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Appendix 3
Scottish Church Initiative for Union
INTERIM REPORT
Why is it that for too many churches the division of the Church of Christ is no longer a scandal and an aberration, a constant opposite to witness? How have people become accustomed to, and satisfied with, a more or less peaceful co-existence between confessions and denominations? How is one to come back to the one source of new life if not by real conversion to Christ who reconciles?
(Jean Fischer, Address to the Second EuropeanEcumenical Assembly, June 1997.)
1 Introduction
1.1 Among the significant ecumenical events of the twentieth century in Britain was the 1964 Nottingham Conference on Faith and Order. Writing about it in 1982/3 in a paper entitled ‘Four Nations, One Church’ (page 2) Martin Conway recounted: At that Conference, a Scottish delegate put forward at a late stage an amendment to the resolution asking the churches to ‘covenant together to work and pray for the inauguration of union ...’ which specified that this should be done ‘in appropriate groupings, such as nations’. Because of this, separate Church union conversations, each involving several churches, have been pursued in each of the four nations, each with its own unique constellation of hopes and fears and problems.
1.2 In Scotland in 1968, at the invitation of the Church of Scotland, there began three decades of doctrinal discussions, known as The Multilateral Church Conversation. Six Churches participated: the Church of Scotland, the Churches of Christ (later to become part of the United Reformed Church), the Congregational Union of Scotland (now the Scottish Congregational Church), the Methodist Church, the Scottish Episcopal Church and the United Free Church. The Baptist Union of Scotland and the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland were observers.
1.3 The original goal had been to draw up a Basis and Plan of Union, but it was recognised that, before this could be done, the doctrinal ground had to be cleared. This was done in a series of reports.1 In 1985 the Conversation published what it hoped was its final report in which it requested permission to proceed to the drawing up of a Basis and Plan of Union. This report, Christian Unity - NOW is the Time, recommended to the Churches that there was significant agreement on all points of doctrine and that where disagreement persisted it was not sufficient to justify the continued separation of the Churches.2 However, the Church of Scotland and others wanted more work done, particularly on Episcopacy. This led, in 1992, to the final report Who Goes Where? This report recognised the changes that had taken place both within the Churches and within the ecumenical movement within the past 30 years. It contained a number of important Caveats including the following: It is clearly insupportable to have any form of reconciliation of ministries which implies that hitherto non-episcopal ministries require validation from episcopal ones, as if hitherto they lacked either effectiveness or authenticity. The introduction of episcopacy where it has not previously existed can only be in the context of a mutual recognition and reconciliation of ministry for common service together within the wider jurisdiction of a united church.
(Who Goes Where? The Saint Andrew Press, 1992,
page 17 Section IV: 9)
It sought new directions from the participating Churches, stating the task that remained: Our task is clear. We are to discover how to bring our churches together, so that members and ministries are reconciled and mutually recognised, in order to pursue effective common witness and service within the wider jurisdiction of a united church. We believe that the present levels of shared commitment and understanding beckon us to walk further in this enterprise engaging in vulnerable, intimate and mutually trustful conversation as we go.
(Who Goes Where? p.7)
1.4 In response to Who Goes Where? the Scottish Episcopal Church indicated their willingness to proceed to a Basis and Plan of Union. In a paper entitled Who Goes Forward with Us?. 3 they indicated how they felt they had changed in ways that removed some of the remaining obstacles to union outlined in Who Goes Where? They had developed a permanent Diaconate as a separate order of ministry. Ordination of women to the priesthood had been agreed. Reassurances were given concerning the role of bishops. It was made clear that the episcopal succession of bishops was a sign, but not a guarantee, of the unity and continuity of the Church. There was also reassurance given of movement towards a more conciliar structure of church government in which bishops served in council. It was specifically stated that no Church could enter a union which denied the fullness of the grace of God in its own previous experience of worship, fellowship, evangelism, service and ministry. In the light of these changes and the reassurances, the Scottish Episcopal Church issued an invitation to the other participating Churches ‘to set up direct negotiations for union’. The representatives on the Multilateral Conversation asked that the Churches discharge them, thus bringing the Conversation to a close. This left the Churches free to accept or reject the new invitation from the Episcopal Church on the specific question of union.
