Christian Aid CE Praises 'Transformational Partnership' With Church of Scotland

Friday May 26 2017

General Assembly Day 6

Loretta Minghella lauds 'transformational partnership'
General Trustees call for buildings to be kept maintained
Hymnary Trustees to produce version for visually impaired

^{Loretta Minghella addresses the General Assembly. Picture by Andrew O'Brien}

The Chief Executive of Christian Aid has told the Church of Scotland that the partnership between the two organisations was ‘transformational’.

Loretta Minghella used a speech to the General Assembly this morning to thank the Church for its support for Christian Aid throughout its 70-year history.

She said: “We are your international development agency, and it is your unflagging commitment that drives our work forward. We share your belief that poverty is an avoidable scandal that robs people of their dignity and diminishes us all.”

She particularly praised the response to last year’s Malawi appeal, which: “Not only fed people through the worst of the drought, but enabled those communities to keep going with an innovative project using solar irrigation systems, so they can harvest all year round. Next time there’s a drought, that community will be able to manage on their own.”

In her speech, Ms Minghella touched on Christian Aid’s work with refugees, climate change, and gender justice – all issues that have been touched on during this year’s General Assembly.

She added: “The divisions between you as church and Christian Aid as development agency are not always clear… We feel an overwhelming sense of being part of the family of the church. This is something precious, that we will never take for granted.”

The Moderator, the Rt Rev Dr Derek Browning told her: “Christian Aid stands as a community of people supported by many communities across the country, who continue to change the world, not by being patronising but by seeking to get alongside people in every kind of need and helping them to help themselves.”

On the final morning's business, Iain Douglas, chairman of the General Trustees, urged churches not to delay repairing defects reported in quinquennial reports. He said: “Things that are reported as defects and not addressed is one of the most serious problems we face.”

A section was added to the deliverance of the Hymnary Trustees, instructing them to publish the hymnary ‘in a format more easily accessible to the visually impaired’.

Post Tags: general assembly 2017, christian aid

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Comments

Rev Dr John Cameron - Sunday, July 16th, 2017

“Christian Aid claims that it "challenges the systems and processes that work against the interests of those who are poor or marginalized." Sadly in relation to the Arab-Israeli conflict, it substitutes a deep hostility towards Israel for serious analysis. The organisation’s leaders appear to find it difficult to be impartial but presenting the whole range of reasons behind Palestinian poverty really is an imperative.

Since the 1950s, it has invested considerable resources and become one of the largest funding sources for NGOs in this region. While some can justifiably claim credit for rescuing destitute families and creating economic opportunities, far too many exploit the goodwill of funding organizations to engage in ideological activities, often endorsing or even encouraging Palestinian violence and terrorism.

But there are hundreds of NGOs striving to alleviate suffering of civilians in the Arab-Israeli conflict, so there’s absolutely no need to choose to work with the most ideological and anti-Israel groups. Christian Aid needs to be more self-aware if it wants to avoid being seen as a partisan ideological group.”

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