General Assembly: The Good Bits

Despite my previous three posts, the Free Church General Assembly had many good points:

1. Rev. Kenny Ferguson’s opening address was a robust call to prayer for the reviving of the Church.   Jedi Rev does wonder what exactly we hope for with these prayers, but that cannot take away from the hope that God might listen, and surprise us all.
2. Rev. Douglas MacKeddie.   His opening address was on a predictable topic, but it was deeply challenging and full of good pointers to how we minister to people – not just the aged – who struggle to cope with the world we live in.   His prayers, despite forcing us to stand for all of them, were clearly being answered as we went through the week.
3. The Assembly Arrangements Committee – they realise the way we conduct business at the Assembly is cumbersome, and needs a facelift.
4. The Ecumenical Relations Committee – their report on the work of the ICRC, was always helpful and encouraging.   The fact that the Free Church is part of an alliance of Reformed Churches – with differing views on “distinctives” like worship – is a huge blessing.
5. Dowanvale – OK, so Jedi Rev thinks the specifics of the plan to link DV with Paisley needed more thorough examination, but that doesn’t change the fact that another of our larger congregations is taking steps to sacrificially support a struggling work.   The fact that we have elders willing to look beyond their own four walls is refreshing.
6. The Home Missions Board report, the update on Strategy, the presentation from the HMB – all of it is testimony to a denomination who’s vision far outstrips its current ability and funding.   Who knows how this will pan out – maybe an influx of people, and staff, willing to lay aside denominationalism will allow the Church in Scotland to lay hold of this vision with both hands, and make something of it.   With God… who knows?
7. The Youth report was, as always, great.   The guys trying to deliver on this area are clearly over-stretched, and crucially lacking in much input from youth, or youth workers.   Why not co-opt some of the Church’s excellent youth work personnel to the committee – Susan Maclean for example?
8. Jedi Rev is unsure about feeling over confident, or too self-congratulatory in these areas, but there is so much we can be thankful for when we see our young people grasping the scriptures, and proud of it in a totally un-embarrassed way.
9. The Church is blessed with some brilliant leaders in the board of Trustees.   The huge, dull, scope of their remit is daunting, but that they rise to this with boldness and courage is quite cool.   James Fraser – despite his clearly busy schedule – loves to job he’s doing, and clearly has the mental capacity to step up to the task.   Rod Morrison is also probably under-rated.
10. The Communications Committee has a great vision from conveying something meaningful in our day.   It’s a shame the work they do in producing papers on relevant issues can’t be expanded into a full apologetics program.   Maybe the St. Peter’s vision for a Centre for Public Christianity will go some way towards helping in this area.
11. The College, and the work the profs, and other teaching personnel do is great.   Looking at the CofS (again) Jedi Rev is thankful that the Free Church has control over its theological education; but says so noting there is still room for improvement in the way we train people for all sorts of ministry… not just the preaching ministry where our college has clear strengths.
12. For Jedi Rev, the International Missions Board report was the absolute highlight of the week.   The Free Church – a tiny denomination really – has a huge impact globally.   The work we are graciously allowed to do in training others – in Latin America, South Africa and in parts of Asia – is outstanding.   Not only in training, but in evangelism, supporting local churches, humanitarian work, the Free Church is blessed with some of the brightest Believers you could find anywhere.

Jedi Rev counts it a blessing to have been able to gain an insight into these areas, and despite the annoying, wasteful experiences of the Assembly Week, Jedi Rev is thankful for being part of a Church so blessed by God.

General Assembly: Top Three Wastes of Time

Jedi Rev also experienced a lot of time wasted at the General Assembly.   Here are the top three wastes of time:

1. What will we call the joined congregation of Dowan Vale and Paisley?

There’s some background to this – DV was formed a few years back through the merger of congregations in Partick, Drumchapel and Govan.   The Drum and Govan churches were at first used as bases for Christian work – Open Doors Trust in Drum, and some youth work in Govan.   Eventually, both these works ended.   The buildings were sold, and DV now has a lovely building.   That is completely separate to the fact that DV has grown, there have been conversions, and it’s all good.  The reason Jedi Rev say it’s separate is because you could probably put Kenny Stewart in a tin shed and some people would flock to hear his preaching, and it would be blessed to the conversion of many.

Now there’s a plan to link Paisley with the DV congregation.   DV, it seems, want to focus on the needs of their own community – and Jedi Rev agrees, this should be the Church’s priority for them.   They have shown no long term commitment to other areas – Govan and Drum being clear examples.   They want to reach out to the people of Partick.   Give them an assistant pastor to help in that!   But DV feel compelled to answer this cry for help.   The General Assembly were being asked to approve the linkage.