1.5 Thus the new initiative began in 1994. By 1995 five of the six participating Churches had accepted the invitation to draw up a Basis and Plan of Union. Only the United Free Church declined the invitation. They were invited, along with the Roman Catholic Church, to be observers of the new Initiative for Union. The talks began in January 1996.
1.6 The Churches are represented as follows:
The Church of Scotland: Ms Moyra McCallum (Deacon), Rev. Duncan McClements, Rev. Prof. George Newlands, Mrs Sheilah Steven
The Methodist Church: Rev. Alan Anderson, Rev. John Dolling, Mrs Jenny Easson, Mrs Jean Peacock
The Scottish Congregational Church: Rev. John Arthur, Rev. Fiona Bennett, Rev. Alan Paterson, Pastor Linda Rice
The Scottish Episcopal Church: Prof. David Atkinson, Rt. Rev. Robert Halliday, Rev. John McLuckie (to March 1997), Rev. Ian Thompson (from June 1997)
The United Reformed Church: Rev. Peter Arthur, Rev. James Breslin, Rev. Sheila Maxey, Rev. Fleur Houston (alternate for Sheila Maxey September to December, 1997 and member from January 1998)
The Initiative is chaired by Rt. Rev. Michael Henley, Bishop of St. Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane and Convener of the Scottish Episcopal Church’s Committee on Inter Church Relations. The secretary is Rev. Sheilagh Kesting of the Church of Scotland’s Committee on Ecumenical Relations.
Observers: Roman Catholic Church: Rev. Philip Kerr; United Free Church: Rev. Graeme Bruce
Consultants in 1997: Rev. Dr. Colin Davey, Church Life Co-ordinating Secretary of the Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland; Rev. Prof. Peter Stephens, Professor of Church History, Aberdeen University, Rev. Dr. Will Storrar, Lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies, Glasgow University. Rev. Gethin Abraham-Williams from the Covenanted Churches in Wales also shared in a meeting which looked at the church and national identity.
Relations with ACTS: Rev. Rodney Matthews, Associate Secretary of ACTS with responsibility for Local & Regional Unity, has been invited to some meetings. Otherwise the Unity Faith and Order Commission of ACTS and the Committee on Local and Regional Unity are kept informed of progress through participants who are also appointed by their Churches to these parts of ACTS.
2 Some Defining Principles
2.1 From the beginning of the talks, some guiding principles have become clear which provide the context for the discussions.
2.1.1 A united church will be a missionary church. The Church is understood to be an agent of God’s mission, serving and demonstrating the love of God in the community. The group has still to explore a more precise understanding of ‘mission’. Such an exercise will examine the calling of the Church and how mission follows from the Church’s primary task of offering worship to God. The focus of worship is the meeting with God, enacted in rituals and liturgies which reach their climax in intercessions, blessing and sending. In exploring the nature of mission more closely, it will be related to the ministry to which the whole people of God is called. That ministry is based on the ministry of Christ and within it more specific ministries can be identified. As well as relating ministry to mission, the structure of a united church must also be related to mission. A structure that facilitates the Church’s participation in God’s mission to God’s world will be one in which the worshipping communities are related to existing sociological and geographical realities rather than imposed unnatural or unwieldy community boundaries.
2.1.2 A united church will be in continuity with the past while being adaptable to changing circumstances. While recognising the apostolicity of each tradition, it is also recognised that change is part of life. Change is also part of Church life. The Church has been ‘on the move’ since it began. The current popular metaphor for the Church as a pilgrim church, a travelling people, catches something of this image of movement. It will be important to show how some of our most treasured features, e.g. elders, bishops, etc. have themselves evolved over the years and are still evolving. It is clear from historical analysis that some of the developments within the Church were an accommodation to secular society. There is usually an interplay of belief, tradition and pragmatism. Continuity and adaptability are necessary to each other. If there is no adaptability, there is only fossilising. Although the heritage of faith is not transmitted uncritically from generation to generation, there is also a perpetual state of what might be called ‘traditioning the Gospel’. Therefore, in proposals for a united church, people will need to see affirmed what they have already known. Names and models will be important, but it will be in the negotiation of how different names and models are put alongside each other that evolution will take place.
