“I plead with the Lord to continue to renew and refresh the Free Church (and other faithful biblical churches in Scotland) and I hope and pray that he will grant a spirit of repentance and renewal to all the brothers and sisters involved…”

Brothers and Sisters,

As promised last week—here is this week’s letter—looking at the Free Church General Assembly. I hope it will prove helpful to those of us in other contexts as well. But before that lets return to the Church of Scotland. The response to last week’s letter was fascinating. There were those who reacted positively and interacted—even with criticism. But there were the usual complaints about me not being loving, kind etc for saying that the Church of Scotland was dying. I think it is unkind and unloving not to tell the truth. And I am not the only one. The Times had an extraordinary article which made things far worse than I did—Let me quote some of it:

“Church ministers who fail to raise enough money are liable to lose their jobs and see their congregations dissolved as part of drastic cost-cutting measures, after warnings that the Church of Scotland will become “virtually extinct” within a decade.

For centuries the Kirk has been one of the country’s most powerful and influential institutions, with about one in four Scots being members in the late 1950s.

Since then, the number of worshippers registered with the church has fallen to 245,000, with just 68,000 regularly attending Sunday services — about the same as a single international rugby match at Murrayfield.

In order to stem a funding deficit that has grown to £6.5 million, the Kirk is planning to close about a third of its churches and sell off hundreds of places of worship.

At the church’s recent general assembly, members were told that it was “at a tipping point in terms of its financial viability” and that further radical measures were required.

Congregations that cannot generate sufficient revenue can be closed down and their ministers told to find work elsewhere under “painful” new plans, which have been approved.

Smith also informed members that the centuries-old church policy of allowing ministers to have secure life tenure, which could be ended only by misconduct or death, would be scrapped.

Rosemary Goring, a former editor of Life and Work, the church’s magazine, which will cease publication after almost 150 years as part of cost-cutting measures, believes the Kirk is facing an existential crisis.

“For years the general assembly has been warning about the Kirk’s mounting financial problems, but I’ve never heard such grave and urgent concern as now,” she said. “With only five months’ worth of reserves to fall back on and relying on contributions from a fast diminishing and ageing membership, its decline has been calamitous and there are no signs that it can be turned around.

“The escalating closure and union of churches, the plethora of church buildings for sale and the great uncertainty facing ministers’ employment all point to an institution approaching breaking point.”

She added: “Some of us are beginning to wonder if it can survive this crisis and are contemplating what Scotland will feel like if it does not. Such a scenario would once have been unthinkable.”

The spin from the Assembly was appalling. Either people were not aware of what was happening and like lemmings they just kept heading to the cliff edge—or they were aware and were pretending that this was all about renewal and a new beginning.

But let’s turn to the Free Church Assembly.

Free Church of Scotland

Of course, as a former moderator of the Free Church, and someone who served in it for 33 years as a minister, it is difficult to write about the Free Church Assembly objectively. The trouble is that if you are too positive then some people think you are having a go against other churches—like the C of S—but if you are too negative others think that you have a grudge against your former church. Well—I’ve never been very good at pleasing people so let me just make my observations—and you can take them as you please through your own filter!

In general, this year’s Free Church Assembly was the most positive, encouraging and uplifting of any I have seen in the past 30 years. There was a sense of life, vitality, growth, warmth and gospel fellowship. It was almost unrecognisable from 25 years ago. A financial surplus—new ministries and churches –an openness to others—the rural ministry initiative—and a superb moderator—there was so much to be thankful for—I was sorry not to be a part of it. It was also good to see former students, members etc now taking an active part in the national denomination.

In the early 1990’s I remember putting a proposal to the Free Church Assembly that we should plant 1 new church per year for the next ten years. It was strongly opposed—as being somewhat fanciful and unrealistic. Nonetheless my motion passed. The late great Prof Douglas MacMillan took me aside afterwards and congratulated me on getting it passed—but then added—nothing will happen—they will just ignore you. He was right. At this year’s Assembly we heard that 17 of the proposed 30 new churches by 2030 were already underway—changed days! That made my heart sing.

But…and there always has to be a but…there are warning signs as well.

• The Assembly ran the danger of being boring, beige and bland. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to return to the ‘excitement’ of the 1990’s where you never knew where the next libel or fama was coming from. But there is something unhealthy about an Assembly which is so managed that the only real debate was about calling something evil (of which more later).
• Be careful of bureaucracy. Presbyterianism is a great system—because it is biblical. But when it goes wrong it really goes wrong. It is far too easy for amateur lawyers and professional bureaucrats/managers to make it in a stifling, rather than an enabling organisation. One of the best speeches at the assembly was that of Derek Lamont—who warned about making simple things complex -citing as an example the 17 pages of regulations on vacancies. The General Assembly should not be micro-managed—and the General Assembly should not micromanage the church. Derek warned that a growing bureaucracy is about control. He was right—just look across the road to see what happens when the bureaucrats take control.

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