What makes this a waste of time?   The home Missions Board were concerned that the name of the new joined congregation should reflect the geography – so they wanted it called Dowan Vale / Paisley Free Church.   Ugly, but necessary, Alex MacDonald argued, to preserve the identity of the Paisley Free Church.   An interesting point of view.   But what left Jedi Rev reeling was not the name, but the specifics of how the new congregation would work.   Paisley is not the nicest of towns.   Sorry, but there’s a nub of truth there.

Paisley has problems.   Social problems, economic problems and dire spiritual problems.   The question Jedi Rev had was, “What sacrificial commitment was the DV congregation going to make to help the work in Paisley?”   The answer was, incredibly, that DV will support the prayer meeting in Paisley as they would support their own.   Don’t get me wrong – pray is important.   But Israel did not beat Amalek through prayer alone – Moses, Aaron and Hur had their part to play, but so did Joshua and his army.

Jedi Rev’s verdict: Why was the Assembly wasting it’s time on the name of this partnership, and not closely examining the detail of what we’re being asked to approve?   It was a rubber stamp moment – and a waste of our time.

2. Was the synagogue worship a wake?

This came just before lunch on Wednesday.   We were hearing the report of the Board of Trustees, which included the plan to engage in a weighty discussion of our form of worship, culminating in a plenary assembly to settle the issue sometime in 2010.   Dr. Iain D. Campbell had moved an amendment to pass from this matter, and end the discussions now.   Jedi Rev recognised some problems with this – but so too did many other commissioners, so the amendment was happily withdrawn.   This was not, in itself, a waste of time.   Jedi Rev feels the church needed to be reminded of the importance of this, and give a strong mandate to the Board of Trustees as they go about this business.

The waste of time came when a commissioner missed the point of the discussion, and felt now was the time to start tearing into the specific questions of our form of worship – based, some would say, in part upon the synagogue worship of Judaism.   Jedi Rev is sure there is a place for such discussion – in reports, academic papers, smoke filled rooms with glasses of brandy in hand, perhaps even the Chalmers Hall, or the Church History class room.    But the floor of the Assembly was the wrong place.

3. How many flats, exactly, should be retained as student accommodation in Edinburgh?

Jedi Rev was subject to a riveting discussion, nay, argument between the Board of Ministry and the Board of Trustees.   The Trustees want to dispose to some flats in Edinburgh – they are grotty, and in a poor state of repair.   Jedi Rev knows, he lived in one for three years.   But they are willing to retain at least 12 – and despite this, can’t sell any right now due to the depressed housing market.   The Board of Ministry want some flats retained, at least 9, to cater for the needs of students at the Free Church College.

The procedure here was wrong – the Board of Ministry should have sought to amend the Trustees proposal.   But the real problem was that these two committees couldn’t get their heads together on this in advance, and brought this pointless discussion to the floor of the Assembly.   Jedi Rev was close to tears, and asked if this matter could be dropped, and discussed in a small room with representatives from both Committees present.   The moderator indicated this was the last speaker on this matter – but the discussion then dragged on for a while.   The words of 1 Corinthians 6:2 came to mind – Do you not know that the saints will judge the world… are you incompetent to try trivial cases?

Jedi Rev would like these words framed and put over the doors to the Assembly Hall.

General Assembly: Fear Factor

Tuesday

The highlight of Tuesday morning was the Ecumenical Relations Committee report.   Iver Martin’s committee does a lot of good work, and they deserve our thanks.   Trips to New Zealand to the International Conference of Reformed Churches being one of the more arduous tasks they are charged with – but their involvement in the European Theatre of Operations makes it all worth while.   They have, for the last few years now, been involved in “talks” with the Church of Scotland.   To quote the CofS Ecumenical Relations report, “There are uncertainties about the goals of [this] conversation.”   Dr. Ian D. Campbell agreed with this.   He wanted to suspend discussions (perhaps for a year) to allow both parties to take stock of the situation, perhaps even to find a purpose for the talks.   Jedi Rev suspects that this amendment was defeated because of fear:

• Iver spoke of his fear of what the press would make of it if we broke of discussions right at this point.
• He spoke of the fear that we would be abandoning evangelicals in the CofS who are thankful for our conversations with the denomination.
• Some commissioners spoke of their fears that local evangelicals would no longer partner with them in the Gospel, if we broke of high level talks.