2.1.3 A united church will maintain and protect the greatest possible degree of diversity at local level. It is recognised that already within each of the participating churches there is a wide variety of practice at local level. Divisions within the Church today often exist across the denominations, rather than between them. Therefore, there is a call to ensure that in a united church diversity will be recognised, respected and accepted. Within this diversity it will be important for conflicting opinions to be respected. It is envisaged that within any one church building there might be offered more than one form of worship. Training would be offered to those leading worship in order that they could understand and, where necessary, adopt the practices of a tradition other than their own. Particular issues of conscience would need to be faced. A provision similar to that found in the United Reformed Church could prove helpful:
The United Reformed Church, believing that it is through the freedom of the Spirit that Jesus Christ holds his people in the fellowship of the One Body, shall uphold the rights of personal conviction. It shall be for the Church, in safeguarding the substance of the faith and maintaining the unity of the fellowship, to determine when these rights are asserted to the injury of its unity and peace.
(The Basis and Structure of the
United Reformed Church, Article 10)
2.1.4 Authority. It has been recognised that the ecumenical movement has moved away from seeking authority in one place. The concern now is to find the appropriate place, closest to the people, where the Holy Spirit can enable decisions to be made. The group continues to work on this area, making use of the categories defined in Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry5 of personal, collegial and communal aspects of ministry.6 Though we do not regard the Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry formulations as definitive, we have found them particularly helpful in approaching these issues. The group is also asking itself the question of how power can be appropriately shared.
3 Common Statement
3.1 The participating churches receive the Word of God contained in the Old and New Testaments. These, discerned under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, provide the supreme authority for the faith and conduct of all God’s people. It is the responsibility of the Church to interpret the Scriptures afresh to every generation under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
3.2 The central affirmations of the Gospel are set out in a particular way in the early credal statements, the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds, which continue to be used in the context of the life of faith; in particular that Jesus Christ is truly divine and truly human and that God is One God in Three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In churches where the ancient creeds are not regularly used in worship, the faith to which they bear witness is confessed and lived.
3.3 Other confessional documents which themselves reflect the classic creeds, express the close link between faith and order. In these, order is always subordinate to doctrine. Formularies are culturally conditioned and vary in the extent to which they are legally binding on the denominations.
3.3.1 The Church of Scotland is defined in the terms of its own constitution as ‘a national Church representative of the Christian Faith of the Scottish people’. (Article III of the Declaratory Articles). Its basic constitutional document The General Constitution of the Church of Scotland (1929) incorporates two earlier documents, The United Free Act anent Spiritual Independence (1906) and the Articles Declaratory of the Constitution of the Church of Scotland in Matters Spiritual (1926) (usually referred to as the Declaratory Articles) which are contained in the Schedule to the Church of Scotland Act, (1921). Article I, ‘The truth which is in Christ’, is fundamental and cannot be changed, but all other Articles are expedient and can be changed by modified Barrier Act procedure.
The Church of Scotland is the only one of the participating churches to have a ‘subordinate standard.’ The Westminster Confession is a doctrinal statement enacted by Church and State. The Preamble to the 1929 Basis and Plan of Union states: The Church of Scotland holds as its subordinate standard the Westminster Confession of Faith, recognising liberty of opinion on such points of doctrine as do not enter into the substance of the Faith, and claiming the right, in dependence on the promised guidance of the Holy Spirit, to formulate, interpret or modify its subordinate standards: always in agreement with the fundamental doctrines of the Christian Faith contained in the said Confession - of which agreement the Church itself shall be sole judge.
3.3.2 The position of the Scottish Congregational Church is set out clearly in the Statement of Belief as approved by the Assembly of the Congregational Union of Scotland of 1949. The Preamble reads:
This brief statement gives expression to that faith in the Gospel of Christ which is common to the Churches of the Congregational Faith and Order in Scotland. We claim for the Church, in loyalty to the revelation of God contained in Scripture and under the guidance of the Spirit, the duty and right to set forth this unchanging Gospel in the language of our time; but we recognise that neither this nor any other statement can fully define it or exhaust its riches.
The Epilogue emphasises that ‘no formulation of the Christian Faith can be made binding upon the conscience of a Christian man,’ and concludes with the hope that ‘this statement may serve to make God’s loving purposes clear and thus reinforce the faith of those who accept the whole statement and those who welcome it in substance, but claim the liberty to disagree with some of its detail.’
