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Life and Work – February 2007 issue
The following offers an overview of the February issue
review of Life and Work magazine.
A political ministry
The Rev Ewan Aitken, the Church of Scotland minister who
leads the City of Edinburgh Council is the subject of
this month’s profile. Ewan, who was elected leader
of the Labour-run authority last summer, says he has no
plans to stand for election to the Holyrood Parliament,
following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Donald
Anderson. "Right now I’m really happy doing
what I’m doing. I really enjoy it. That’s
what I’m focussed on. In many ways I can do more
as leader of this city than I could as a back bench MSP
in the Scottish Parliament."
He says he has a vision for a city where people who don’t
directly benefit from the capital’s prosperity do
so in other ways through affordable housing, transport
and access to high-quality personalised education and
jobs. “We are going a step further than Jack McConnell
and committing ourselves to making sure that every child
who leaves Edinburgh state schools will have a job, a
place in a training scheme or a place in higher education.
We are going to do that. That’s where I’m
particularly passionate."
The generosity measure
The Rev Gordon Jamieson, the Church of Scotland’s
Director of Stewardship, reveals that 40 congregations
– some 3 per cent of the Church’s total congregations
– have an annual income of more than £150,000
and contribute £4million – almost 10 per cent
- to the annual ministries and mission allocations of
the Church. He asks whether these congregations are the
most generous in the Church and considers whether generosity
should be measured simply in terms of total income. "There
is a big difference between a congregation of 1,500 members
producing an annual income of £200,000 and a congregation
of 500 members producing a similar total. How do we measure
generosity?" he writes.
Renewable churches
Two Orkney congregations reveal how they have used inclement
weather to their advantage and reduced the size of their
carbon footprint. The congregation of Westray Parish is
the first church in the country to enjoy cheap efficient
heating after the installation of a ground source heat
pump and a wind turbine. The sister congregation of Papa
Westray are now planning to follow suit in a partnership
project which could see a new wind turbine provide the
island’s Kirk, surgery and school with renewable
energy.
The Rev Iain MacDonald, minister of both congregations,
says: “It’s a wonderful thing to me –
quite how it’s possible to warm a building from
the chill of the ground or the freezing blast of an
Orcadian gale is beyond me. But it works and it works
well. “On a local level it slashes energy bills
and provides us with constant heating. But on a wider
level it’s about creation stewardship and environmental
theology – caring for God’s gifts.
Ends
18 January 2007
nr/03/01/07
Note to news desks
For further information, please contact Lynne McNeil,
editor of Life and Work on 0131 225 5722, ext 207.
Information about this month's issue of Life and
Work magazine is available online here. |
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