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Towards
'A Congregation by the Lochside'
a discussion paper
This discussion paper has been
prepared as a contribution to the debate about the future shape of
parishes, congregations and the use of ecclesiastical staff in the
areas around Loch Lomond which fall within the boundaries of the
Presbytery of Dumbarton.
The context of these discussions
encompasses the present period of reappraisal being undertaken by the
Presbytery with a view to the preparation of the new presbytery plan.
It recognizes that this presbytery plan is being drawn up against a
background of a projection of a severely falling number of ministers
available to the Church of Scotland in future years.
The context of these discussions
also includes the soon-to-be-realised creation of Scotland's first
National Park which will center on Loch Lomond and to which the
gateway will be Balloch with an influx of new homes, holiday
accommodation and jobs ensuring that throughout the area tourism
becomes and remains the major industry.
A start to our thinking
In the earliest days boundaries
drawn on maps in Scotland were largely drawn by ecclesiastical
authorities. Because it made sense to do so, civil authorities
followed these ecclesiastical boundaries. In more recent times this
has been less true. Now it may be appropriate for our ecclesiastical
boundaries to be adjusted to take account of civil planning and just
at this moment there are some very interesting lines being drawn on
our local maps as, out of nothing, our first National Park is created.
So we began to think, what would
it mean were the presbytery to create a maxi-parish - the
Congregation by the Lochside - to include those parishes within the
presbytery which will be most affected by this new national
initiative: Kilmaronock, Gartocharn, Balloch, Luss and Arrochar?
Such a parish would sweep right
round the loch from Kilmaronock in the south east to Ardlui at the
northern-most tip and would include the whole of the west bank of the
loch. The maxi-parish would be united in terms of its outreach to
people who were either engaged in tourism or in working on the land
in tourist and farming areas. It would retain at least four places of
worship - Gartocharn, Balloch, Luss and Arrochar - and create a
framework in which the Church at Kilmaronock might also be retained.
It would reduce current ministerial full-time staff from three to two
but would envisage the creation of a ministerial team including
full-time secretarial and administrative staff based in Balloch, a
retired minister to share in pastoral care for the parish and a youth
worker and educational worker to spearhead special opportunities
created by national park status.
Putting Flesh on the Bones
The proposal which this paper
seeks to explore is the creation of one parish with a ministerial
team and a number of places of worship. The proposal, however, is
really only of value if it seeks to suggest how this new parish might
be brought into being. It seems appropriate therefore to suggest that
there be a pilot experiment to last five years after which time the
pilot could be assessed with a view either to creating a permanent
parish of 'the congregation by the lochside' and of merging all
current parish responsibilities, or of untangling what has been
created and seeking a different way forward should the pilot have
proved unsuccessful.
Ultimately the proposal is to
create one parish, with one Kirk Session, one Congregational Board
and pooled resources. For the period of the pilot scheme, however,
each parish would retain its own Kirk Session and Financial Board. In
addition there would be a twice-yearly meeting of a combined Kirk
Session moderated by the minister of Alexandria Parish Church. All
ministerial staff and all members of Kirk Sessions within the
maxi-parish area would be members of the united Kirk Session. All
additional staff - secretarial, retired minister to assist in
pastoral care, youth worker or educational worker would be appointed
by and responsible to the united Kirk Session. It would also seem
appropriate to build in a twice-yearly meeting of a united
Congregational Board and a formal structure of staff meetings.
Kilmaronock Gartocharn
There will be special issues to be
addressed during a discussion phase by each existing congregation.