3.3.3 The Methodist Church Deed of Union, 1932, contains a fundamental section on Doctrinal Standards (Section 2:4-5) The doctrines of the evangelical faith which Methodism has held from the beginning and still holds are based upon the divine revelation recorded in the Holy Scriptures. The Methodist Church acknowledges this revelation as the supreme rule of faith and practice. These evangelical doctrines to which the preachers of the Methodist Church are pledged are contained in Wesley’s Notes on the New Testament and the first four volumes of his sermons.... The Conference shall be the final authority within the Methodist Church concerning the interpretation of its doctrines.
3.3.4 The Scottish Episcopal Church expresses its faith and order in the Scottish Book of Common Prayer and the Canons of the Scottish Episcopal Church. The General Synod has no judicial power (Canon 52 Section 16), but in it is vested the power to alter the canons by which the church is ordered (Section 17) and by this means it controls the church’s ways of worship, its discipline and its teaching. 3.3.5 The United Reformed Church was formed in 1972 by a union of the Presbyterian Church of England and the Congregational Church in England and Wales. In 1981, the Re-formed Association of Churches of Christ in Great Britain and Ireland joined the Union. A confession of the Church’s faith at the date of its formation is set out at paragraph 17 of the Basis of Union of the United Reformed Church. In paragraph 18, the Church acknowledged its duty ‘to be open at all times to the leading of the Holy Spirit’ and therefore affirmed its right ‘to make such new declarations of its faith and for such purposes as may from time to time be required by obedience to the same Spirit.’
It accepted with thanksgiving ‘the witness borne to the Catholic faith by the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds’ and recognised as ‘its own particular heritage the formulations and declarations of faith which have been valued by Presbyterians, Congregationalists and members of Churches of Christ as stating the Gospel and seeking to make its implications clear.’
3.4 In this century, churches have been increasingly aware of God’s desire for the unity of the Church. The participating Churches in this conversation committed themselves to the Faith and Order and Life and Work Movements and were founder members of the World Council of Churches (WCC).
3.4.1 Within the broader ecumenical movement, they sought to overcome divisive issues. Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, Confessing the One Faith, and Church and World, reports of the Faith and Order Commission of the WCC, illustrate significant progress at the multi-lateral international level. The network of bi-lateral conversations is complementary to these; the most significant of those dialogues in which our churches have been involved is God’s Reign and our Unity, Report of the Anglican-Reformed Commission, 1984.
3.4.2 In all of these, there is fundamental consensus on the understanding of the Gospel and confession of faith, and a high degree of agreement on the understanding of Church and Ministry.
3.4.3 The reception of these international dialogues is witnessed to by the following Agreements which have led to changed relationships: The Leuenberg Agreement, 1973 (Lutheran, Reformed & Union Churches7). The Meissen Agreement, 1988 (Church of England, the Evangelical Church in Germany and the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR). The Porvoo Common Statement, 1992 (British and Irish Anglicans and the Nordic and Baltic Lutheran Churches).
3.4.4 The number of united and uniting churches formed since 1947 with the birth of the Church of South India, amongst them the United Reformed Church, have shifted the debate about Church unity, setting people free in an all-embracing community of faith to develop and contribute their gifts and to challenge and equip each other for involvement in God’s mission.
3.5 Unity should not be confused with uniformity. Unity and diversity are grounded in God’s perfect communion in diversity. Our churches have a high degree of unity in faith and doctrine. While this does not require each tradition to accept every doctrinal formulation characteristic of the distinctive traditions, it does require them to face and overcome the remaining obstacles to closer union:
4 Ministry
The ordained and lay ministries of the Church are differing forms of the one ministry of Christ that is shared by the whole People of God
(The COCU8 Consensus, 2nd ed., 1991, chapter VII section 21).
4.1 Ministering Christians
4.1.1 ‘Before we turn to the study of any particular form of ministry,’ says the Multilateral report, Deacons for Scotland?, ‘there is a fundamental question of perspective to be settled.’ Relatively very few of the Christians are ordained, and they are ordained in order to serve, build up and equip the whole community of the baptised for its mission..... It is all followers of Christ, not just the tiny minority of them who are ordained, who are charged by Christ to be salt to the world, light to all the world, yeast to leaven the whole lump of dough.
