Wednesday May 20

General assembly 2015 - wednesday

Ministries Council and Guild announce plans for increased recruitment

Social Care Council launches new resource; moves towards paying Living Wage

Preparations for the Decade for Ministry formed the centrepiece of the Report of the Ministries Council today.

Council Convener, the Rev Neil Dougall, told the Assembly: “We should embrace it with hope and with realism. If we imagine that it will turn the clock back and resuscitate the church we once knew, we will be sorely disappointed. In a rapidly changing society, God calls the church to be different, and that means ministry will be different. If we are willing to embrace that change, and walk by faith into an unknown future, it will be a very exciting and rewarding decade."

The Very Rev Dr John Christie had a motion passed ‘recognising that constructive change takes place when all who are involved take ownership of it, instruct the council in cooperation with other councils and presbyteries to engage with congregations to prepare them for the journey of change which the Decade of Ministry will bring’.

The Rev Alan Cartwright, from Duns Presbytery, had a motion passed encouraging ministers to consider wearing clerical collar more often ‘to act as an advert of the Ministry of Word and Sacrament’. He said: “I am proud to do it and I am sure you should be proud to do it too.”

Isabell Montgomerie, an elder from the Presbytery of Ayr, called for positivity in the ministry and for congregations and sessions to make sure their ministers feel valued. She said: “Positivity would be a wonderful way of portraying call to ministry and could be the best catalyst to encourage others to follow this path in life.”

Echoing that during a section on resilience in the ministry (which the council is commissioning research into) a Reader, Brian Porteous, who warned that in his presbytery that had recently lost five younger ministers to other ministries. “I suggest to all of us that we go back and take a long hard look at ourselves and what we can do about resilience now.”

The Rev Graham Finch, former convener of the Ministries Council, praised the introduction of pioneer ministry, which he said had been ‘unfinished business’ from his time. However, the Rev Gordon Palmer warned that there was too much emphasis on ministry of word and sacrament in pioneer congregations.

There was a lot said about the importance of youth ministry, and the Rev Antony Stephen said: “For the last 25 years or more our youth workers have been our pioneer ministers and have been fresh expressions – we just haven’t recognised it.”

Ross Hyslop called for the Council to offer modular training in youth ministry, leading to a recognised diploma and fitting into the training for ministry if that’s where the youth worker wanted to go.

The Very Rev Albert Bogle had a new motion accepted calling on the Council, along with others, to find creative ways to ‘release the evangelists within our congregations as part of the decade of ministry’.

Another motion was passed, instructing the Council to explore with Presbyterian Church (USA) and seminaries the possibility of graduate students filling vacancies within the Church of Scotland. The Rev James Gibson, who introduced it, said that the ‘benefits could be enormous’. It was also supported by the Rev Kenneth Kovacs of the PCUSA.

The Rev Prof David Fergusson, principal of New College, Edinburgh, called for the church to consider paying ‘a fractional equivalent of the ministerial stipend to candidates during the duration of their course’. He said that half of the candidates for ministry studying at Edinburgh were borrowing from the Student Loans Company, often on top of debt from earlier education.

Prof Fergusson said: “We have a duty of care to those who have been set aside as ministers, and we need to remove a major barrier to recruitment. I’m also anxious that we don’t drift into a situation where we seek to reduce the time taken to train a minister because that is the cheaper option. The obvious remedy in my view is to recognise that candidates are apprentice ministers and reimburse them as appropriate.”

Mr Dougall agreed that the Council would investigate the proposal, but that it might present difficulties by conferring employment status on the students, with tax implications.

The Rev Mary Whitaker, a deaf minister who has received signing interpretation this week, called for research into enabling more Deaf People to become ministers. She also had a motion approved that called for the Council to revise its Act on Ordination of Missionaries working with Deaf People.

The Rev Dr Graham Parker had a motion passed encouraging the council to maintain and extend its commitment to ministry through British Sign Language.

In the afternoon, he Social Care Council announced the launch of a web resource, the Social Care Forum, that congregations can use to share ideas and good practice. Convener, Dr Sally Bonnar, said: “The sharing of good practice is a key driver for change and development and we hope that many churches will enter their own projects on this web resource and look to it for ideas for their own projects.”

She also announced that from October 1 this year, CrossReach would be able to pay all care and support workers the Scottish Living Wage of £7.85 per hour, and all staff a minimum of £7 an hour. This was thanks to increased funding from the Church, central and local government. She said: “This is to be celebrated, and we are grateful to the church for their part in this achievement, but we are not complacent and recognise that there is still some way to go before all staff are paid the Living Wage.”

The Very Rev John Chalmers said the words ‘Church of Scotland’ should be added in front of CrossReach ‘so we can trumpet as loud as we can that in the name of Christ we are doing this amazing work’.

In response to a question from the Rev Brian Sheret about the sale of Rubislaw Park Care Home in Aberdeen, Dr Bonnar said that a sale had been agreed following a careful process to make sure care standards would be maintained.

The Church of Scotland Guild introduced its action plan with which it is hoping to slow and reverse the reductions in membership and branch numbers within five years. Proposals include a major recruitment and renewal drive, modernised communications, a review of the number and role of presbyterial councils, and a focus on the place of men.

The convener, Kay Keith, said the action plan could mean an exciting time for the Guild: “The only reason this organisation has been able to thrive over 128 years has been its willingness to change.”