“As someone who saw this happening more than 35 years ago—and who longed for the Church of Scotland to turn around—I am truly in despair at just how far down the road the Kirk has gone. I thought that in my lifetime it could easily become irrelevant—it has. But I never thought that it would become virtually extinct—and yet that is now a real possibility within the next decade.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I have decided to revert to writing a weekly ‘letter’ on this blog. Partly because it means I am less restricted than I am when I write for others—and partly because some have asked why I have reduced my writing so much. But I now feel constrained…We will look at a variety of subjects—from throughout the world—but I will always go with what is on my heart—and right now—after a week of watching the Assemblies in Scotland—I am deeply burdened…so forgive me if this is where we begin. Those of you from other countries can learn from Scotland’s mistakes, sins and glories…

I am a bit of an Assembly geek—and therefore was one of the very few who watched most of the Church of Scotland and Free Church General Assemblies last week. Through the wonders of YouTube, I could watch and, in the car listen, as I did a lot of travelling during the week. For those of you who don’t have the pleasure of being Pressies (see how I have adapted to the Aussie lingo!), let me explain that the General Assembly of Presbyterians churches is the annual gathering of ministers and elders seeking to review the work of the church and plan for the future. I will leave the Free Church to next week, but this week lets reflect on what happened at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

A few questions based on my observations.

• Where is the theological clarity? The Church of Scotland continued to hold to its traditional Christian position that euthanasia is wrong. Although with caveats. The vote was close—149 to 145 and the motion itself noted the ‘differing theological positions’ within the church. I wonder what theological position would justify the church supporting the State killing its citizens? Would the church be as happy admitting that ‘there are different theological positions’ on slavery? Indeed, there are. And some of them are wrong. Sadly, the winning motion referred to ‘assisted dying’. Words matter. The church is not opposed to assisted dying—we are all for good palliative care. We are opposed to assisted suicide or euthanasia.

• Where are the new churches? The Church of Scotland in 2017 expressed a desire that each church should plant a church by 2020. It didn’t happen. The wish for 100 new ‘worshipping communities’ (much harder to define than churches and so much easier to say you have achieved it) at this Assembly is just as likely to go unrealised. It was interesting to hear one delegate speak of his visits to several Free Church congregations and commending the Free Church for its church planting work. He noted that he had been to one former Church of Scotland building which had been sold to the Free Church and was surprised to see it full with young families and a growing congregation. He noted that the Free Church had a programme for 30 new churches by 2030—an increase of a third and wondered what would happen if the Church of Scotland did the same thing. If only wishes were reality.

• Where is the prophetic voice? The discussion on the Public life and Social Justice Programme Group was especially depressing—demonstrating just how irrelevant the Church of Scotland has become precisely because it has moved away from the Gospel and just become an echo chamber for the middle-class chattering classes. We heard about peace and climate action and Gaza—all the usual suspects. We heard nothing about abortion, marriage, transgenderism or the decline of education in Scotland. The fantasy persists that the Church of Scotland is somehow able to ‘influence public policy making’. Given that the Church of Scotland just reflects back to the civic elites the policies they are already doing this is both unlikely and useless.

The most revealing speech on this was from Marjory Clark an elder from Perth St Matthew’s, who said:

“Increasingly we hear of climate change deniers, those casting doubts about vaccine safety, the blaming of Muslims and asylum seekers following the Southport attacks, and our Prime Minister’s astonishing comments last week about ‘an island full of strangers’ to name but a few examples where truth is challenged and dangerous opinions are presents as fact, only encouraging further division and fear.”

The Assembly then went on to agree a motion which encouraged the Church to uphold truth in the public square and to challenge misinformation. To Ms Clark anyone who disagrees with her political views is guilty of ‘misinformation’. What saddened me about this was not the views of Ms Clark. They are after all the views that one would expect of the middle-class tea parlours of Perth. What saddened me is that not one person stood up to challenge her own misinformation.

It was somewhat ironic to hear of delegates complaining of the dangers of ‘populism’ by which they meant views which they did not like which were popular. The Scottish National Party is a populist movement, but you would never hear the Assembly say anything about the dangers of their kind of populism.

It was also ironic to hear of delegates talking of themselves as though they were the downtrodden powerless—‘we can speak truth to power’…blissfully unaware that they were the representatives of power, surrounded by all the trappings of power.

• Where are the men?…Watching the Assembly, it struck me both how old it is—and how it is increasingly being dominated by women. The number of American women—largely from the PCUSA—who spoke was fascinating. If the C of S is looking to the PCUSA as a model—they need to grasp that it is a model of decline—probably the only Presbyterian church in the world which is declining faster than the C of S! The fact is that the Church of Scotland will soon not be able to have gender balance on its boards, committees and Kirk Sessions—the men are leaving in droves. One delegate pointed out that it would be impossible to have gender balance on Kirk Sessions because there are not enough men.

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