(Deacons for Scotland? p.36)
4.1.2 Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, begins its section on Ministry with ‘the Calling of the Whole People of God’. Only then does the document turn to the Ordained Ministry. In expressing its view of ordained ministry and its unity and diversity, BEM presupposes the life of the Church and the mission of all Christian people. Though the churches are agreed in their understanding of the calling of the people of God, they differ in their understanding of how the life of the Church is to be ordered. In particular, there are differences concerning the place and forms of the ordained ministry. As they engage in the effort to overcome these differences, the churches need to work from the perspective of the calling of the whole people of God. How, according to the will of God and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, is the life of the Church to be understood and ordered, so that the Gospel may be spread and the community built up in love?
(Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry Ministry section 6)
4.1.3 In the first place, therefore, there is the ministry of the whole Church, sent both to preach the Gospel to all nations and to be, in the quality of its life, the product of the Gospel. ‘The Church is sent into the world as sign, instrument and first-fruits of a reality which comes from beyond history - the Kingdom or reign of God.’ (God’s Reign and Our Unity, Section 29). The priesthood of all believers is one of the Biblical images depicting the corporate responsibility of the Church to stand before the face of God as representative of all humanity and to speak to the human race from God: You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation, a people claimed by God for his own, to proclaim the glorious deeds of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.
(I Peter 2:9)
4.1.4 In the second place, there is the ministry given to every individual member of the Church, none being without gifts of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 12:7). Agreement on this was a feature of the negotiations for Church union in North India and Pakistan: The Church of North India/Pakistan recognises that it is the duty and privilege of every member to share in that service of God which is the Church’s ministry. This ministry includes the worship of God both in private and in public, Christian loving service both within the family of the Church and to the community at large, and the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through evangelism... It is a prime concern of the Church that all its members should contribute fully to its life of worship, witness and service.
(Plan of Church Union in North India and Pakistan, 4th Rev. Ed. 1965, chap. VIII.A.1)
4.1.5 In the very passage in which St Paul asserts that ‘in each of us, the Spirit is seen to be at work for some useful purpose,’ he goes on to give nine examples of gifts of the Spirit which are given, not to all Christians, but to particular individuals - ministries which are to be exercised for the sake of all, not in rivalry but in complementarity, just as the variegated organs of a living body function interdependently for the health and efficiency of the whole body. (I Corinthians 12: 8-30). So, in the third place, there is a great variety of distinctive ministries not common to all members of the Church but committed to some. All such ministries are gifts of the Holy Spirit, bestowed upon the Church by the risen and ascended Christ, ‘to equip God’s people for work in his service, for the building up of the body of Christ ...’ (Ephesians 4:12). Throughout the history of the Church, as at the present, the gifts of the Spirit abound throughout the whole People of God, and the gifts are exercised, in the vast majority of cases, by Christians who are not ordained. This perspective needs to be kept in all study of the ministering done by ordained Christians.
4.1.6 It is not to be deduced from this perspective that the ordained ministry is a later development within the Church, an invention of the early Church, nor that its authority is totally derived by delegation from the Church. The ministry of such persons, who since very early times have been ordained, is constitutive for the life and witness of the Church.
The Church has never been without persons holding specific authority and responsibility... The very existence of the Twelve and other apostles shows that, from the beginning, there were differentiated roles in the community.
As Christ chose and sent the apostles, Christ continues through the Holy Spirit to choose and call persons into the ordained ministry.
(Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, Ministry sections 8-11).
This understanding has been adopted, and strongly argued, in the report of the Anglican-Reformed International Commission, God’s Reign and Our Unity, sections 73-77.
4.1.7 The group unanimously endorses the principle set out in the following statement from the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. Particularly in terms of the Christian community, Scripture reveals God’s intention in Christ to include all people. Entering into the fellowship of the body of Christ, all persons become one in Christ. The Reformed tradition has always affirmed that each member (male and female) of Christ’s body is endowed by the Holy Spirit with gifts for the use and upbuilding of the whole body. Although the implications of this affirmation have not always been fully practised, this affirmation calls for full participation of women and men in the leadership of that community, through all offices of ministry (elder, pastor, teacher, deacon), in accordance with the spiritual gifts which each woman or man has received.
