General Assembly Specific Challenge

Bill Hewitt the moderator of the Assembly of the Church of Scotland 2009-2010 gave his last report to the assembly on Friday night. Reflecting on his year of global travels he spoke of the many connections he had made around the world. He spoke passionately about the roll of the church in issues of justice and peacemaking but left his final and most heartfelt remarks for the issue of children in our churches. He commented that he had seen many children on his travels that were connected to churches, but there was a lament over the lack of children who were integrated into the heart of the worshipping community. His plea was that the Church of Scotland would bring children into the heart of the Church, primarily so they could hear the gospel message of Christ a Saviour who loves them and a Lord to guide them.

It spoke to me of a growing concern that I also have as most of our children walk away from the church, if not also the faith. I’ve found myself asking, “What is the place of children in the church?” If our practices betray our principles what are we saying about worship and the place of children in God’s kingdom?

In some churches we clearly say they are welcome. The issue of what church worship looks like to them has been thought about. We’ve made sure they hear scripture read in a language they understand, that the great stories of the gospel and Old Testament are proclaimed with enthusiasm and excitement. We’ve considered the music we use and the words that are spoken and sung and assessed children’s ability to understand or experience what we are saying in our worship, explaining words that are not commonly known. We’ve made them welcome as children without demanding that they behave as adults and yes we have also shown them what reverence; joy and commitment look like as we have welcomed them around the communion table and into membership through believer’s baptism.

Sadly in some churches children must struggle to sense welcome. A cheery smile as they arrive in no way makes up for what happens in the worship service. They must rejoice that they are only held in these places for 20-30 minutes before releasing them to Sunday School or whatever name it has been given. What do these words mean that appear on a screen and then disappear faster than they can read, never mind sing? What are we teaching about prayer, when we take them out of the world of colour and creativity to an eyes closed, dark place of silence? And I guess they know by now that church is not about what worship you express or lessons you learn, it all about how well you behave. After all sitting quietly on your seat with your mind somewhere else elicits the most praise from family and friends around.

Surely worship is about engaging with the risen Christ. It is about coming together to meet with the one who drew all types of people to himself. Where children were welcomed, encouraged, blessed, challenged and allowed to be an example to us all.

I think Bill Hewitt was absolutely right; we should bring children into the heart of the church so that they can hear the gospel message and experience Christian community but I also think we need them there to teach us a thing or two. Maybe we need their simple songs to remind us of basic truth and to humble our proud spirits. It could be that their action songs finally release our bodies in worship. Maybe we need there heartfelt prayers to cut through our flowery language and remind us once more of the heart of the gospel. And it could be that we need their challenging world view that says some things are just simply “unfair.”

By stopping and thinking through what we do when children are with us in worship, maybe we could make it something they look forward to doing with us and maybe we would learn more about what it means to worship the risen Christ present with us. Thanks Moderator for making us ask the question!

Homecoming

I went home on Sunday Morning to the church where I spent the first 20 years of my life and to the first baptist Church in Scotland that employed me to serve them. Apart from being repeatedly told how much I look and sound like my Dad by those who could remember me when I was in short trousers (and they have the photo's to prove it) I found it a really refreshing and liberating experience.

Amongst the well kent faces of my youth were new faces and new stories eagerly told. The young people had been to a recording studio the day before to record a single, a young mother who had first visited the churches toddlers group had recently come to faith and been baptised. Today they were begining a joint venture with the local church of Scotland and the Bible Society when the Bibleworld exhibition would pull into town and provide classes for all p5's-p7's. The Pastor is being given greater opportunities in the local secondary school and a holiday club was being planned for primary school children in the summer holidays.

I was delighted to see that what I remembered from my youth was still the essence of this church, energy, commitment, heart felt worship and a depth of welcome to the stranger. Their evident desire was that those they encountered in that little town "would see Jesus."

It was also a clear reminder that statistics in a year book do not tell the whole story. Statisticaly I'm certain there have been days when they were a dozen members better off and yet I would have to question if they have ever been as healthy as they are today. There is a bigger story to be told than the one our year book stats will tell.

Please join me in prayers of thanksgiving for Denny Baptist Church, that gave me so much, and ask the Father to bless all that they offer to their community today in Jesus name.

End of life assistance

Just a few days to go to the Westminster election. My inbox has been bombarded with emails from various Christian organisations pleading for me to engage with the democratic political process and make my vote count. Yet one email stood out. It was an encouragement to engage with our Scottish Parliamentary process over Margo McDonald’s “End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill” by 12th May.

This issue is a very personal one for me. My Grandfather and my Father both died of Motor Neuron disease, a rare yet seriously debilitating, degenerative, and terminal illness within whose community of weakness this issue has been debated for many years. I know the pressures on families who suffer together in these times of desperate illness. There are pressures on time and energy, thoughts of how much care can I give and how much professional help should we bring in, strain on finances and deep questions such as what does dignity look like when you are helpless? I was also struck that my theology was rather shallow when it came to constructing a biblical understanding of physical frailty when faced with total helplessness and total dependence. It is one thing to be dependent on God when you have the ability to choose independence, it seems altogether different to depend on God when all independence and in human terms hope is removed.

Yet in those times, we as a family discovered there was strength available in our weakness. Sometimes we received it from medical staff, uncompromised in their devoted care; at other times from God’s people, seeking to honour the week in their community, and yet other times it came direct to us from the Lord himself. I don’t deny there were very hard days but I would want to affirm that there was peace in the storm, strength in the travail and love expressed that our Scottish reserve may have inhibited in any other circumstance.
I want to encourage the churches of our nation to make their responses to this parliamentary Bill. To seek to address in their responses, their knowledge of the suffering experienced at these difficult times in the life of a family and to challenge those aspects of the Bill which would be seen as inconsistent with your understanding of human dignity and worth.

As Baptists we have historically made significant contributions to the political agenda and social welfare of our nation. Today I am calling our churches to continue in this tradition by responding to the Scottish Parliament’s request for comments.

As well as making a personal contribution to this debate I would also like to make a contribution to this debate as General Director of the Baptist Union of Scotland. In order to help make this contribution I would invite you to send me copies of the letters you send or have sent so that I might reflect well our shared concerns.