Jedi Rev thinks these fears are red herrings:

• The press will maul us whenever we get round to breaking off talks with the CofS – a virtual certainty, unless the CofS is radically transformed (something which will not – despite Iver’s suggestions – be due to our involvement in these talks).
• The CofS evangelicals Jedi Rev knows – arguably not leaders, but rank and file guys like Jedi Rev – keep asking why the Free Church is talking to the CofS, but not any of the various evangelical groups within the CofS: that would be far more profitable.
• If we were to take a pause in our discussions, that would be simple thing to explain to our evangelical neighbours – and I suspect we do them a great disservice and slur by suggesting they will break off partnerships with us as some commissioners suggested.

It is a long standing Jedi tradition that fear leads to the Dark Side – but on this issue, Jedi Rev thinks the Free Church was motivated by fear.   Iain D’s amendment was voted down, so the talks with the CofS will go on.

Jedi Rev’s verdict: Jedi Rev is all for closer partnerships with other evangelicals.   But Jedi Rev is sceptical about the purpose of high level talks with the CofS.   There are other Christians we could be more closely involved with – the APC denomination for one!   There is serious prospect of removing the scandal of that division, yet it is disappointing that so much energy is directed to a conversation that has produced a disappointing “Joint Statement” and now a confusing report on dialogue.    It is more disappointing that the arguments of fear held so much sway in this debate.

Jedi Rev thinkis it will be really bad if we break off talks with the CofS after they approve of homosexual ministers.   It makes us look like homophobes.   And what can we hide behind?   The argument that this is an unprecedented departure from the authority of Scripture?   We’ve been saying that for years already.   What makes the present crisis any worse – is it because this time it’s a gay guy?   Jedi Rev thinks voting against Iain D’s amendment will land the Free Church with real difficulties.

General Assembly: An impenetrable Church court

Jedi Rev is just back from the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland.   After a mostly relaxed weekend – three services in a pulpit swap with Daniel Sladek, two helpings of really nice venison at lunch with friends and one broken timing belt – Jedi Rev is now ready to put some thoughts on the web about a week that was maybe a bit of a let down.

Monday Night

The opening night of the GA is supposed to be a fairly formal affair, with the retiring moderator preaching, the moderator designate being dragged to the chair by the wary previous holders of this esteemed office and the clerks get us to do the first of a long series of “rubber stamps”.   Jedi Rev has come to dislike rubber stamps.   Rubber stamps are moments when you are asked to approve a decision by stamping your feet, but when no serious alternative option is presented.   The first rubber stamp is normally the approval of standing orders – stamp stamp stamp – but would anyone ever dare propose a different set of standing orders?   Jedi Rev wonders what a GA would be like if standing orders required all speakers to to use iambic pentameter when addressing the house.

Surprisingly, Iain Gill and Jedi Rev seemed to have taken it upon themselves to make Monday night a slightly more interesting affair, with two addenda to the Assembly Arrangements Committee’s deliverance.   This committee normally meets to, unsurprisingly, arrange the Assembly.   So they tend to thank people for some genuinely hard work, e.g. Sharon Fraser at the church offices, who is just great – one her jobs is putting the Commissioners reports together (that’s 80, 200-page ring binders).   This committee is however responsible for the orderly arrangement of these reports in advance.   So, for Iain Gill there was an issue about one committee using their “deliverance” (the points they ask the Assembly to approve, and take action on) to instruct another committee to do something.   You might think this was a minor, utterly insignificant point, but as we’ll see, it was anything but.   Blood, sweat and tears were going to be shed on this point.   Jedi Rev had a different concern – nobody outside the Committees knows what the committees are discussing until they report, and as they only report once a year (the afore mentioned 200-page ring binder), it’s like a blocked pipe being cleared.   The volume of information is overwhelming.   Nobody can be expected to read all of it (contrary to some opinions, Jedi Rev didn’t read every page of the reports!), let alone understand everything.   So, Jedi Rev asked if the AArC would consider changing the reporting system – give us smaller, more regular updates.   Then there’s the issue of confidentiality – some committee members have a problem with this.   There’s one well documented instance involving unfreezing some bank accounts – a clearly private matter, but thanks to some buffoon the other party with a claim on the money got wind of the plans, and the money remains frozen in a HBoS account to this day.   Jedi Rev asked the AArC to sort this out – but he used much more polite language than that.   And then Jedi Rev did the unthinkable – he asked the AArC to find a way of allowing the wider membership of the church to see, and have some input into the committee room.   Jedi Rev is not in favour of committees operating under a blanket of secrecy.

As you can see, Monday night was riveting.

Jedi Rev’s verdict: unless the Free Church’s proceedures become more accessible, the lack of interest will continue to deepen, and that will contribute to more people feeling that what happens in “Edinburgh” has little or no bearing on thier local church.   Presbyterianism does not need to be impenetrable.