For the charge of Kilmaronock Gartocharn this proposal will lead to
the immediate selling-off of the Manse at Kilmaronock. The first call
on the money from the sale of the manse will be such restoration and
redecoration of the Church at Gartocharn as is required with a view
to services being conducted there every Sunday. At the same time, a
detailed investigation into options for the Church at Kilmaronock
will be instigated. It is possible that an appropriate Trust might be
prepared to take over the building and to grant its use for weddings,
funerals and occasional services. It is also possible that monies
from the sale of the manse, after the refurbishment of the Church at
Gartocharn, could be used to restore the Church at Kilmaronock with a
view to it being established as a Church for weddings, funerals (due
to the presence of the grave-yard) and occasional services - with
appropriate charges being made and credited to a fund for the
maintenance of the building. A historic building, set in the National
Park - there could be quite a future for Kilmaronock Church.
Congregational Sunday Services
would be conducted by the minister of Balloch and it is worth noting
that good relationships have already been established here as the
current minister of Alexandria Parish Church in Balloch is already
the interim moderator at Kilmaronock Gartocharn. During the period of
the pilot it would be important that this congregation seeks to
become once more fully self-supporting - a task which this proposal
will make significantly easier. (This is discussed further in
Appendix C)
Balloch
Of course, at present there is no
Church of Balloch. Alexandria Parish Church sits within the community
of Balloch but serves a wider and a different parish. The proposal
contained within this discussion paper involves changing the parish
boundaries of what is at present Alexandria Parish Church and
creating a new parish of Balloch which would consist of everything to
the north of the A811 from the boundaries of the Parish of Gartocharn
to the boundaries of the Parish of Luss. (See map between pages six
and seven).
At once it has to be remembered
that such a change of boundary would not in any way disenfranchise
any existing member of Alexandria Parish Church from continuing their
membership; but it is a looking forward to where new members will
naturally come from in the future, of where the congregation's
outreach might best be played out and which it might best serve in
the years to come. While a great part of the existing parish of
Alexandria Parish Church would thus be removed from it, additional
areas, currently the responsibility of Jamestown would be added. The
establishing of this new parish for a pilot period will not prevent
an untangling of this proposal after five years because of other
plans which will have to be considered concerning the other Churches
in the Vale of Leven. This matter is considered further in Appendix A.
The question of a name for this
Church in its new parish will have to be considered. 'The Lochside
Congregation at Balloch' might be a good starting point. Luss would
then become 'The Lochside Congregation at Luss' and so on.
The Balloch Church would be, in
the every sense, the headquarters of this new maxi-parish. The office
would be at Balloch and the minister of Balloch would lead the
ministry team. As the place of the Gateway to the National Park, the
Church would be expected to have a presence in the National Park
entrance and to promote worship, learning and reflective
opportunities within the new parish.
Luss
By the time of such a pilot as is
proposed in this document, the restoration programme at Luss Church
will have been completed and, thanks in part to the programme of
weddings which will be enhanced by the restructuring of the Church
interior, the congregation will have become self-supporting. Luss
Church - The Lochside Congregation at Luss - will seek to serve its
community in a manner similar to that of Gartocharn and will also
have an important role in ministering to the ever-increasing numbers
of visitors to the area. The second minister of the maxi-parish will
live in the manse at Luss - an important building due to the lack of
other accommodation at Luss Church.
Arrochar
Initially a question arose as to
the appropriateness of including Arrochar within this maxi-parish.
Arrochar Church itself sits at the head of Loch Long (itself part of
the National Park) but the Parish of Arrochar also includes the
shores of Loch Lomond north of Inverbeg, including Tarbet and Ardlui
- obviously both important parts both of the Loch Lomond shoreline
and of the National Park.
Arrochar is the second largest
community within the max-parish and there a new and growing
congregation will become self-supporting during the period of a pilot
programme (or before it starts). The building will have been totally
refurbished by the end of 2002 and is held on lease by local trustees
from the General Trustees of the Church of Scotland until 2019.
