Picture by Andy O'Brien

Wednesday May 25

historic agreement with church of England approved

• 'Hub-style' ministry proposals accepted

• Concern about safeguarding costs for uniformed organisations

• Rev Dr Martin Scott named new Secretary to Council of Assembly

The General Assembly today ratified the historic Columba Declaration which commits the Church of Scotland to a closer relationship with the Church of England.

Following a debate addressed, historically, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, the Declaration was passed unanimously. It means the two churches now formally recognise each others’ sacraments and clergy, and commit to working together.

The Archbishop, the first head of the Church of England to take part in a debate of the General Assembly, said that the churches were already united in the person of Jesus Christ, and that ‘nothing is worth doing’ unless it is grounded in worship and witness to Him.

He added: “We know there are serious issues to be faced in our relationship with you around recognition and reconciliation of ministries. We know too that while in facing common challenges we have so much we can learn from one another, and so much we can do together. We won’t always necessarily find ourselves walking in step with one another… but what we believe we are providing in this report is a sound framework for us to affirm and build on the agreement we have, for the sake of our common witness to Christ.”

The convener of the Ecumenical Relations Committee, which brought the report, the Rev Alison McDonald, said: “The Declaration gives us the opportunity to recognise one another formally through a series of acknowledgements.

“First to prayer and secondly, to welcome one another’s members into worship and congregation life where that is their desire.

“This is not to discourage people from joining a home denomination but recognises the fact that for geographical or family reasons people do choose to worship in the parish church.

“Thirdly, to continue to explore opportunities for congregational partnership where that is desired locally and where we share space, namely in England and mainland Europe, and along with that the opportunities for ministry in these places, opened up by the Ecumenical Relations Measure.”

There was also recognition of the hurt caused to the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC), an observer at the talks which led to the declaration, when it was announced without warning last Christmas. Mr Welby said: “The Columba Declaration is one that I support strongly and I hope you will, but the handling of its announcement caused much consternation and deep hurt to the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC). That hurt is exclusively my responsibility and I want to put on the record to you and to them my apology.

“We know that the goal of unity envisaged in the Columba Declaration cannot be pursued by some churches in isolation from others, and in our context that must mean a particular place for the Scottish Episcopal Church as your Anglican partner in Scotland, and as our immediate neighbour in the Anglican Communion.”

The SEC is to be represented on the Contact Group overseeing the implementation of the Declaration.  Their delegate, the Rt Rev Mark Strange, Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness, pledged that the church would be engaged in the process and thanked the Archbishop for his apology.

Mr Strange said for the SEC it had been like ‘when our sister began to take an interest in our best friend (and) when our best friend showed interest back’. “We needed a bit of time to go away and sort that one out in our heads, to observe the relationship. Unfortunately, an unexpected announcement, not an engagement but a declaration, and yes, we are hurt.

“But if this happens in your family, surely we try and fix it. Archbishop Justin, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your words today acknowledging those difficulties and the surprise of the announcement.

“I am also very aware many questions we asked of both churches have now been answered or will be answered through the Contact Group.”

The Very Rev Angus Morrison, who spoke at the Church of England’s General Synod earlier this year said: “If in the course of my moderatorial year I have contributed anything at all of lasting value I trust it will be recommending this report to the General Synod and now I recommend it to the General Assembly.”

The Rev Paul Middleton called it ‘a welcome staging post’, and a couple of military chaplains pointed out that they were already working ecumenically in their contexts.

The Rev Andrew Chulu of the United Church of Zambia said it was British missionaries that encouraged Christian unity in his country, and asked why the British churches found it so difficult to practise the same unity. He added: “What should bring us together is not the good policies, the good programmes, the good theology but how we integrate our faith in Jesus Christ in word and deed.”

Afterwards, the Assembly got into a long debate about the issues arising from the appointments of husband and wife Martin and Jayne Scott to senior posts in the Church administration.

The Rev Dr Martin Scott’s nomination as the new Secretary to the Council of Assembly was ratified by the Assembly. However, they turned down a proposal to appoint a special committee to review the process which led to his wife, the Rev Jayne Scott, being appointed as his successor as Secretary to the Ministries Council and any matters arising from it.

Martin Scott later told the Assembly: "Jayne and I are very grateful to you for the faith you have shown in us today and will strive to honour the commitments that have been made."

During the report of the Safeguarding committee some disquiet was expressed about the church asking the Boys’ Brigade and other uniformed groups to pay for their  volunteers' Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) registration. A new section was added urging the committee to ask the Council of Assembly if the Church could bear the costs of the safeguarding process.

In the afternoon, the Assembly passed the Ministries Council’s plans to explore ‘hub-style’ ministry, as a way of facing the challenge of falling numbers of ministers. The Rev Neil Glover said the plans would call for ‘a renewed vision for ministry’.

The Rev Dr Doug Gay said: “There are storms coming for the Kirk and it is no good to go inside and batten down the hatches. If we are People of the Way [the official theme of this Assembly] we have to learn to walk through the storm.”

The Rev David Searle, calling for the Council to form experimental parish groupings to form pilot schemes for the hub-style system, said it was an alternative to the hurt and loss of members that come from church closures in unions and linkages.

Several additional sections were added, including instructing council to consider the possibility of recognising Youth Ministry as a strand of the Ministry of Word and Sacrament; and increasing the use of Pioneer ministry.