(Eldership in the Reformed Churches Today Editor Lukas Vischer, World Alliance of Reformed Churches, 1991 p.16)
4.2 The Ministry of the Eldership
4.2.1 The eldership is to be recognised in a united Church as a gift of God to the whole Church. It would be recognised as part of the heritage of faith of the united church. Elders would exercise a particular ministry of leadership and service in the local church. There would be great freedom to delegate. The eldership would exist ‘for the sake of the Church as a whole and ... its task (would be) to release the talents and the possibilities of all God’s people.’ (Reports to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, 1990 p.196)
4.2.2 It is recognised that there has been, and still is, a variety of models of eldership which have evolved within the Reformed family of Churches from the time of the Reformation onwards.9 Something of this variety is reflected in two of the participating Churches which have elders, the Church of Scotland and the United Reformed Church. The Church of Scotland has elders who are ordained for life and who serve, if not for life, then at least indefinitely. Presbytery responses in 1990 indicated that for the majority of elders, ordination was of paramount importance.
The United Reformed Church also ordains elders for life, but in many churches elders are not expected to serve on the Elders’ Meeting without a break or indefinitely. In an article produced to explain the essential gifts of the Elders’ Meeting for Churches engaged in Local Ecumenical Partnerships with the United Reformed Church, the Eldership is described thus:
The heart of the matter for us is that there should be a group of people, chosen by the congregation for their Christian maturity, who share with those ordained to [the ministry of] Word and Sacrament in the leadership of the local church and from whose numbers the representatives of the local church to the wider church are chosen.
Non-serving elders can be called on for advice and may signal their office by occasionally distributing the elements at communion and may continue to represent the local church in the wider work of the Church. What is critical in the United Reformed Church is the relation between the Elders’ Meeting and the Church Meeting, with final authority resting with the Church Meeting which takes decisions having received the advice of the Elders’ Meeting and the minister. As in the Church of Scotland, many of the common duties of elders are, in some churches, carried out by others e.g. stewarding, preparing communion, counting the offering.
4.2.3 In both Churches the ministry of the eldership is still evolving in response to the needs of today’s Church. Because of this, it is recommended that the united church should not be tied down to one form of practice. Also, since the eldership is to be seen as a growth point still in the process of developing, union could take place ahead of solving all the issues surrounding the eldership. Remaining issues should be seen as theological, rather than legal, and should be carried forward into the united church for continued reflection and discussion.
4.2.4 Further work will be done on the theology of the role and function of the eldership once the areas of authority appropriate to the various councils of the Church have been more closely defined. In pursuing this, the Churches will need to be sensitive to the perception of some who see the eldership as disempowering those who are not ordained in the exercising of their ministry. A strong emphasis on varieties of ministry within the Church will help to counteract this.
4.3 The Ministry of the Diaconate
4.3.1 There has been little discussion to date within the group about the Ministry of the Diaconate. All the participating churches recognise diaconal ministries, but not all have a diaconate. Of those that do, some ordain, others commission; some have a specific relationship to the liturgy, others do not. It is recognised that work needs to be done towards reconciling the ministry of the diaconate and its role and function within the wider scope of diaconal ministries. To this end the proposed ecumenical study by member Churches of the Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland will have specific resonance within the Initiative for Union. Meantime, the Initiative shares the view that the uniting Churches should not demand fuller agreement on the Diaconate as a prior condition of union, but should ‘plan for the retention of a variety of kinds of Deacon in the united Church in the initial period, leaving the way fully open for the Church, after union, to discover what the office of a Deacon in the Church of God is to be.’ (Deacons for Scotland? p.69)
4.4 Ministry of Word and Sacrament
4.4.1 From the Multilateral Church Conversation we have inherited ‘A Scottish Consensus on the Presbyterate’ recording agreement on the seven-fold role of the Presbyter.10 The Initiative, in re-affirming this consensus, wishes to make an additional item the first of all: the Presbyter’s role of serving the Church in leadership in mission.
4.4.2 There is widespread agreement on the nature and function of the ordained ministry as has now been reiterated in successive ecumenical documents. For example, the text of Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry states: The chief responsibility of the ordained ministry is to assemble and build up the body of Christ by proclaiming and teaching the Word of God, by celebrating the sacraments, and by guiding the life of the community in its worship, its mission, and its caring ministry.