Appointments of Ministerial Staff
The question will arise about the
appointment of ministers to the new maxi-parish. This paper proposes
that the minister of those parts of the congregation which worship
and live in Balloch, Gartocharn and Kilmaronock appoint and call the
minister who will be based in Balloch while those who worship and
live in Luss and Arrochar appoint and call the minister who will live
in Luss. In the future it may be that the parish will become truly
one parish, with one communion roll and with members moving from
worship center to worship center from week to week - at that stage,
following the successful completion of the pilot phase, this would
have to be reconsidered and it is an exciting area to think about -
not just services at different times in different communities, but
different kinds of worship at different places for different
groupings of people and even with places of worship adapted for
differing worship needs.
The Next Step
This document has been prepared to
be considered by the Kirk Sessions and members of each of the
congregations affected by these proposals. It is also appropriate
that an indication of our thinking be given to the Presbytery
Reappraisal Committee. It is only, of course, a discussion document -
a discussion document designed to stimulate thought and discussion -
but one which takes seriously the need to reduce ministerial
staffing, the special opportunities presenting themselves with the
creation of the National Park, and the uncertainty about how best to
provide staffing for the Parish of Kilmaronock Gartocharn. With the
opportunity of a pilot programme, this proposal provides the
opportunity of testing the waters, of getting feet wet, without
creating a situation which cannot be reversed should it prove
unacceptable after a period of experimentation.
H. Dane Sherrard,
Luss Manse.
April, 2002
Appendices:
A
The Congregation of the Vale
B
Other Alternatives
C
Congregational Financial Obligations
D
And when should it all begin?
Appendix A
The Congregation of the Vale
Change is always difficult for any
congregation. For Alexandria Parish Church change will be
particularly hard for in their recent past many of the congregation
of this strong parish church will have experienced considerable
change and readjustment - and now this paper is proposing more.
It must be said at the outset that
this congregation has both most to lose and potentially most to gain
from this proposal. In terms of loss it will lose much of its
existing parish with all of the story and feeling that go with that.
Indeed, it will lose its historic responsibility for the parish after
which it is named: Alexandria. None of its members, whether living in
Balloch or Alexandria or gathered from wherever will have to lose
their contact with their Church - it will still be their own.
On the positive side, this new
Church in the existing Alexandria Parish Church (placed by historic
accident in Balloch) will become the lead church in a new and
exciting approach to serving the people of Scotland in a new
millennium. It will house the new administrative base of the new
maxi-parish; it will have additional support for pastoral care and
working with others in both the congregation and parish; it will
provide a realistic way forward for the communities at Kilmaronock
and Gartocharn and provide support and assistance for the communities
at Luss and Arrochar; its minister will head the Lochside ministerial
team and the congregation will spearhead mission to the thousands who
will come to Scotland's first National Park and by tying in its
future with the National Park and the proposed Lochside Parish will
safeguard its own future for the foreseeable future.
Until this proposal emerged it was
anticipated that Alexandria Parish Church would join Bonhill,
Jamestown and Renton Parish Churches in creating a new maxi-parish in
the Vale. Although the plan was still in the earliest stages of
development it was expected that all four places of worship would be
maintained with a smaller team of full-time ministerial staff.
At one stage the possibility of a
huge maxi-parish comprising all of the Churches of the Vale along
with Kilmaronock Gartocharn, Luss and Arrochar was discussed. This
paper does not follow that proposal because the intrinsic nature of
the two parts of this proposed maxi-parish are too diverse. The Kirk
Session of Jamestown Parish Church had already made it clear to
Presbytery that its future did not lie with Gartocharn and this had
been accepted and agreed both by Presbytery and by the Kirk Session
of Kilmaronock which felt equally strongly that its future did not
lie with the Churches of the Vale.
Instead a proposal has emerged
which builds on what the new grouping has in common - the National
Park, the lochside, tourism - the land and the water. Luss and
Arrochar both fit well within this strategy but would more naturally
look towards Helensburgh than the Vale in other matters; both Luss
and Arrochar are now part of Argyll, both look to Helensburgh for
secondary education etc.
But matters will not stand still
in the Vale. There the three Churches of Bonhill, Renton and
Jamestown will work together to establish a ministry programme
appropriate for them. It seems appropriate to the author of this
paper that at this stage everyone should be encouraged to think of
the A811 as the boundary between the Lochside Congregation and the
Congregations of the Vale. But in this day and age ordinary people
often pay little attention to parish boundaries - an arrangement
between congregations with the agreement of Presbytery could enable
the using of the A811 boundary for the period of a pilot experiment.
After this page (between pages six
and seven) are printed two pages with maps on them. The first is a map
showing the approximate area of the proposed new maxi-parish.
This map shows very graphically the proposed realignment of the
parish with the area of the Loch Lomond National Park. The second map
shows the areas covered by the present Parishes of Alexandria,
Jamestown, Bonhill and Renton. On that map the red line marks the
A811 which, it is proposed, will become the boundary between the
Churches of the Lochside and the Churches of the Vale. That part of
the new parish to the east of the River Leven and north of the A811
is currently part of the Parish of Jamestown. The area south of the
A811 to the west of the River Leven identified on the map as
Alexandria would move from the present Alexandria Parish to become
part of the Churches of the Vale.
Looking in more detail at the
parish changes, this proposal involves the removal from the Parish of
Jamestown of the Mollanbowie and Lomond Road Estates as well as a
number of houses on the Drymen Road. These estates, which appear to
the author of this paper to fit appropriately into a Parish of
Balloch looking to the Lochside, will be added to by the new
Drumkinnon Bay Estate which is being built within the present Parish
of Alexandria. It may be felt, perhaps, that these areas which it
seems appropriate to move from Jamestown Parish are among the more
wealthy areas on which every parish relies for financial support. To
this there are two important rejoinders: firstly, no-one will be
asked to move their own Church allegiance, parish boundaries are
important for the Church in terms of Church planning, they are less
so to ordinary members of the community - although in this instance
it would be instructive to identify the numbers of members currently
attending Jamestown Church from these estates as it is strongly
believed that the new arrangement proposed in this discussion
document will lead to more effective mission to these lochside areas.
The second important rejoinder is that similar areas of private
housing will be removed from the existing Parish of Alexandria and
transferred to the Churches in the Vale. These areas include all of
the Main Street of Alexandria itself as well as the Tullichewan
Estate. Of particular importance in all of this planning, however, is
that parish boundaries are created which allow the Congregation and
Kirk Session of Jamestown Parish Church to follow the future which
they have identified for themselves as a part of the community of the
Vale, while enabling a viable future to be created for the Kirk
Session and Congregation of Kilmaronock Gartocharn with similar
communities as part of the congregation of the Lochside. The present
position of all of the Churches involved in the plan is ideal to
enable this proposal to be successful.
Should, however, the pilot prove
unsatisfactory the matter of the 'Parish of Balloch' would go back
into the melting pot with the other Churches of the Vale which are
anticipating moving to some kind of resolution in around six or seven
years or so from now (when periods of reviewable tenure fall due to
be reviewed). It could really be that the time is right for that
pilot to begin!
Appendix B
Other Alternatives
Kilmaronock Gartocharn
For Kilmaronock Gartocharn this
proposal offers a good way forward. Alternative proposals including
linking in at least two directions have come to nothing and the only
solution envisaged by both congregation and Presbytery was for this
congregation to pursue the idea of a part-time ministry.
The possibility of a retired
minister being appointed to look after the congregation had been
discussed but Church of Scotland regulations presently in force
prohibit the appointment of a minister past retirement age to even a
part-time charge. With an ever decreasing pool of full-time ministers
and an increasing number of retired able-bodied ministers this is a
regulation which requires to be reviewed.
