THE failure of a raft of initiatives to stem the decline of the Church of Scotland — proceeding at about 160,000 members per decade — is, in part, the result of clinging to the parish system, a new internal report suggests.
“The Church has a self-image and identity which is based upon its history as a national church with a parish system of a minister and a building within each geographical area, secured by its former role as a key part/member/constituent in national and political life,” it states.
“That self-image and identity served the Church well for four centuries from the Scottish Reformation of 1560 onwards but is now hampering the change needed to halt decline.”
The report, produced by the Theological Forum and the Faith Action Programme Leadership Team, was discussed by the General Assembly when it met from 15 to 18 May in Edinburgh. The report reflects on the decline of the Church of Scotland, and offers guidance on what steps should be taken to address it.
It sets out some of the “diverse and complex” causes of decline, from a peak of 1.3 million members in 1956 to fewer than 300,000 today. It refers to widespread secularisation as a cause, but also considers “how the Church of Scotland itself may have contributed towards its own decline”.
The report refers to factors such as the church reunion of 1929, in which the Kirk joined with the United Free Church of Scotland. This created “a huge mega-structure of an institution overburdened by buildings and dependent for its operation on a tightly controlled legal bureaucracy with centralised power”.
It also refers to the shift in the 1960s towards the Left, which “did not always harmonise well with the broad conservatism of the Church of Scotland”; and the diminution of the need for Protestant allegiance and Church of Scotland membership for social or employment advancement.
A theme of the report is the Church’s alleged inclination “to protect the status quo as it believes it to be inviolable, and to implement Church law as an instrument to stifle action, innovation and development in mission, rather than to enable and encourage them”.
Alternative structures or ministries, such as pioneering, or Fresh Expressions, “can be seen as anathema to who we are”, it says. “In short, the Church by its very nature may not be suited to the re-orientation that is required towards imaginative, adaptive, organic mission ‘on the edge’, without a significant change in mindset and ethos.”
The Church has “chosen to spread its decreasing resources ever more thinly to preserve its identity, and to meet the widespread demand for a minister and a building”, it says. “This, in turn, has decreased the opportunity and energy to initiate change.”
In the coming years, the Church of Scotland is expected to dispose of about 30 per cent of its churches: between 350 and 400 buildings. The General Assembly papers include a list of dozens of churches and manses approved for sale, and a warning that numbers of ministers across the Church are running “significantly below projections”, with “no realistic likelihood” of reaching the target of full 600.
While critical of existing structures, the report’s recommendations focus on spiritual practices, including the promotion of “daily personal and regular communal practices of Bible reading, prayer, and spiritual curiosity”, and encouraging all members to “speak more about Jesus than about church”.
While acknowledging a place for lament, it suggests that the Kirk’s “loss of national power and influence, of cultural hegemony and leadership, may prove to be a liberation, allowing the Church of Scotland to speak more unrestrictedly and more authentically than ever of Jesus Christ”.