full-blown manipulation with all its attendant risks. So the Assembly voted to urge the Government to bring sex selection under the regulatory control of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and be made illegal except where serious hereditary gender-related disease is to be avoided in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine. It was really too complex an issue to be brought without notice from the floor of the Assembly and this was made clear to the proposer. However, the move to make the practice illegal except in very special circumstances was passed by the Assembly by one vote - 171 to 170.
Other issues that were brought to the Assembly by Commissioners included Euthanasia and Abortion. On euthanasia, the Convener reiterated the view of the Church that euthanasia is wrong; on Abortion the proposer wanted a wide-ranging review of the issue but the Convener responded that it was too wide an agenda but he would be willing either to set an agenda for a Board Committee or to gather together everything that the Board has done previously as a statement of the Board's position. The Assembly voted with the Convener.
An additional resolution was proposed congratulating the Rev George Fox for his long and effective healing ministry. This was warmly accepted by the Assembly.
This was followed by the report of the Joint Boards Group on the protection of children and young people. The Convener in presenting the report emphasised the fact that growing up in this world is not easy for our children and it is important that the Church should provide as much protection and love as possible for them. In that connection, every individual who has any involvement with children, including organists and beadles - church officers - ministers and bell-ringing captains, with all the youth workers in a congregation require a Criminal Records check. The Assembly instructed the Presbyteries of Europe and Jerusalem to comply with the standards of good practice in the matters of Child Protection.
The Convener also accepted a proposal urging the Government to make the practice of "grooming" illegal and those convicted of it placed on the sex offenders list as is the law in England and Wales. Grooming is the practice of enticing children through bulletin boards and chat rooms on the internet to some kind of relationship which would come under the heading of sexual and mental abuse.
The Assembly still has a number of reports to hear and it will close this evening with the formal session when a wide range of church workers, retiring mission partners, new ministers and new people in key church posts are all welcomed and thanked by the Moderator and the Lord High Commissioner takes his leave of the Assembly.
I said at the beginning that the two elements of finance and change would dominate this Assembly as indeed they have. Some of the things that have come before the Assembly have been quite traumatic - and at times it has been testy and unkind. But it has also laughed a lot and taken great strides toward its goal of sharing the faith of Christ in word and action.
This is Douglas Aitken bidding you goodbye from the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh.