GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND
SPECIAL COMMISSION – REVIEW AND REFORM


Appendix 1: Listening to Many Voices

Listening, reflecting, discerning and deciding. These have been the task of the Commission. The first stage of listening has meant taking account of many voices.

1. The Commission
We listened to ourselves. We began here, not because we knew better than others, but in the belief that God’s dreams and our human frustrations are woven together into our experience of life. We told of our passions and our frustrations and shared our journeys of faith. From the beginning we recognised the need to discover the meaning of faith for a new generation and the community to embody it. Worship and daily spirituality were high on our list of concerns, as was our desire to see God’s gifts released into God’s service as the Church in the world.

2. Boards and Committees
Every General Secretary was interviewed to gather an overview of the work of the church and the issues as they saw them. Among the many visions and dreams being expressed by so many, there was a frustration that our current structures did not serve the purpose of the Gospel reaching the whole nation. 

There was a desire for more relational qualities of trust and communication. There was no real forum for deciding overall priorities. Church issues needed to be set in the context of the nation and beyond that in the global setting of a vast movement of Christian people across the world. There was an openness to change, but a concern that the change be properly paced and owned by all who were involved.

An early draft of the Commission’s ideas was circulated and discussed with Conveners and Secretaries of all Boards and Committees. The wide-ranging responses have been taken into account in the final report.

3. The Urban Priority Areas
Visits to urban priority areas and the priority areas fund (for urban and rural projects) opened up the need for vulnerability and the inspiration from Luke 10 of doing more with less, as Jesus sends us out with little. In a sector of society that assumes that the church is not for the likes of us, they wanted to be the church that likes to say ‘yes’. 

We heard a tale of two churches: despite the massive support being given to UPAs in many ways, there was a feeling that the “other church” did not understand the massively complex challenges being faced by fragile communities of Christians. The gauntlet was thrown down to the Commission to deliver something that will make a difference – the litmus test of “policy at the point of delivery of service.” 

4. The Highlands
A survey was undertaken of congregations in Sutherland. We recognised the rich spiritual tradition of this part of the church, but saw how the treasure was locked into prison houses of traditionalism. Some of the best and the worst of the Reformed heritage is to be found here: the rich emphasis on the Word of God and prayer, but the constant fear of stepping out of line from the conventional inherited patterns. 

The “temple template” of the holiness tradition assumes an inward pull of the Spirit and constrains the missionary movement to go where people are. The scandal of divided Presbyterianism is a cause for deep concern and repentance. Remote communities looked for a decentralisation of power and responsibility. 


5. Rural Areas
Rural means different things to different people: from Buchan to Ayrshire, or Angus to Newcastleton.  Commissioners carried with them rural experience in touch with the rural crises in farming and housing, the pressures of multiple linkages and the good news stories of ministry teams to sustain worship and witness in the various communities. Heartfelt cries for a “ministry of truth” were heard from places where the system was breaking down and needed to start again.

6. Towns and Cities
In our towns and cities where church was operating as a focus for community life and family support, we heard stories of congregations building long term from the crèche up, and reshaping buildings to serve the community. 

The aspirations for the ministry of the people of God were often frustrated by the time constraints on people: fragmented families divide loyalties and demanding business pressures rob communities and churches of the people’s time. 

In the complexity of city life, it was impossible to go it alone. We heard of partnerships of churches and “matrix ministries” between sector and parish or centre and suburbs. In our postmodern society city ministry operates in an archipelago of mini-cultures each requiring its own pattern of church.

7. Elders
In an attempt to listen to elders, we gathered comments from a number of focus groups of elders around the country, though not so often as we intended in the beginning. The readiness for our core leadership to face change was challenging and encouraging. Here is a sample of their concerns:

   Prayer - developing personal spirituality and corporate prayer
   Church in the Community - engaging in evangelism and social justice
   Recruitment and retention of members - winning, keeping and building disciples 
   Life-long learning - deepening faith and living faith in the everyday world
   Communication - harnessing new technology for new generation
   Parish System - working a team system 
   Ecumenism - working towards greater cooperation
   Patterns of worship - offering a variety of options
   Participation - increasing the range of involvement in worship and other activities
   Ministers and elders - developing better teamwork
   Ministers and elders - reviewing and encouraging training
   Radical Change - managing change carefully

These comments highlight the key areas of discontent, and discontent is the precursor of change. Looking at this list, the question that stands out is: What is stopping the change? What is needed to release people?  

8. Thenew
“Thenew”, named after the mother of St Mungo is dedicated to identifying and eliminating violence and abuse towards women in church and society. A lively conversation with one group alerted us to the ways in which women today feel excluded from an institution that has been created by men, and sensitised us to the pain felt by abused women in our use of language and in the assumed styles of organising and decision-making. 

9. Chaplains
Reports from some chaplains reminded us of those who are daily immersed in the places where people face the greatest stresses and strains of life. Here was incarnational ministry seeking to be where people are, connect the Christian Gospel with the life issues and bear witness to Christ beyond the safety zones of our churches, bother pastorally and prophetically. 

There was feeling that many of the patterns of ministry being worked out by these specialists offered clues to the parish ministry today. There needed to be a closer link between these specialists and congregational life. If the UPAs reflect a tale of
two churches, the chaplaincies reflect a tale of two ministries that have not been recognised as mutual and complementary.

10. Journalists
We set out to meet with people who could give an outsider’s view of the Church. Among them we heard from journalists who spoke of the need for the church to relate to the new identity of the Scottish nation, and to address the loss of trust in society. There was still a massive respect for the church as an institution, but a growing lack of “insider knowledge” among journalists. The need for some clearer system of a “church voice” was raised.

11. The Video: A Church without Walls
Around 100 congregations responded to the video, “A Church without Walls”, distributed in the summer of 2000, focusing on the themes of relationships, resources and risk. While there was some criticism of the video’s lack of rural context and its sweeping statements on church finance, the responses were substantially positive about the key themes. There was strong affirmation of ecumenical partnerships, decentralisation, the need for ministry appraisal and the recognition of the need for two churches to run side by side. 

People were concerned about the missing generations, “central-beltism” and the need for a focus on discipleship, new patterns of ministerial training and a readiness to challenge injustices. All responses were analysed and discussed by the Commission. 

12. The Scottish Churches
At an early stage we invited Kevin Franz, Secretary of Action of Churches Together in Scotland, to spend time with the Commission. This gave us insights into the variety of contexts in Scotland and affirmed the Church of Scotland as having “the charism of a big heart”. 

At a later stage we had the benefit of responses from Sr Maire Gallagher, Convener of ACTS. Other churches were given drafts of the report and  invited to comment. Conversations with our own Ecumenical Relations Committee helped sustain our awareness of our neighbouring churches.

13. Finance
The financial expertise of the General Treasurer has been freely offered as we have wrestled with the complexities of a financial system comprising of over 4000 separate funds, and the inherited allegiances which they represent.

We have received challenging advice from Professor Ewan Brown, Investment Banker, and Sir David Tweedie, past chairman of the Accounting Standards Board, both of whom are serving elders of the Church. They have helped us separate strategic issues from the technical detail of day to day financial management. Amidst the range of opinions and emotions generated by money, we have tried to hold to the theology of grace and faith: faithful to the God who in Jesus Christ gives generously and invites us to trust unreservedly. 

Listening has taken many forms. Through the courtesy of World Mission, National Mission, Ecumenical Relations, Ministry, Parish Education, former Moderators, the Coordinating Forum, the Assembly Council, the Priority Areas Fund, The Scottish Youth Focus, the National Youth Assembly, the Committee on Presbytery Boundaries and various Presbytery groupings, we have been involved in fruitful conversations about the future of the Church. 

Through personal conversations with individuals including theologians, sociologists, business people and others with a concern for the future of the church, ideas and opinions have been shaped and moulded. 

How well the Commission has listened, reflected, discerned and distilled the wisdom of these people is for others to decide. For our part, we thank each and all for their time and wisdom freely and generously given. 


GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND
SPECIAL COMMISSION – REVIEW AND REFORM

Appendix 2: The Church and The State: The Declaratory Articles 	
   There are various ways in which a national Church can relate constitutionally to the political environment in which it is set.  One model, uncommon nowadays, is for the Church to rule all aspects of the life of the community with no separate secular authority (or one that is subordinated to the ultimate religious authority).  A second model, pejoratively termed ‘Erastian’ after an early Swiss example, gives the secular power all ultimate authority, with the Church subject to that worldly jurisdiction.  The third model avoids either of the above tendencies, either by separating the jurisdictions of Church and State so that each has its area of rule, or else by encouraging the Church to be a completely conventional voluntary organisation within society subject to the jurisdiction of civil law - so far as civil law can appropriately regulate the Church’s affairs. 
   Scottish History
   There is little trace in Scottish history of the first model of power, though there is evidence of the influence of the Papacy in political history. 
   The turbulent history of the post-Reformation Church in its relations with the Stuart Dynasty represented the resistance of the Reformers and their successors to an Erastian connection with the emerging British nation-state. The tendency of interference by those kings (e.g. the Black Acts of 1583, the Articles of Perth in 1618, Laud’s Liturgy introduced in 1637) took several generations to dismiss. 
   After the settlement of the House of Orange in 1690, a different ethos prevailed, and there developed a sense of parallel jurisdictions being the civil powers in secular matters and the Church’s courts in ecclesiastical matters. This was a recognition by the state of an ancient, fundamental and inherent property of the Church, and not as something devolved or conceded by the State.
   Establishment
   The theory of Establishment, put simply, is the belief that the State has a responsibility to provide, fund and/or protect the existence of a national religion. It is the articulation of a spiritual duty on the part of the civil power, and therefore differs from the issue discussed above of secular interference in the Church’s internal affairs.
   However, the two issues, the State’s right to interfere and its responsibility to protect, have often been confusing, and never more so than in reading the history of the nineteenth century. In the Ten Years’ Conflict immediately before the Disruption, the Court of Session regarded the Establishment of the Church as justification for extensive civil interference in its affairs. When Thomas Chalmers led the Disruption in 1843, he made it clear that he was not criticising the theory of Establishment, but only necessarily leaving the Established Church on the principle of religious freedom. When the Free Church switched its allegiance to the (unsuccessful) Disestablishment campaign of the 1880s, it was in the recognition that there was no disentangling spiritual independence from disestablishment, and pursuing the former principle necessitated supporting the latter. So the mid-nineteenth century witnessed the Free Church supporting Establishment with spiritual freedom and the United Presbyterian (formerly Secession) Church insisting on the same spiritual freedom but with the Voluntary principle of financial self-maintenance. Only with the change in the Free Church’s position could the union of those Churches proceed in 1900, to form the UF Church.
   The Articles Declaratory
   The Articles Declaratory presented a new self-understanding of the Church of Scotland and took a minutely precise course through the differences of principle of the Established and United Free Churches. All the precious spiritual demands of both sides were to be met, in a Church that would be national but free, related to the state but not Established in the old sense, territorial but not subject to external authority. They were a remarkable accomplishment, overcoming differences that many people thought were insuperable.
   In terms of the distinctions made at the beginning of this appendix, this was a settlement which continued down the route of separate jurisdictions. In the areas of doctrine, worship, government and discipline the Church has its independent spiritual jurisdiction, and has proved successful in fending off attempts at civil actions in those types of case.
   Current critique of the settlement as it pertains today would include the following difficulties.
   Power or Love. The trouble with taking a legal jurisdiction and dividing it between the secular and Church courts on the basis of subject matter, is that it assumes that the kind of authority the Church has (or seeks) is a worldly kind of power. Ecclesiology like Ruth Page’s distinguishes models of ‘power from above’ from the gospel paradigm of love, attraction and service. The exercise, by the courts of the Church, of a legal power of command or punishment is not convincingly founded in theology. The gospel virtues of service and humility do not sit well with the dignity of a self-contained legal system in the Church. The Church should be uncomfortable with any top-down power.
   Privilege and the Church. Other Churches in Scotland have the constitutional status of voluntary organisations, and the civil law largely leaves them to govern their own affairs internally, provided they do so justly. The Church of Scotland bases its claims to spiritual independence on a legislative provision that only we have. The Church should not be a guardian of privilege, and one branch of it should not rejoice to have privileges others do not share, unless particular good can come of it.
   European Convention on Human Rights. The ECHR, now directly accessible in the Scottish Courts, provides protection in Article 9 for freedom of religious expression. Since the vast bulk of our debate and internal case-law about doctrine, worship, government and discipline does not hold the slightest interest for the civil law or courts, the general protection afforded to all religious organisations by this Article probably secures a liberty of internal regulation for the Church of Scotland which will scarcely differ in substance and effect from the specific privilege of the 1921 Act. The Special Commission rejoices that religious liberty is still regarded as a fundamental human right, and the Church benefits from this international recognition.



GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND
SPECIAL COMMISSION


Appendix No. 3: A Healthy Church

Integrity
means:

Jesus is at the core,
He is the beginning, middle and end of our story
We remember our Church's experience covers thousands of years.
What we say is consistent with what we do.

   Body and Soul
means:

We strive for a lasting face to face encounter with God
We involve the whole person and the whole people of God
The quality of our worship and devotion are vital
The whole of life is our concern

   Open House
means:

We welcome all with open doors
and open arms
We go out to find the uninvited
We make our home among need
We listen and we speak

   Growth
means:

We are trainees learning skills
We are followers on the road
Seeds have to be nurtured before they will bear fruit
God adds to our number

   Local
means:

The global good news needs to be spoken in a local accent
We choose to be real rather than virtual
We value every locality

   Love and Care
means:

Our Community will only be satisfied with
Christlike relationships
We put our hands to work


How can these characteristics be cultivated in 21st Century soil? 
Where do we see them being well cultivated today? 
What about other characteristics? 
They may be beautiful, efficient and sensible, but are they necessary?



GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND
SPECIAL COMMISSION


Appendix 4: The Church in Context

The Church in the Highlands

Factors of Geography
The Highland Church has many distinctive features, not least its geography and scattered population. In 1999, the roll of the whole Presbytery of Sutherland was 1096. While being fully aware of the number of adherents who are more active than most Lowland members, we must set these numbers against the fact that the small congregations are scattered around hundreds of miles of the coast of Sutherland. 

The Highland life is rich in its natural network of community, but isolation and distance can also lead to insularity. The traditional community is being changed as “new Highlanders” migrate from the South, enriching the community in many ways, but sometimes skewing the local economy by buying up houses for holiday homes at prices locals could never afford.

These factors of geography affect the whole community: the range of educational opportunities from single pupil schools to Dingwall Academy of 1300 pupils, with pupils having to travel large distances and often boarding out during the week. The same is true for health where services are focused in Inverness, a two and and half hour drive from Wick. A trip to the cinema from Scourie may mean an overnight stay in Inverness. 

Factors of History
The Highland Church is very distinctive. Its history is marked by the strength of diverse Presbyterianism, remnants of Episcopalianism and pockets of Roman Catholicism overlaid on centuries of clan loyalties created by our geography of mountains, glens, lochs and islands. At the same time it is not unusual for the Highland church to be home to people of many different traditions. Other denominations have to stretch their resources very widely: the non-stipendiary Episcopal priest in Lairg cares for four congregations, while being the local chemist.

Factors of Spirituality
The inheritance is a mix of affirmations and challenges. We affirm the deep prayer and quiet spirituality of the people which is an inspiration to many - a unique contribution to the renewal church in faithful prayer. We affirm the place of the church in the community where it will have a central role even for those who may not be actively committed. The role of elders and Readers in preaching and leading worship is an example to other parts of the church of local leadership.

We affirm the creative and inspiring responses to being the church today. Consider the youth outreach at Bayhead in Stornoway, with young people from all the churches reaching out at night to the vulnerable young folk on the streets. Travel to Benbecula and the attempts to be the church in the community or Barra with its lively congregation living peaceably with the Roman Catholic majority.  Gairloch has shown the way in quietly developing the people of God in ministry  as has Killearnan and Dornoch.  Radical new approaches to worship, discipleship and outreach  are being implemented at Hilton, and Tongue has made use of modern technology to make worship lively and breathe with the mood of today. There are many other stories to tell - from different denominations and different areas.

Factors of Identity
The issues that challenge the Highland church are primarily issues of identity. At one level that is about a negative identity based on inherited criteria of doctrine and practice adopted as acceptable conventions, usually to mark groups out from each other. The divisiveness in one village of several little churches based on secondary identities other than Jesus Christ is a scandal to the Gospel in many places. There needs to be the rediscovery of our positive identity in Christ that set us free to cross old barriers.

Identity lies at the heart of the recurring adherents issue. Who are we? Who belongs here? Who is in and who is out? How do we pass through this “buffer zone”, “ecclesiastical no-man’s-land”?  Church is defined by boundaries rather than by the centre in Jesus Christ. Instead of the image of Jesus bringing sheep within the walls of the sheep-fold, perhaps we need to think of Jesus in the midst of the crowd. People who are physically close to him may be in opposition to him, while those at the edge of the crowd are straining to hear and follow. 

The identity of the Church must change because the identity of the Highlands is changing. It is one of the romantic myths about Scotland that because the mountains and glens are measured in millennia that the people are not themselves subject to change or initiators of change. The history of the highlands is one of dramatic social change, and recent patterns of life are affected by improved transport links, information technology, population migration and the all-pervasive media-saturated culture. The pace of change may be more measured, but the fact of change is a given of life. 

Factors of Theology
The Highland church must change if it is to follow Jesus more obediently. Like the church at large needs to revisit its roots in the Gospels, going behind the inherited shibboleths of Disruption and Reformation and redefine its identity as the people of God for the emerging generation of highland children. There is a crucial theological issue of being the church for all or the church for some - limited atonement means limited church. Open church does not mean an easy universalism, but it does mean an inclusiveness to share the journey that will reveal Christ on the road.  

One underlyng spiritual issue for the whole church is the issue of fear - fear of change, fear of stepping out of line, fear of failing or being seen to fail. It may be that the Highland tradition of tough independence of mind can be sanctified for the renewal of the church. Instead of being hi-jacked as a reactionary mindset to affirm Highland identity over against central-beltism, it might be baptised into Christ as a readiness to turn sterile conservatism into a dynamic radicalism - a return to the Word of God and to prayer and the community of faith as primarily about relationships not religious observance. That radicalism would be a gift to the wider church.

Factors of “Temple Christianity”
The main challenge to the Highland concept of church lies in the fact that many churches operate with a kind of “Temple Christianity”. This mindset lies behind the recurring refrain that “I am not good enough” to be a member or an elder. The way of grace is the way of release from that way of guilt and unworthiness. That involves breaking the “temple template” that lies embedded in the religious psyche.

The Temple operated with an outer court for the Gentiles, and inner court for the people of Israel, a priestly court and then the Holy of Holies for the High Priest. Highland churches have the same gradations of access, which have been socialised as the “adherents” (God-fearing Gentiles), the people of Israel (members), the court of the priests  (the elders) and the High Priest ( the minister). The model means that law is the core, not grace. When Jesus died, the Holy of holies was burst open, a new priesthood was released among the people and the boundary wall of Jew and Gentile was broken down. The legal model operates from the outside in. The grace model operates from the centre out, removing the barriers and opening the doors. 

The text for Highland renewal may be the Letter to the Hebrews - an extraordinarily subversive letter. In it the writer uses the imagery of Temple, priesthood and sacrifice to explain the ministry of Jesus Christ in a way that shows that all three are now fulfilled in him. The Temple model has been superseded. As we move to the end of the letter, the static imagery of Temple is overtaken by the mobile procession of the people of God who are to keep their eyes on Jesus, and we are taken back behind the Temple in the City to worship in the wilderness, and end by meeting Jesus “outside the camp”. 

Factors of Mission Strategy 
It follows from this image of Jesus “outside the camp” that we are no longer to wait for people to come to us - an image reinforced by centuries of singing Psalms about the nations coming to Zion. The missionary muscle of the Highland church has withered under that imagery. It is time for the Christian people of the church to go and meet Jesus “outside the camp” and to meet Christ’s absent friends. Jesus’ way of holiness was not worked out in separation from people. He was separated to God, but he was totally involved with people. So much so that they called him the “friends of tax collectors and sinners.” If we made up our minds that “any friend of Jesus is a friend of mine”, our lifestyles would be turned inside out and we would become the “church without walls.”
 
A Reformation that put Jesus Christ above every religious convention, deconstructed the ecclesiastical pecking order and turned a static-gathered church into a mobile scattered church who began to find Jesus beyond our walls in strangely “unholy” places - now that would be  
a Reformation worthy of the name.

The Church in Rural Areas

Rural Variations
Almost 50% of Church of Scotland congregations are in rural areas.  “Rural” covers many different contexts. The Borders are different from Buchan. The Western Isles are different from the Northern Isles. Angus is different from Argyll. Rural ministry begins with respect for locality, a “knack for here” (Wendell Berry).

Rural life feels the threat of a succession of farming crises, fuel costs and limited transport. Housing prices are affected by the arrival of people from wealthier areas, or the extension of villages into commuter areas for cities and towns. The pace of life will vary from area to area and within the one community. The tension of different expectations between the traditional families and the incomers can be an issue in community life and in congregational life. Community life is sacrosanct. Feelings are usually private. The quality of life is valued, and there are deep motivations to conservation and conservatism.

Size
Rural church is usually small – the family sized church, where leadership lies with key people rather than official leadership. Young people move out for jobs and education. Leadership can sometimes be limited in numbers, but at their best elders are well-informed and personally concerned. Names are more important than numbers. Certain areas such as Angus and Buchan still have conventional pulls to membership, but attendance is low. Nominalism is endemic. 

Linkages
The strains on rural church life lie in the multiple linkages, making massive drains on finances and time. This feature of rural church life more than any other, makes rural church and ministry distinctive. Add a vacancy or two in a rural Presbytery and it becomes unmanageable. The cost of maintaining buildings takes more money than can be justified in terms of the advancement of the Kingdom. 

In some situations, it is time for the common sense that offers transport to a central point and the benefit of an enthusiastic worshipping congregation rather than three demoralized groups of die-hards. By contrast, where churches have developed local worship teams, such as Upper Tweeddale, worship has been sustained in local communities by local people, with the support of the minister. 

On the other hand, in Orkney, the children asked why they went to one school but had to attend different churches. The outcome was united worship for the good of everybody. In some linkages, more could be done to affirm the distinctives, and let different churches develop different ministries and styles of worship. Instead of a reactionary defensiveness, it could be a proactive strategy to have a youth congregation or reflective worship or a “peace and justice” centre. Celebrate positive difference.

Denominational Allegiance
The potential for ecumenical cooperation varies from area to area. In some parts of Scotland, the Church of Scotland is the only church for miles, with the challenge of offering a spiritual home to people from many different traditions. This is both enriching and demanding, depending on attitudes and expectations. Membership rules need to be loosened to allow the gifts of people from other backgrounds to share in the governance of the congregation without requiring a change in denominational allegiance. 

Patterns of Leadership
A General Kirk Session in a linked charge can allow the elders to come together around issues of strategy or to consider wider matters of church, nation or world concern. The individual Kirk Sessions can deal with the day-to-day issues of the local congregation and community. Finding elders can be difficult for reasons that are as much cultural as spiritual, and looser patterns of organization are needed to let the natural leadership be expressed without the full weight of officialdom. 

One minister pleads for a “ministry of truth” about situations where the old ways are just not working. The numbers are so low that morale has gone. The leadership is tired. The church has cut itself off from the community and lost the simple art of communication and basic courtesy. Presbytery is often too close to the situation to challenge the issues. 

Team ministry is essential for linked charges over wide areas. Gairloch developed a team of preaching elders to sustain worship in the different communities. Aberfeldy has employed a youth worker (formerly a dentist) to work in the schools, and develop new patterns of worship. Readers are being appointed to linked charges and given pastoral responsibilities to develop a true pastor-teacher relationship instead of being the occasional preacher. 

Teams from within, or by employment, or through collaboration with other denominations are essential for the future of the rural church. Preparing the churches for multiple ministries might be the single priority of rural Presbyteries in the foreseeable future.

Church and Community
The rural church is usually immersed in the local community as the leaven in the dough. Church and community are not marked off by clear boundaries. Evangelism is best done when shaped by the human life cycle or the cycle of Christian year – the times when community attends church and are part of the faith community. One church offers the theme of pilgrimage and marks out milestones for each year – a journey to travel together. Another prays for all the children on the cradle roll. Another invites the families of all baptised children to a special service once a year.

Spirituality
The faith of the rural church is seldom vocal. Some people have found inspiration in the Celtic renaissance, where life and faith are gently woven together. Worship in small numbers requires thought and creativity on the part of the person leading the worship, and a different degree of involvement for the congregation. In some places, where the old ways are sustained for no better reason than that we have always done it this way, worship can be more exhausting than inspiring. In other places, like the Western Isles, a deep and quiet spirituality permeates the most traditional of gatherings. 

Presbytery
The formation of the Committee on Presbytery Boundaries was largely due to the concerns about rural Presbyteries that had become too small to be sustainable. There is a deep frustration about trying to service central demands, and mirror General Assembly structures, with limited personnel. 

Whatever the final outcome of Presbytery changes, these rural areas need “upside down” church, which takes its agenda from the local congregations and offers support, encouragement and inspiration to the small churches in the area. Rural church will find much to affirm and challenge in the twin themes of “local and relational”.



The Church in Urban Priority Areas

Through the able assistance of the Rev Ian Moir, then Urban Adviser, members of the Commission were invited to meet people working in parishes in the North of Glasgow and in an ecumenical partnership in the Inner East End of Glasgow. The Rev John Miller, then Convener of the UPA Committee, joined the Commission for a debriefing on the experience. The Commission expresses appreciation for the time and effort put into the preparations and presentations.

Starting at the End
From the experience, the Commission highlighted important signs for the Church:
- The flexibility to respond to community needs with openness and hospitality.
- The call to be the Church that likes to say “Yes” to people who assume rejection.
- The readiness to go empty-handed, like the disciples described in Luke chapter 10.
- The commitment to focus 70% of congregational time in the community.
- The cooperation between the churches of different traditions.
- The creative use of volunteers and their gifts.
- The need to go beyond the usual statistics to find alternative measures of a healthy church.
- The fragility of these situations, highlighting a church divided over resources.
- The dispersal of poverty throughout cities means it is less visible than it once was.
- The drain of the same people seeking funding from a limited range of sources.
- The mixed blessing of buildings - signs in the community, but a drain on time and money.
- The principle that “public policy is to be judged by effectiveness at the point of delivery.”

The Commission was left with uncomfortable questions about the divided church where resources need to be reallocated. Why should these congregations on the edge of mission have to spend so much time and energy seeking funding from sources beyond the church? Is the Gospel really perceived as good news for the poor in Scotland?

From the Beginning.....
An Urban Priority Area is so designated by indicators from the Scottish Office and the National Census. There are 330 parishes in Scotland containing at least 10% of the worst 20% of the most deprived population. Of the 330 parishes, 100 are within the Presbytery of Glasgow. 

Much has been written about work in these areas, but, the Commission records is visits to  parishes in Ruchill, Colston Milton and Possilpark, all of which over 90% UPA status. 

Ruchill
The minister of Ruchill described three structural barriers to being the church in his area:
- buildings take up 60% of the income;
- ministers are trained to be suburban;
- doctrine gets in the way of valuing people first.

The Youth and Family worker is working in the community with children, who in turn bring teenage brothers and sisters, and finally the wider family. The key is to be 70% in the community and to build friendships with the young people where they are.

The convener of the Community Council valued the church’s involvement in the whole area in collaboration with other churches. She has been deeply affected by the local Alpha course, but challenged us to live with the realities of life, not the sham.




Summary of Key Issues
1. Be where the people are.
2. Invest in friendships around the real issues of life.
3. Find funding without having to go so far afield.
4. Consider the barriers of buildings, training of ministers and doctrine that excludes people.

Possilpark
Resources are a challenge on two fronts: the lack of money (the sectors of the church are disconnected) and the lack of members who live in the parish (the sectors of our lives are disconnected). Liberation theology thrived when the priests were on the ground and kept close to the community.

The parish is much reduced in size and a new building has given a new base for mission. The most significant development has been the Abigail Project, a cafe for drug users, involving banner-making, talks, family support groups and visits to Iona. What is emerging is a “parallel church”. It is fragile.

They are determined to be the church that likes to say “Yes” to people who assume “No”.

Summary of Key Issues
1. The cultural divide of congregation and community - and the time to be in the community.
2. The spirit of hospitality - say yes!
3. The emergence of the parallel church in the Abigail project.
4. The need for collaboration between congregations and with the wider community.
5. The funding priorities.
Colston Milton
We heard the story of the area over the forty years from being a thriving area for families to the ageing and decline of the community The result has been the draining of resources and the loss of children. The community is now becoming more responsive.

The changes in the church are: first of all, the renovation of the building to be more usable by the community; and secondly the breaking of the “ministerial mould” as lay workers lead breakfast clubs and take school assemblies. 

A strategic development has been the arts project that has attracted 80-90 young people in the worst section of the community.

Summary of Key Issues
1. Stay with the community and move with it through the generations.
2. Let the “weakness” of the few be the power to break the ministerial mould.
3. Use the building for the community.
4. Develop the arts as the way of reaching communities.

Glasgow Inner East End Churches Together
Inner East End Churches Together (IEECT) consists of Barrowfield Franciscan Friary, Bridgeton St Francis in the East (C of S), Church House (C of S), Calton Parkhead (C of S), The Episcopal East End Team, St Luke’s and St Andrew’s (C of S) and St Thomas’, Gallowgate (C of S ).



Their mission statement reads:
IEECT represents congregations from the Church of Scotland and the Episcopal Church working as a team in an open and collaborative way, identifying common concerns and problems within our communities, and discovering the present and future reality of the Kingdom of God.

We want to do this by the way we work, pray, study together, celebrating our diversity, sharing hospitality, our faith, experience, energy, love, care and concerns, not forgetting our vulnerabilities as individuals and churches together.

This mission statement is given “teeth” in a team contract based on values of respect, affirmation, safety risk and mutual care, and practical commitments to 8 meetings with specific components of worship, agenda setting, decision-making and a rotating chairperson. An annual review with an external facilitator is built into the contract.

When the Presbytery of Glasgow invited areas to develop a Mission Plan in 1998, this was done together.

The Area
A video provided a vivid insight into the area’s history, decline and current changes: closed shops, the HQ of the Orange Lodge, the Barras, the hostels for homeless people, “the grieving and hoping” as 63 new houses are built and Merchant City encroaches on the area. The population was 35,882 in 1997 - in some wards an increase of 45% since 1991.This is a growing area.

The Inner East End has some of the worst multiple deprivation enumeration districts in Europe despite years of social planning:
	75% of the population are dependent on welfare of state benefits/pensions.
	70% of school children are receiving clothing/footwear grants.
	71% of households are in receipt of housing benefits.
	6% of the population has some form of Higher or Further Education qualification.
	
The people of the area speak of lack of facilities, drug abuse, territorial rights and a low level of involvement 

In the Mission Plan, the churches mention several responses to this situation, but called for a “skills exchange” from churches around the city to meet the needs; and for funding for a skilled Project Worker to work alongside the four churches and seek wider funding.

The Church
“We are all struggling”.

One minister spoke of 100 funerals per year, while 300 people pass through Church House each week.  There has been a 45% increase in population, but congregations are small. Five members live in the parish. Five members are in full-time work and three are part-time. Drug abuse is a constant pastoral challenge. The renovation of buildings to be usable costs hundreds of thousands of pounds. 

The struggle goes on, but the journey of IEECT has begun to offer support and hope for the strugglers. The staff meets for regular lunches, and there is a programme of events for congregations and team. The minister of St Thomas’ Gallowgate is appointed with 25% of her time as facilitator for the team. Snippets of hope in the struggle.



Summary of Key Issues
1. The commitment of the church to stay with the community through the painful changes.
2. The contractual, practical nature of the commitment made by members of the team and congregations.
3. The creative appointment of one minister with 25% time allocated to ecumenical coordination.
4. The need for wider church in the Presbytery to commit people and resources to support the initiatives.

Final Comments
1. An Injustice. 
It is wrong that areas of massive need and limited resources have to go in search of financial support to sustain innovative projects. While recognising the existing commitment of the church in terms of staff, buildings and national support structures, there is still much to be done to foster stronger Presbyterial partnerships of shared resources.

2.  A Pointer
If every congregation in the land budgetted 70% of its time and efforts on being in and for the community, the church would begin to find her role again. These relationships are the foundation of authentic worship and witness of the Incarnate Christ among his people.

3. A Model
The formal structure of collaboration in the East End deserves reduplication around the country, noting the fact that one of the ministers allocates 25% of her time to facilitating this teamwork. 

4. An Image
The image used was of a “building site” where work is in progress, but the outcomes are unclear. We live with hope amidst the confusion and trust that God is not only uprooting and destroying, but building and planting.
	
5. A Question
What would give greatest encouragement to the Christian congregations of these areas? A strong affirmation that the church was backing them for the long haul, without feeling that they had to prove themselves or be judged as failures. They do not ask to be beyond accountability, but that the criteria be less about the measurables of money and membership, and more about faithfulness to the Way of Jesus. 


The Church in the City 
   
The Church in the city is a kaleidoscope of patterns covering city centre, suburbia, areas of deprivation and sector ministries in shops, industry, hospitals, universities and prisons. City life brings is own challenges to the church to think “outside the box”.
   
   Residents: The Mobile Generation
Cities are places of transience. Resident populations in city centres are often short term, and in areas like Garnethill may be multiethnic. The culture is fluid and the church in the city requires to be flexible and sensitive to keep in touch with the changing needs of the changing community.

The environment of the city is highly stimulating, with global connections. The church in the city is uniquely placed to represent the international dimensions of the Gospel, through partnerships and celebrating the church of the nations. The globalisation of the local church is essential here, but we do not yet have multiethnic teams to develop that international and multicultural focus of the church in a global world.
 
Churches in the city centre are usually gathered congregations, drawn together by family history or for a distinctive approach to worship: places noted for a preaching or teaching ministry, or churches which offer particular music or liturgical styles. There is scope in the cities to offer a range of worship and to be innovative: encouraging interaction, imaginative experience and spiritual search through services that reflect different traditions and styles. That potential is offset by the observation that our readiness for change is often in inverse proportion to the distance we travel to church. Our travelling is an investment in our chosen pattern of church. Our choice makes us resistant to change.

   Business: The Stressed out Generation
Our cities are centres of commerce. People may work in the centre and live in the suburbs. A number of city centre church buildings have been restyled to be open to the business communities: notably Renfield: St  Stephen’s in Glasgow and the current refurbishment in St George’s West, Edinburgh. Café and the chapel stand side by side.

Stress in the workplace is recognised as a modern day plague. Pastoral support is offered through chaplaincies to shopping centres and businesses. Beyond that, Christian people are looking for more connections between worship and the workplace in their worship, or through congregational groups to support them as they face real life-issues. 

In every city we have specialists – chaplains to industry, hospital, university and prison - whose expertise is seldom integrated into the life of congregations to develop local ministries to these groupings in the city. We need “matrix ministries” to let different insights inform and inspire us.

Church life can often become another source of stress. Many people in business require the service of stillness and sanctuary for the journey. That may be one of the unique gifts of the church in the city to a stressed out generation. 

   The Weekenders: The Playful Generation
Cities are places of leisure and entertainment. The church has not been good at either sharing in the carnival or being in touch with the lament that runs through that sector. Cinemas have been described as cathedrals of image and the place where we are must likely to encounter public religious discourse. One church paid for its youth group to view several films and then meet in a café to talk about them. A group of young adults meets as an informal film club and find it leads into discussing deep issues of spirituality and our times.

It has been said that the Reformation was talked about in the coffee houses of Europe. In our café culture churches would often find better quality conversations meeting “off site” in the ordinary meeting places of the city – the pubs and clubs which are the nodes of community in a fragmented society. Christians in Sport can point the way to tapping into the fitness market.

   Homeless People: The Vulnerable Generation
The city attracts the nomads, and contributes to the increasing numbers of people without a home to call their own. The factors are many, but usually significant relationships have broken down. The call of the church is to offer friendship to people who are often ignored in the impersonal bustle of the street.  

City churches are often the places where vulnerable people can find healing community through hospitality: from lunches or support groups to care shelters throughout the winter months. The Churches’ Millennium Project in Edinburgh resulted in a partnership of churches, banks and commercial enterprise to establish Fresh Start, a registered charity to help people moving into their first homes after a period of homelessness. The Churches support initiatives to address the underlying social and political dimensions of homelessness.

The homeless people on the streets and at the door are a practical challenge for the Church in the city to follow the “downward way” of Christ: to meet God among the poor, and to be open to being evangelized by the poor. 

   Shoppers: The Consumer Generation
For many the city means shopping – the Mecca of the consumer generation. In practical terms, that presents a challenge to the churches in the centre, such as the Steeple or St Mary’s in Dundee. Where the retail parks are expanding, the church finds remarkable openness to chaplains, but has yet to rise to the challenge of the “Ikea Church” which might offer access to the Gospel to people who are accustomed to visiting cathedrals of consumerism designed around chapels of choice. 
 
The more subtle influence is the consumer mentality. People will “shop around” for the church of their choice. More subtly, we have carried over the shopping mall mentality into our spirituality. There is a serious challenge to transform pick and mix spirituality into Christian discipleship. While that is a facet of our wider culture, it is a distinctive aspect of being a city church. 

Decision-makers: The Political Generation
Cities are centres of power and political influence. City churches have a legacy of being chaplains to the powerful, colluding or colliding with the powers that be. As the forces of secularisation pushed the Church to the margins of influence, so the forces of post-modernity have opened up a new marketplace of opportunity for debate. Churches which are willing to build relationships with councillors and policy makers, ready to be well informed and pray for the welfare of the city, will be find political allies as partners in seeking the common good. They will also be better placed, when necessary, to be prophets that challenge the systems that are oppressive. City churches do well to equip members in active citizenship in a participative democracy, and to sustain the preaching that recognises the Gospel as public truth for the city – “Christ in whom all things hold together” (Col 1:17).

Ray Bakke, a specialist in urban mission, once said that the person who “loves Jesus, the church and the city is a rare bird”. Nurturing that passionate public spirituality is a peculiar challenge of being the church in the city. 

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND
SPECIAL COMMISSION


Appendix No 5: The Church in a Changing World

To say that the world is changing faster than ever before is to say something trite but true. Technological, social and "existential" changes impact upon our lives in complex and inter-connected ways. Causal links between our environment, our genes and our experience are up for discussion in ways we could not have imagined only a few years ago. Society and the individual within it are bound together: their experiences of the shifting sands of post-modernity may be diverse, but there is no escape from its influence, whether for better or worse. The Church as an institution and as a collection of individuals cannot fail to be affected by this climate of change. 

   A Changing World
The recent Board of Ministry's Report "Changing Scotland" highlights some of the cultural, social and economic shifts that have taken place in Scotland.  During the period we call "modern", roughly from 1850 to 1950, Scotland was firmly part of the industrial society within the United Kingdom. Class, employment, Trade Unions and religion offered some measure of security and identity. Within the family, the roles of women and men, and of the young and the old, were fairly well-defined. Of course, the impetus for change was already to be found within this period, and included the massive upheaval caused by two World Wars. The process of change has accelerated the past forty years, as Scotland has evolved into a thoroughly post-modern society. 

The economic shift from an industrial to a post-industrial society is obvious. Tourism rather than manufacturing is now the biggest industry in Scotland. More than 70% of the workforce are now employed in the service industry, where flexible working patterns are the norm. The number of women in the workplace continues to grow, and now there are more women in the workplace than men. Trade Unions have no longer the influence they once had. Workers are expected to take responsibility for their own career development, where the opportunities for employment exist. In a global economy, economic Scotland owes its allegiance to Europe and the world rather than to the imperial state that was the UK.

The home life of Scots has undergone a similarly momentous change. Just over a quarter of households are made up of  traditional family units. 27% are made up of pensioners, and a surprisingly high number of people of all ages (28% of households) now live on their own. There is more economic and geographical mobility than ever before, and the extended family unit may stretch over long distances and over several class boundaries. In his paper to the Board of Ministry, “Changing Scotland: A Commentary”, ProfessorDavid McCrone comments that "this is a 'privatised' family pattern in the main, as households are thrown back on their own social resources, rather than locking into kin networks which have been left behind in time and place". There may be greater prosperity in the population as a whole, but among a minority of Scottish households, for example those who are single parents, endemic poverty is concentrated. The gulf between the elderly who are comfortably off and those who struggle to get by has also widened.   


Who are We in this Changing World?
Without making value judgements about the nature of these changes (who could deny that some are positive while some are negative?), it is possible to note some of the cultural shifts that have arisen alongside or out of them. Individual identity is no longer bestowed by an accident of birth, but personally chosen in so far as circumstances allow. The values of one class or religion are no longer accepted in their entirety, but are selected from according to the needs of the moment. The roles of women and men are negotiable within relationships, and these might change through time. There is a complexity and fragmentation about the culture of today, demonstrated most clearly in the experiences of young people.      

Kenda Creasy Dean's paper "X-Files and Unknown Gods: The search for truth of post-modern adolescents" offers fascinating insights into the inner lives of American teenagers, surely not so distant from the experiences of Scottish teenagers. She comments:

Today's adolescents take for granted a world where microchips become obsolete every eighteen months, information is instantaneous, and parents change on weekends. Indeed, the one constant in their young lives is upheaval. In such a world truth is fluid, generic, self-constructed- and so are they. (p.1)

Adolescents scarcely have to take on board the nuances of post-modern literary theory to be affected by the pressures and realities of post-modern society. The older generations, who tend to make up our church congregations, may be affected less acutely, but are unlikely to remain completely untouched by the world around them. Some may have felt the effect of our post-modern society in terms of changing patterns of employment and a loss of job security. Others may have felt its effect in shifting family relationships, whether their own or their children's.  

Few are unaffected, and yet to many in the older generations, post-modern society is an alien culture, a world to be viewed with suspicion. Will Storrar's thesis is that congregations and the modern world exist as two separate worlds, sometimes overlapping and yet still clinging to their own perspectives.  In a world where the big pictures are no longer viewed as adequate in themselves as patterns for living, the church is tempted to retreat into the big picture it inherited from previous centuries. In a world where structures are fluid and dynamic, the church is drawn to the rigid ways that suited past generations. In a world where change is accepted and even welcomed in the name of technological advance, the church resists and is threatened by change on many different levels.   

Throughout the work of the Commission, in response to these tensions, we have sensed the need for initiatives to be local and relational, and we have seen examples of places where the post-modern world and congregations have interacted fruitfully on that basis. Sometimes in consultations we have heard pleas for movement forward in a way which takes account of the society we live in. But we have also heard stories of disappointments and fears and an impatience with a world which seems disinterested in the church and its message. 


The Church in a Postmodern World
In a changing world, what hope does the church have? What can our response be to the changes in society around us and within us and what resources are available to us? For Dominic Smart in his paper "Postmodernism, the Bible and the Church", post-modernism, and deconstruction specifically, are ultimately dead-ends for the Christian faith: 

Personally, I cannot see a more complete cultural reversal of the life of faith as Luther described it. No longer, on this line, are we excurvatus ex se - turned outwards from ourselves.  Now we are inescapably returned to that fallen condition of being incurvatus in se - turned in upon ourselves, God's grace is replaced by our narcissism. (p7)

For Smart, the truth of God's word can and will prevail over this dangerous intellectual fashion, and a return to the big picture provided by Christianity will be possible. The point is debatable, but here we have to distinguish between post-modernism, the theoretical movement which has spawned deconstruction and other literary and philosophical theories, and post-modernity, which charts the trends and changes in our culture over the past 40 years or so. "Post-modernity" is the name for where we, as a society and as individuals, are today. Few people are directly influenced by post-modernism in its pure form; but no-one can escape the influence of post-modernity, although attitudes towards it may vary. The hallmarks of post-modernity have already been sketched, and of course can never be divorced entirely from its more theoretically rigorous offshoot. We are dealing with rapid change, loss of established identity markers, a reluctance to commit wholesale to a ready-made system of belief or ideology. Radical scepticism and true relativism are not (as yet) features of most people's consciousness. Nevertheless, the challenges facing the Church from post-modernity itself are severe, although as Christians we want to affirm that there is no cultural shift which is beyond the grace of God. Wherever society is, God offers the resources to meet its needs. 
 
Dean's paper offers some clues that might point the way forward for the church. Her comments about adolescents' search for truth would no doubt ring true for many people under 40 today: 

The postmodern adolescent's view of truth echoes the word's etymology, from the Old English term for 'fidelity' or 'faithful', and connotes authenticity of action and congruence of character. Today's youth refuse to abstract truth from experience or reduce it to empirical data. Truth for them is neither hard-boiled fact nor universal principle; rather it embraces doubt and ambiguity. To postmodern youth, truth is event-personal, passionate, transcendent. They unapologetically up-end Descartes: "I experience, therefore I know".  (p5)
						
Dean argues for a recovery of a Christian faith which would meet the needs of these post-modern young people, a Christian truth which is "inherently dynamic, personal, transcendent, and passionate, and as such … can exercise extraordinary influence on the construction of self" (p20). Belief in God is not the issue (as David McCrone's analysis highlighted, far more people admit to being somewhat religious than go to church on a regular basis). Believing God matters is what is important. 


The Church where God Matters
If the Church is called, in this postmodern age, to proclaim that God matters, then its worship and the relationships it fosters are key areas of concern. For those caught up in the postmodern maelstrom, truth must happen in worship, and it must involve the whole person: 

As event, truth assumes a kind of dynamic ambiguity, best caught not by creeds or confessions but by immediate sacred experience, ambiguously captured in sacrament, icon, and community practices in which God 'happens' in the here and now. (p12)

For Dean, the truth of God "happens" in the primary experiences of community belonging and participation in worship. If postmodernism has taught us anything, it has reminded us sharply that words and systems are created by us, not God given. At the heart of the mystery of faith there is an inescapable act of trust in the possibility of God. But the secondary aspects of faith: its language, its organisation and ethics- are provisional and revisable. This creates a fruitful though painful tension in the Christian life between trust in God and detachment from the structures we create to express and define that trust.  Christianity invites us to a generous and open-hearted commitment to God, though not necessarily to the words we use to talk about God, or the systems we develop to respond to God. We load these words and systems with theological meaning, and we cling onto them as certainties. But all we do in the process is alienate those who cannot subscribe, and force ourselves into positions we find it harder and harder to justify. By creating idols out of words and systems, we create refugees who have been wounded and excluded by our oppressive certainties. People on the edge of Christianity who feel there is no place for them in the church because of their lifestyle or their intellectual difficulties with the way Christianity is officially expounded. But in worship, the truth of an experience of God may be explored, if language, music and image are used in ways which are culturally sensitive and conscious of their own provisionality.

Since 1997, St Andrew's Bo'ness has been experimenting with worship using video and computer imaging, linked with contemporary music, lighting and a variety of liturgical innovations. Essentially lay-led, although with back-up from the ministry team, these monthly worship events explore contemporary issues within a Christian framework using all aspects of the technologies available and familiar to people of the twenty-first century. TGI multi media worship may not be the future for all congregations, but it offers an insight into the possible for many. 

We need to be alert to other examples of ways the Church might respond and is responding to the changing society of which it is a part (apart?). Resources are already available to the Church as it tries to move from one world into another. Our post-modern world need not be a threat to faith, but a place of opportunity and creativity, in which diversity may be celebrated.   
 

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND
SPECIAL COMMISSION


Appendix 6: The Church of the Beatitudes

Our calling is to live in the Kingdom of God in response to the blessing of God in the grace of Jesus Christ. The blessings of the Beatitudes precede the radical call to discipleship in the Sermon on the Mount. Only in the confidence of that blessing of grace, will we be free to rise up and follow Christ in the radical agenda of the community of salt and light.

Blessed are the poor in spirit... Blessed are those that mourn....
Blessed is every individual and congregation that is open to God’s present and future activity, because we are aware of our own weakness and failure. We know that we cannot renew ourselves. We feel a deep sense of loss that we are not closer to God and closer to one another. We feel the pain of our broken culture and long to be a touching place for Christ. We will not run away from the pain. We will run to God and meet his Kingdom coming towards us.

Jesus says: Blessed are you.....

Blessed are the meek.....Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness....
Blessed is the person and congregation that has been humbled by the experiences of life. The Church in Scotland is being humbled by the Spirit. We know that the old ways will not work. We are ready to be led by the Spirit into new ways of being Jesus’ people. We have a growing passion to see wrong put right - in global poverty or personal relationships. We ache for the right relationships marked by justice and shalom, reconciliation with God and each other.

Jesus says: Blessed are you....

Blessed are the merciful......Blessed are the pure in heart.....
Blessed is the person or congregation that is reckless in generosity and forgiveness. We do not give in to cynicism or shut people out. We see the good and seek the best. Holiness has taken on a new attraction. Amidst all our stumbling, there is a magnetic pull to single-minded obedience to Jesus Christ.

Jesus says: Blessed are you.....

Blessed are the peacemakers...Blessed are those who are persecuted....
Blessed is the person or congregation who so loves their enemies that they are not afraid to make them.
We face up to our differences and work them through. We are found in the places of conflict as agents of reconciliation, and are crucified for our trouble. We are determined to be salt that makes a difference in the everyday world. We laugh a lot, for we know who has the last laugh.

Jesus says: Blessed are you.....

Jesus says: You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world……Blessed are you.....

   
GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND
SPECIAL COMMISSION – REVIEW AND REFORM
   
   
   Appendix 7: A Narrative of the Special Commission

When the Special Commission on Review and Reform in the Church was set up by the General Assembly of 1999, all of those who had been appointed to it knew that the task that had been entrusted to the Commission was not only exciting and challenging but also in many respects impossible. 
We were under no illusions that the task could actually be completed by ourselves, but we were excited by the prospect that we might able to make some kind of meaningful contribution to the current debate about the state of the Church, and perhaps even add some impetus and sense of urgency to the mood for change that we all recognised was growing in the Church. We were also very much aware, however, that this desire for change was being inhibited by inertia and fear. 
Among the first issues that had to be addressed were the methodology and working patterns that we should adopt as a Commission and the prioritisation of the various tasks that would emerge. There was an acute awareness of the short time-scale and of the limited resources available to the Commission.
Three particular decisions were made at the outset: 
* Normal meetings of the Commission would be residential (lasting at least 24 hours). This would enable us to tackle issues in reasonable depth, but, more importantly, it would allow us to get to know each other personally and give us sufficient time to build up trusting relationships with each other. Only in this way would be able to deal constructively with the fact that we were all very different people each with his or her own different theological bias and agenda, not to mention personality. 
* We would aim to be as open as possible and communicate with the whole Church so that there would be few, if any, surprises when the Commissions final submissions were made. We realised that this communication process would have to be two-way, requiring us both to listen to and also speak to various constituencies. In particular, we hoped that we might be able to use a Website to facilitate this dialogue although at the beginning this proved to be more difficult to achieve.
* We would also listen to each other's personal faith-stories and experiences of church, not only to help us understand one another but also as an attempt to discern common threads. Again, we were not naïve enough to imagine that in a Commission of only 15 members we would encompass the whole breadth of the Church of Scotland, but equally we felt it would be wrong to ignore altogether who we were and what each of us had already experienced in the Church.

We believe that each of these decisions, taken at that very early stage, turned out to be quite crucial, and became in themselves significant pointers for the some of the ways forward for the whole Church. In fact as soon as we defined the Church as a community of faith rather than as an institution we quickly realised that we could in some respects regard the Commission itself as a microcosm of the Church and use it as a test-bed for any of our theories and ideas. 
If our ideas didn't work among us, could we expect them to work beyond us? 
Of course there would be questions of scale and we would have to take into account the special nature and focus of the Commission together with the fact that each of us in the Commission was already to some degree convinced of the need for change, and this might not be the case in the Church as a whole.
  The Commission as Community

Each time we gathered in a locality—whether it was Dunblane, Carberry, Pitlochry, or wherever—we became a community again. Though subtly different on each occasion (for one thing not every member of the Commission could be present at each meeting) there was a continuity derived from shared experience, shared memory and shared faith. Though it was the common task which brought us together, and provided our focus, what made us a community were the personal relationships with each other which were quickly re-established on each occasion through time spent together informally and in shared worship. These relationships were not incidental but integral to the work in which we were engaged, for they affected the way we thought, discussed and decided matters. They enabled us to respect one another, listen to one another, learn from one another, disagree creatively with one another and therefore to "think out of our boxes". 
The sense of trust that we gradually built up with each other also meant that listening to others became more than a policy decision, it became the mindset of the group. 
Most of the members of the Commission already had experience of serving on Church Boards and Committees where, for a variety of reasons, there was not the same emphasis on inter-personal relationships and the focus was almost entirely on the business to hand. All agreed that it would have been significantly harder for us to have addressed the issues as thoroughly as we did had the Commission operated in that way.
Out of this group-dynamic two key concepts began to emerge which we soon realised may be of some significance for the Church as a whole and this was increasingly confirmed in all our consultations with groups and individuals.  
The two key words were LOCAL and RELATIONAL. 

The significance of the RELATIONAL:
Our present church structures, patterns of worship and church life evolved during times when people lived, worked, relaxed and worshipped in the same geographical location. Those who came together on a Sunday to worship were already a community, often with a shared history, and certainly with an already existing network of inter-personal relationships. This is hardly ever the case now. It is far more likely today that a person will live in one town or village, work in another, shop in some large out-of-town retail park and enjoy various leisure pursuits in many different locations among many different groups of people. We no longer live in one community: we participate in many different communities, including, for some, the Internet-community which transcends geographical location. 
If any contemporary worshipping congregation is to become a welcoming community, then opportunities for relationship-building have to be deliberately created. A sense of belonging has to be generated through the creation of collective experiences and the sharing of personal stories. The vertical relationship to God is, of course, foundational, but the horizontal relationships to each other are also crucial.
The very first item of business at the initial meeting of the Commission (Crieff, June 1999) was to allow each member of the Commission to share with the others her or his church experience and particular issues of interest. As we discovered in the Commission, a willingness to open ourselves up to one another, also made it possible for us to become much more open to others.
The first test of this openness came at the second meeting of the Commission in Scottish Churches House, Dunblane (August 1999 ) where we discovered that another group (THENEW*) was meeting at the same time. We invited the participants in the THENEW meeting to come and share their story with us. 
This dialogue not only exposed the Commission to an area of concern that might not otherwise have been identified but also enabled the Commission to recognise how significant in the life of the Church were the effects of fear, and the distribution and use of power—themes which were to re-emerge in subsequent consultations. It was the first of many "voices from the margins" to which we would listen.

The significance of the LOCAL:
In the telling of our own stories to each other we quickly recognised the diversity of our experiences and of the situations from which we had come. It also became clear that the local setting often determined what was effective and what was not. It was clear that the "one size fits all" approach often adopted by centralised Boards and Committees was quite inappropriate to the kind of Church which the Church of Scotland is and the kind of country in which we serve. This meant, of course, that there could be no "blueprint" or single plan of action for the renewal and reform of the Church and our report would have to deal with underlying principles and broad themes rather than detailed prescriptions, though "models of good practice" might be provided as illustrative of the principles. 
Realising the significance of the local we decided, for example, that in order to consult with the Church in Urban Priority Areas we would have to visit and see for ourselves the particular challenges of such situations.
In that setting we were impressed by the creative use of limited resources but also with another theme that began to re-emerge in other situations—that often local congregations felt themselves hindered rather than enabled or supported by central bureaucracy and legislation. Sometimes this was no more than a perception and other initiatives proved that much more is possible within the system than many local congregations realise. Were the examples of "good practice" more widely publicised and shared among churches some of those misconceptions might be corrected. (The local often has global significance.)

Communication
From the outset it was decided that, as far as possible, the Commission would utilise e-mail facilities to allow individual members to share their own reflections and contributions with the rest of the Commission and do work in their own time. Some members were comfortable with this approach, others preferred the creative sparking of ideas that occurred during meetings (in itself a recognition of differing gifts and differing styles of working.)
Far more important, in terms of communication, was our discussion on the importance of the language and vocabulary which we used. We recognised that so many of the words and phrases which we so readily adopted in our conversations came loaded with associations which were not always helpful, or which meant different things to different groups of people. Using words like "ministry", for example, may well prevent people from thinking "out of the box" and even when used in phrases like "ministry of the whole people of God" may carry presuppositions that are based on previous experience of the ordained Ministry of Word and Sacrament. 
We recognised the need to find a new vocabulary that would not carry with it unwanted associations but would communicate clearly. This is no easy task. 
One discussion with Dr. Ruth Page, however, gave us a useful distinction between "power as clout" and "power as attraction" and we recognised that a process of re-definition was needed for many of the words we used.




Worship: 
Worship was an integral part of the life of the Commission and not merely a formality.
Members of the Commission took it in turn to lead worship, prayer and celebration of the Sacrament and in this way the diversity of people's gifts was expressed. The more we became a community, the more important and more meaningful our worship became. 
Worship, in fact, because an expression of our common life. We learned to appreciate the distinctive gifts and insights that each individual brought to the whole but found that together we 'owned' the worship, whatever shape it took—and the shape of our worship did vary. We followed set liturgies, specially written liturgies or relatively spontaneous orders of worship depending on who was leading. We listened to stories from each other, some drawn from personal experience, others from a variety of sources. We used a variety of kinds of music, with or without accompaniment, depending on who was present. We met in a variety of settings, sometimes in places specially set aside for worship (like the chapels at Dunblane or Carberry) or simply in the room where we had been meeting. Where possible we invited others around to participate with us. There was greater use of silence and symbolism than is often experienced in the average Church of Scotland service. For example, on one occasion the Convener made the highly significant and appropriate gesture of laying his diary upon the Table beside the Communion elements to represent a sacrificial offering of his time for the work of the Commission, an action with which we all identified. A simple act, but in its context powerfully symbolic and effective.
When worship becomes a formality, or a formula, as it often seems to do in the committees and courts of the Church, and sometimes even in congregations, (no matter how sincerely offered) it frequently becomes disconnected from the business at hand or from everyday life. 
In contrast, perhaps the most significant feature of the Commission's shared worship (and it is one which is often recognised when people make space to live together in Christian community, even for a short time) was the way in which business, worship and relaxation became integrated into an almost seamless whole rather than being kept apart in separate compartments. So, for example, there were worshipful moments during complex discussions, especially if one of the group articulated a new insight; and friendships nurtured in mealtimes and shared leisure activities (e.g. a late-night visit to the Cinema on one occasion) spilled over into worship as well as work.
What made the difference seems to have been something to do with the time allowed for genuine meaningful relationships to be built up. We believe that, although this is a simple point, it is one that is not sufficiently taken account of in the way in which the structures of the Church normally operate. 
If no serious attempt is made to build up a common life, truly communal worship becomes impossible.




* THENEW is a group aiming to articulate a Christian response to violence and abuse against women and concerned with the historical failings of the Church in this respect. It is associated with the VASHTI movement in Scotland and the European DAPHNE initiative.
   
GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND
   SPECIAL COMMISSION – REVIEW AND REFORM

   
   Appendix 8: The Proposed Community and Parish Development Fund

Why create another Board when many are thinking about a decentralised structure? 

This will be a different type of Board from the other Boards of the Church.  It should be viewed more as a Board of Directors or Trustees acting as the funders of initiatives which will be based within a parish or local community. 

This new Board will represent the interests of local congregations and will also seek to integrate and affirm the work of other Boards of the Church by giving grants to projects and initiatives that seek to promote collaboration between the Boards and the parishes of the Church.  

The Board of Community and Parish Development will be given a seat at the regular budgeting meetings along with the other Boards in the Co-ordinating Forum and will be able to bid annually within the allocation system for funds.   The Board of Community and Parish Development will act primarily as a fast track funding mechanism to get money out to the local congregations willing to explore partnership projects that reflect the ethos of the SCARR Report.  It may turn out to be an important holding mechanism which will allow creative development to continue to be funded during a period of decentralisation.

How will this Board relate to the work of the other Boards of the church?

This Board will act as the broker between other Boards allowing them to channel their resources and expertise in a collaborative and interdependent way into the life of local congregations.  Community and Parish Development will act as the contact through which Boards and congregations meet in partnership with each other and with the wider community. In a decentralised church some Presbyteries may choose to have a Board such as Community and Parish Development to continue this work or develop its remit.

What will the Community & Parish Development Fund be used for?

At present most of the resources which are directed at local level support the model of the single ministerial practitioner. This fund will be an essential part of the ongoing strategy of reform outlined in our report. We believe it will create levers for change in the mindset of the church over the next five years. The fund will signal to local congregations that the General Assembly is willing to invest substantial amounts of money in local communities and parishes to create multi-skilled team ministry. One way to establish such a team is by funding congregations to work interdependently with each other across geographical boundaries, changing mindsets in the process. We believe the Boards of Parish Education, Ministry, National Mission and World Mission and others will continue to have much to contribute to this ongoing process. 

We recognise that, compared to other denominations, the Church of Scotland has a poor track record when it comes to developing and sustaining successful teams within parishes. This lack of success may say more about our historic style of training for leadership rather than the concept of working together in teams, which has become the recognised training policy of our existing Board of Ministry. Like the Board of Ministry we, too, believe multi-skilled team ministries to be essential for the future life and health of both congregations and ministers. 

The Boards of National Mission, Parish Education, Social Responsibility and World Mission endorse this view and are currently endeavouring as individual Boards to further this philosophy. We believe that the creation of a new Development Fund will allow some of  the work and  current thinking of the existing Boards to come together and be expressed in a practical way by funding local initiatives and creating new models of multi-skilled team ministry.

It will be essential that these initiatives  and teams have a recognised pattern of leadership, but we believe this will vary in style in different places. The experience of the existing Boards in their various disciplines will be invaluable in training the leadership of multi-skilled ministry teams.  Ongoing training in leadership will be encouraged via the various current opportunities within the Church’s own resources. 

To create an environment in which  multi-skilled ministry teams within congregations and other community groups can flourish, the Church of Scotland will take the lead through funding projects and initiatives  which have a built-in bias for interdependency. It will be essential that leadership and accountability be agreed before funds are invested in local initiatives. It will also be essential that these teams seek to promote aspects of the primary purposes of the church as set out in the report. 

How much will be invested in the Fund?

Over a five-year period we would propose to spend £7.5 million out of resources held centrally.  We believe that an equal amount could be raised through match-funding from one or two major trusts.  Beginning with an investment of £1.5 million per annum, we could prime the pump for a minimum of 50 multi-skilled team ministry projects or initiatives of differing emphases to come into being over a five-year period.

 When will it commence?

Preparations for a pilot group will commence in the year 2002. This will include putting into place the appropriate field staff.  We recognise that it may take time for projects to come on-line, but we are convinced that the incentive of financial help will encourage congregations and Boards to think creatively, stimulating the implementers of change at the centre and the grassroots.

During 2002 we will invite Boards (especially those who intend to invest in the fund) to nominate a project which could become a collaborative, interdependent model for multi-skilled team ministry.  This approach will continue to cement partnerships between the centre and the local. and give the Development Fund a good basis for success.

How will the Development Fund be established?
  
To help establish the Fund in 2002 we will request Stewardship and Finance to make a special grant of  £1.5 million for the first year from the accumulated credit balance in the Mission and Aid Fund. (This has benefited from substantial unrestricted legacies in recent years.)

The Boards and the General Trustees of the Church of Scotland  will be encouraged by the Commission to consider the merits of this proposal and work together to bring about a collective investment of  £1 million per annum from their reserves during the four year period from 2003–2006. This will be a practical opportunity for the Boards to affirm their commitment to the priority of the local church’s witness. Some Boards might be able to cash in some reserves while others may opt to take a lesser share of the Mission and Aid Allocation choosing to tithe their share back to the congregations. (Note the fund will be up and running for a period of 18 months before the first joint grant from the Boards is required.)

If reserves were used, the cost in lost revenue to the Boards would be approximately £40,000 per annum in year one (2003) rising to approx. £160,000.per annum by the year 2006. However, the amount of money being levered back into the church through matched funding from other sources will make this a highly profitable investment.

In addition, the Board of Stewardship and Finance will be asked to provide a further 
£0.5 million per annum over the four year period by way of special grants from the Mission and Aid Fund. (This will be dependent on the continued receipt of unallocated legacies). By this means, it will be possible to establish a £7.5 million fund with limited disruption to present investment strictures over a five year period. The exciting and creative side of all this is that we know of two major funds who have expressed genuine interest in being involved with the new Development Fund once it is up and running.

The Commission intends, therefore, to invite the General Assembly in May 2001 to instruct the General Trustees, and Boards of Mission, Ministry, Parish Education, Social Responsibility and World Mission to consider the potential of this fund. Thereafter to bring to the Assembly of 2002 the financial plan which will allow an initial, collective investment of one million per annum to be paid over into the Community and Parish Development Fund for the four year period between 2003-2006.  It may be that a formula will be devised to ensure that Boards pay pro rata according to their wealth. 





Why will the Boards wish to put some of their reserves into such a fund?

The Boards will recognise this as a long-term investment in their own work. We are confident that the Boards are already beginning to recognise their own interdependence on one another and especially on local congregations.  Indeed,  the sustained spending power of Boards depends on having strong, financially secure congregational units. 

How sustainable is this idea?

The action of all the Boards in putting money in the Community and Parish Development Fund will be the first act of serious decentralisation for the church for many years.  If the pilot scheme were successful it will be our intention to grow the scheme to include many more congregations. This model will still be sustainable if our governance is decentralised to the regions.

How will it function?

Using the Rank Foundation’s funding principles as a guiding example the Board of Community and Parish Development will function as an independent, grant awarding body working in close collaboration with the other Boards of the Church.  It will help facilitate their local policies. The Board will be directly responsible to the General Assembly.  It will be primarily concerned with obtaining and dispensing funds to enable congregations and groups of congregations to create and develop relevant forms of ministry for the 21st century. It would encourage congregations to tap into the collective wisdom and resources of the existing Boards of the Church. 

Who will be responsible for the creation of the Board ?

The Board of Stewardship and Finance will be requested to:

a. Write the constitution for the Board of Community and Parish Development.

b. Select twelve appropriate people to serve on the Board and bring nominations to the General Assembly of 2002 via the Nominations Committee

c. Appoint  and manage two field directors until the Board of Community and Parish Development comes into being.   The field directors will eventually be responsible to the Board of Community and Parish Development when it is established in 2002.

It will be important that members of the Board of Community and Parish Development have the relevant qualifications and experience to facilitate the aims and objectives of the fund. 

Who will bring the projects to the Board?

The Development Fund will employ the two full time field directors who will have a proven track record in management and experience in Community and Parish Development. The field directors will be the key to the success of the venture.  They will seek to discover the best initiatives by helping congregations articulate their vision.  This will involve on-site visits including assistance in obtaining third party support.   In consultation with Board Members, the field directors will bring forward the projects that in their estimation will work. The Board will then decide which to support, defer or reject.  The field directors will be in constant contact with the applicants helping them to formulate their projects.  Two field directors could bring on board 25 projects each and sustain them over the five-year period. The field directors would be involved in bringing the projects and initiatives together from time to time for mutual support.

How much could each project receive?

Grants could be made of up to £150,000 over a five-year period. Those applying for help will have a better chance of success if they can also match fund part of the project. As a rule, we would expect a minimum of 25% of the total funding to be raised locally in addition to monies from other trust funds. We anticipate that there may be occasions where local parties might struggle to qualify under these conditions.  It would seem right to us that if the project or initiative had a rare quality or merit, the Board would  have liberty to suspend the rules.

How much would it cost to run the fund?

The cost would be the salaries of two highly experienced field directors and secretarial back up.  The field directors would be answerable to the Board. This would mean that they would have to be self-starters with a bias for action. The cost of servicing such a fund with this kind of staff would be in the region of £100,000 per annum. Board members would act in a voluntary capacity. Job descriptions for the field directors and their secretarial support would be agreed with the Personnel Department.


GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND
SPECIAL COMMISSION – REVIEW AND REFORM


Appendix 9: Reviewing our Financial Strategy

The Church of Scotland centrally has an approximate annual income of £100 million and £300 million in invested funds. Over £40 million of the annual income comes by way of congregational contributions to Ministry Funds and the Mission and Aid Fund. While the sources and uses of this money can be described in terms of what is and what has been, the danger is that we continue to think along existing tramlines and simply move small amounts among the existing jam jars1. 

One of the fatal flaws in our system, which goes to the heart of future development, is the governance of the Church in relation to finance. There is currently no mechanism to establish priorities across the Church. The General Assembly is an impossible mechanism for such work and each Board has its own commitments to fulfil and corner to defend. 

What are we here for?  The core business of the Church is making disciples of Jesus Christ who will love God and love our neighbour as Jesus did. As the Church of Scotland our core purpose is to ensure the possibility of every person in every community of Scotland having access to the Gospel through a local church.

We are clearly failing in that core business, losing 3% of our membership per annum. The challenge is to recover the ability to win new generations of people to faith in Jesus Christ and to share in God’s mission to transform the world. 

When we deal with money we deal with a deeply charged subject, emotionally and spiritually. Psychotherapist David Krueger writes in The Last Taboo,
“Money is probably the most emotionally meaningful object in contemporary life; only food and sex are close competitors as common carriers of such strong and diverse feelings, significances and strivings.”2

   Inherited Priorities of  Invested Funds
If the priorities of the Church are set in terms of current invested funds of the Boards3 then our inherited priorities at 31 December 2000 are reflected as follows: 
									£m
	Ministry of Word and Sacrament				55
	World Mission							39
	National Mission				 		36
	Social Responsibility						31	
	Parish Education						  2
Mission and Aid Fund 					  5	

One conclusion from these figures is that the Church’s 1200 professional ministers are the key to the mission of the Church. At best, this may be so. At times a minister, like any other person, may be a block to mission. What is clear is that the ministry of all God’s people must be enhanced and supported. This will require a priority investment if there are to be communities of faith nourished by worship, pastoral care and mission. Even taking into account the role of the minister to equip the people, this historical allocation of resources does not recognise the support needed for the many elders and members who would like to pursue opportunities to develop their faith and service through the support of other agencies of the church. That would suggest more resources for the work of Parish Education or for some future Board of Parish Development.

If the renewal of worship is a priority, then more support needs to be given to ministers and congregations who are struggling to respond to the variety of worship styles that will be part of our post-modern church. This would suggest strengthening the role of the Panel on Worship.

If we see a need for the fostering of ecumenical partnerships on the ground, and working out patterns of partnership organically rather than structurally, then there is an argument for more resources for Ecumenical Relations to support these developments. 

The Church’s priorities continue to be shaped by inherited assumptions and patterns of funding. New patterns are emerging which will require a reallocation of resources. Without that substantial reallocation, financial restrictions will limit future movement. 

   Refocusing Priorities: Shapes and Money
So far, we have simply assumed the existing structures to illustrate the messages that go out from our current deployment of finance. If we now assume the redistribution of priorities according to the emerging thinking of the Special Commission and the Committee on Presbytery Boundaries, then the structures will change significantly: 
1. The Local Church is the primary focus for worship, pastoral care and mission to Scotland in all its parts – the communities, sectors and mini-cultures that make up our fluid society.
2. The Regional Support will be focused in newly formed Presbyteries with a three dimensional life: a) networks of congregations for mutual support in shared mission; b) centres of inspiration to set worship and mission as the renewing heart of the Presbytery; and c) a base for strategy, oversight and support with staff and finance at the disposal of the emerging strategy for the area.
3. The Central Servicing will be a much reduced administration that will offer professional services, facilitate networking among the Presbyteries while ensuring equity of policy across Presbyteries on issues such as salaries and employment policy for all staff, not only ministers. Attention must be given to the cost and dangers of duplication, and the scheme be subject to regular review.

On this model, the jam jars are smashed and tramlines are torn up. Local groupings will determine local strategies and priorities. Regional support units will have control of financial resources to meet these strategic developments. Some overseas work might be regionalised with each Presbytery hosting a World Mission desk and adopting an area of the world e.g. Borders Presbytery relates to Africa. The aim of this would be to increase the local involvement in overseas work and to advance the internationalising of local congregations. Appropriate central coordination would be essential to ensure common issues of policy and a national face to international missionary bodies.

It is hoped that funds held by General Assembly Boards and Committees might travel outwards and, where legally possible, restrictions be lifted on usage so that local and regional priorities can be assessed. A process of assessment and allocation will need to be worked out, but in a way that “keeps it evergreen”4. 

The new shape of the church will include: focusing on discipleship (“follow me”) that supports people in family, work or leisure, offering worship as “a variety of menu and a variety of venue”, nurturing a new generation of children through to maturity in life and faith, creating ministry teams with a diversity of roles and skills, building partnerships with other congregations, traditions and community groups, facilitating international connections that will bridge the local-global dimensions of everyday living, and applying Jesus’ criteria of “justice, mercy and faith”5 to our common life and common purse.

These ideas need to be quantified in terms of who is already mandated with these tasks and what resources they have their disposal. 

Recommendation 1: That the Assembly Council, through the Coordinating Forum,  establish overall priorities for the work of the Church in the light of the emerging shape of the Church and convey these to the Board of Stewardship and Finance, so that these priorities can be incorporated into the Co-ordinated Budget proposals which the Board will be bringing to the General Assembly in 2002 and subsequent years, with appropriate amendments to the Constitution of the Coordinating Forum and the Board of Stewardship and Finance.

   Revisiting the Roots of our Tradition 
   It is essential that we revisit the roots of our own financial traditions to ask if they meet these criteria and will resource the emerging shape of the church. The General Trustees were established by Act of Parliament in 1921 to hold heritable properties and in 1925 to  steward the patrimony of the Church of Scotland. In this way the resources of the pre-Union Church of Scotland were held in trust for the purposes of the Church of Scotland. In the terms of 1929 that was understood as providing the “ordinances of religion” by supplying a minister and a building within a territorial parish. That was the missionary strategy. 

As we enter the Third Millennium, it is equally important to steward the resources of an emerging church for the missionary purposes of the Church of Scotland. In the emerging church, the nature of ministry will be more varied than “ministers of word and sacrament”, places of worship and mission may be temporary bases in the community rather than fixed buildings for generations and the context of mission may be to enter some of the “flow cultures” of our society rather than the immediate geographical area around a church building. 

The strategic shift will include moves
       from parish + building + minister  
to networks of communities + multiple bases/venues + ministry teams.

Since the General Trustees steward a Consolidated Stipend Fund of £59 million on behalf of 1400 congregations and a Consolidated Fabric Fund of £33 million for the benefit of 700 congregations, there are very considerable resources tied up in a historically inherited structure of 19th century mission models. 

In 1995, an Act of Parliament removed a key obstacle to flexibility and ensured that the funds held by the General Trustees are under the sole jurisdiction of the General Assembly. If the purpose and shape of the church are redefined, then the funds may be used as the General Assembly decides for the benefit of congregations.   

If the General Assembly agrees to the norm of “ministry teams” and a range of “ministries” for differing contexts, then the term “stipend” will not apply exclusively to “the parish minister”, but to supporting whatever ministry is agreed as necessary for that area. Otherwise £59 million will be tied to paying fewer parish ministers, albeit with better salaries.

It is not widely appreciated that “Fabric” can apply to the premises necessary for the mission of Christ in a given area. That may include shop fronts and community buildings as well as permanent church buildings. The needs of the church in a fluid missionary situation are changing. It is wrong to commit a substantial part of the Church’s income to sustaining 1700 ecclesiastical buildings, of which at least one third are estimated by the General Trustees to be in the wrong place or unsuitable for contemporary use. That Gordian knot must be cut. 

Past attempts at overall rationalisation have been resisted fiercely. In the spirit of this report, the responsibility for that lies locally, for the church to make hard decisions about buildings that are essential for the mission of Christ in the area. We are a church possessed by our possessions. There may be no more direct application of the Gospel call than for some local churches to let go of inappropriate buildings for the sake of the Kingdom. 

Recommendation 2: That the General Trustees, in consultation with the Board of Ministry and the Board of National Mission, monitor changing patterns of ministry and building requirements, and report on how best to fund the needs of the emerging church and report in 2003.

Who has Control of the Money?
The Consolidated Stipend Fund and the Consolidated Fabric Fund are made up of funds that are held by the General Trustees for the benefit of local congregations. The bulk of the Funds derive from the patrimony of the heritors, made over to the General Trustees in 1925. Technically, that has never “belonged” to congregations. 

Nonetheless, it is recognised that money from the locality is for the benefit of the church in that locality. A major concern is that, the congregations have no control on how it may be used or invested.

1. Congregations with large sums invested may wish to use these funds for another area of mission development, but that choice is not open to them. If £100,000 is in the Consolidated Stipend Fund from the sale of a glebe 20 years ago, it may produce £4000 towards stipend. If the congregation wants to use that £100,000 to create a new base for mission in the community, and work at raising the £4000 per annum, they are not free to make that choice. 

2. Congregations have no choice on how funds may be invested between the growth of income and the growth of capital. The range of options is Stipend >Fabric>Minimum Stipend Fund or Fabric>Stipend>Central Fabric Fund. 

3. Congregations do, however, have the choice to be generous with their Fabric Funds, as befits a Presbyterian Church. A well-endowed congregation may choose to make a surplus in the Fabric Fund available to a “linked partner” or to another congregation in the Presbytery. These options are publicised through the Treasurer’s Handbook and by a leaflet issued to congregations by the General Trustees whenever a new fund is established. The take up on this opportunity has been disappointing.

4. The choices may be extended in the case of the Consolidated Fabric Fund to include “or other purposes as agreed by Presbytery”. This allows a more strategic view to be taken of the missionary needs of the area and avoid tying money unnecessarily to buildings.

Recommendation 3: That the General Trustees  examine the Consolidated Stipend Fund and bring proposals the General Assembly of 2002 that would allow congregations more flexibility of investment. 
Recommendation 4: That the General Trustees examine the Consolidated Fabric Fund and bring proposals to the General Assembly of 2002 that would allow congregations more flexibility of investment. 

There is an earlier stage at which strategic thinking is required before the proceeds of the sale of local properties. When a union or linking of congregations takes place, the Basis of Union or Linking often commits the proceeds of sale to fabric funds on the assumption that property from the past helps pay for property in the future. That process has become a matter of “use and wont”, but is not a legal necessity. 

We recommend that congregations be creative in their approach to these opportunities and consider if funds may support some new initiative in the area rather than be committed to bricks and mortar forever.

Recommendation 5: That the General Trustees, in consultation with the Board of National Mission, examine the application of the proceeds of the sale of buildings following readjustment, and report to the General Assembly of 2002.  

   The Theology of Grace
The theology that underpins our consideration of all our financial considerations is simply grace and faith: grace that gives freely to release people from poverty of opportunity into new potential; and faith that encourages risk and movement into new territory for the sake of the Gospel. 

In all our conversations we are aware that the general level of giving across the church is far below its potential for the cause of the Kingdom. Stewardship must become a way of life for Christian people if we are not to be possessed by our possessions. 

We believe that those who hold national roles in the church must offer a lead by making the first move (grace) and taking the first risk of release (faith) as an example to the church at large. We believe that if the visions are funded, then the grace of giving and the releasing of resources by faith will rise among the people of God across the land.

The current policies may be defended as saving the church for a future generation. We believe that such a “rainy day” mentality locally or centrally is counter to the Spirit of Christ who calls us to lose our lives in order to save it. 


GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND
SPECIAL COMMISSION – REVIEW AND REFORM



   Appendix 10: Members of the Special Commission anent Review and Reform

Members:
Fyfe Blair
Albert Bogle
Ian Boyd (resigned March 2000)
Susan Brown
Susan Clark
Iain Cunningham (Vice-Convener and Representative on the Assembly Council)
Richard Fraser (resigned June 2000)
Peter Gardner
Alison Jack
Gordon Kennedy
Michael Lyall
Alan Miller
Pat Munro
Peter Neilson (Convener)
Ramsay Shields

Associated:
David Denniston (Representative from the Assembly Council)
Marjory MacLean (Secretary, Depute Principal Clerk)

1 Images used by Sir David Tweedie, past chairman of the Accounting Standards Board, at the meeting of the Special Commission, 25 November 2000. The image highlights the fact much of our money is aligned to inherited priorities and is not easily moved from one place to another. There is no implication of lack of professionalism in the administration of the Funds as they stand. 
2 Quoted in Credit Care, article by Antonia Swinson in Life and Work¸ December, 2000.
3 “Briefing Paper on Church of Scotland Funds” prepared by the General Treasurer for the Board of Stewardship and Finance, February 2001.
4 A phrase used by Walter Williamson, management consultant, about any process of change. We seem to work out models and apply them beyond their sell-by date. It will take a total reshaping of the environment to stimulate a new pattern of thinking which Peter Senge calls “The Fifth Discipline” – the art of being a learning organisation. 
5 Matthew 23:23 – Jesus comment to the Establishment of his day who had their financial priorities wrong, following the “hand-me-down” patterns of tradition rather than the radical re-rethink from their roots in the nature of God who is righteous, compassionate and faithful.