However it might be possible to
identify a part-time minister from those currently working in
non-parochial appointments in Glasgow perhaps who would agree to live
in the parish in a manse and conduct Sunday worship and moderate the
Kirk Session. While providing a way forward, such a part-time
ministry would entail selling the existing manse in Kilmaronock and
buying a new smaller manse. While there would be money over with
which to refurbish the Church at Gartocharn, it is unlikely that
there would be money available to save the Kilmaronock Church
building. Also, by definition, a part-time minister would not always
be available and might have commitments which would have to take
precedence over local church needs.
By contrast this new proposal
gives the congregation and parish a full programme of ministerial
cover by tying it into a team responsible not only for the people of
Kilmaronock Gartocharn but for Balloch and other similar
congregations to their own at Luss and Arrochar. This proposal is
good news for Kilmaronock Gartocharn.
Luss and Arrochar
The Kirk Sessions of both Arrochar
and Luss have realised that there will be change in the future due to
the projected shortage of ministers. A number of possible ways
forward have been suggested.
The first possibility is that the
link between Luss and Arrochar be broken and Luss linked with Rhu and
Arrochar with Garelochhead. The second is for Luss and Arrochar to
unite and then for the united congregation to be linked with Rhu. A
final possibility is for both congregations together and individually
to explore the part-time option, possibly augmented by
locally-trained readers and worship leaders.
None of these possibilities is
ideal, although some have the benefit of tying Arrochar and Luss in
with congregations within the same administrative and educational area.
However, the imaginative proposal
to create a lochside parish suggests a much better way forward. The
future of both Arrochar and Luss is totally tied in with tourism and
the National Park; this proposal will enable both to be part of a
maxi-parish with outreach to tourism at its heart. Both Arrochar and
Luss are small congregations lacking the resources and support which
involvement in a maxi-parish will bring; both can look forward to an
involvement in such an experiment with confidence and enthusiasm.
Appendix C
Congregational Financial Obligations
As matters stand at the present
date only the congregation at Balloch is a self-supporting
congregation. It would remain the responsibility of that congregation
during the period of the pilot programme to pay the stipend and
ancillary costs of the minister called by that congregation. While
neither the congregation at Arrochar nor the congregation at Luss is
currently self-supporting it would be the responsibility of the joint
congregations there to pay the stipend and ancillary costs of the
minister called by them. It would also be expected that the Church of
Scotland would continue to pay such aid as is agreed to that stipend
during the period of the pilot programme and that both congregations
should move to become self-supporting during that programme.
The congregation at Kilmaronock
Gartocharn has only recently become aid-receiving. However, under
this new proposal the congregation would be expected to be
self-supporting and be responsible for stipend and ancillary costs of
the equivalent of a part-time retired minister to work as part of the
ministerial team.
In addition, according to a
formula worked out and agreed by all of the constituent parts of this
new pilot parish, each congregation would become responsible for a
proportion of the salary of a secretary to be based in the new Church
Office at Balloch. Each congregation, individually and together would
also agree to set up a joint fund-raising programme to equip a Church
Office and to make application to fund holders and trusts which might
contribute to this enterprise.
Finally, the Church of Scotland,
through the Presbytery of Dumbarton, would be approached with a view
to the appropriate committee appointing, or funding to enable local
parties to appoint, for the period of the pilot programme, an
additional worker to facilitate and co-ordinate mission and outreach
in the National Park among both visitors and local people. It is
worth noting that such is the interest that this proposal will
generate that it might well be appropriate to spend some time
approaching some of the Trusts and Funding Bodies operating in
Scotland for assistance with additional staff to enable the new
parish to take advantage fully of the opportunities which will be
presented to the Church as the National Park comes into being.
Appendix D
And when should it all begin?
It is understood that the present
minister of the Parish of Kilmaronock and Gartocharn is due to retire
in around two years time. Discussions and negotiations should be
completed in time to enable this pilot programme to begin immediately
on his retiral. In the eventuality of his retiral before that date
the programme should be started as soon after that retiral as is
realistically possible.
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