These tasks are not exercised by the ordained ministry in an exclusive way. Since the ordained ministry and the community are inextricably related, all members participate in fulfilling these functions. In fact, every charism serves to assemble and build up the body of Christ. Any member of the body may share in proclaiming and teaching the Word of God, may contribute to the sacramental life of that body. The ordained ministry fulfils these functions in a representative way, providing the focus for the unity of the life and witness of the community.
(Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry Ministry section 13).
4.4.3 Since 1984, those churches participating in the Multilateral Church Conversation, with the exception of the Scottish Episcopal Church, agreed a Joint Statement on Mutual Recognition of Members and Ministries which permitted ministers of each Church to ‘exercise all aspects of their ministries, including the celebration of the sacraments, in any of these Churches, when invited to do so and in accordance with the recognised procedures of these Churches.’ A similar provision is now also available through Canon 15 of the Scottish Episcopal Church which permits someone who has not been episcopally ordained to celebrate the Eucharist in a Local Ecumenical Partnership, in recognition of the reality of unity in these particular situations. It is, however, hoped that at the point when the churches first agree to unite, this latter provision would be extended throughout all the participating churches involved as a sign and expression of that commitment to union at national level.
4.5 The Ministry of the Bishop
4.5.1 Each church has developed its own pattern of episcopé, the ministry of oversight. These models vary considerably in the extent to which the emphasis is placed on the personal, the collegial or the communal aspects of ministry. Part of the reconciliation of ministries required for a united church involves ensuring that each of these aspects is present in a recognisable and balanced way. In the Scottish Episcopal Church this ministry of oversight is exercised through the episcopate - the ministry of the bishops. Paramount in the personal dimension of this ministry of oversight is the need for pastoral care and leadership in mission in a way that brings cohesion. Such an emphasis picks up on the emphasis on pastoral oversight which has always been the primary emphasis of the episcopate in the Scottish Episcopal Church. The newer emphasis on the bishop’s role in mission comes from the wider Anglican Communion, in particular from Africa. This role is not to be seen as an alternative to the pastoral model, but rather as complementary to it.
4.5.2 In the Scottish Episcopal Church bishops serve in collaborative ministry with each other, other ministers and the councils of the church at all levels. For the discharge of their duties they are answerable to the church. They have a constitutionally defined role alongside others in the governance of the Church and are placed in the context of the ministry of the whole people of God. They can therefore be said to have a conciliar role, in that bishops do not function on their own, but within the councils of the Church to which they are accountable. The ‘college’ of bishops exists for mutual support and exchange of views. This would continue in a united Church but it is not anticipated that the college would vote separately in a national church council. The description of bishops in Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry summarises clearly the role of bishops. Bishops preach the Word, preside at the sacraments and administer discipline in such ways as to be representative pastoral ministers of oversight, continuity and unity in the Church. They have pastoral oversight of the area to which they are called. They serve the apostolicity and unity of the Church’s teaching, worship and sacramental life. They have responsibility for leadership in the Church’s mission. They relate the Christian community in their area to the wider Church and the universal Church to their community. They in common with the presbyters and deacons and whole community, are responsible for the orderly transfer of ministerial authority in the Church.
(Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry Ministry section 29)
4.5.3 The ministry of the bishops can be compared with the ministry of the eldership. Just as the eldership is to be seen as a gift of God to the whole Church, so the ministry of the bishops is to be seen as a gift of God to the whole Church. To date, discussion in the group has concentrated on the distinctive role of the bishop. There is general agreement that there are three primary areas: pastoral care, leadership in mission and administration. Specific responsibilities have been identified e.g. in the councils of the Church, as a teacher and custodian of the faith, as servants of unity, as one who looks out for needs to be met and opportunities to be grasped and who encourages such a looking out in others. All of these are undertaken in collaboration and co-operation with others in the councils of the Church at all levels. However, it has been agreed that further work on the role of the bishop needs to await the defining of the specific functions and responsibilities of the councils of the Church. An early suggestion that the bishop should be placed at community, rather than regional level, has been abandoned in favour of a regional model where a region will generally represent an area smaller than the present Church of Scotland presbytery (see para 5.3 below).
5 Structures
Note: in the following section names of councils are descriptive, and may not be the final designation. The use of such terms allows greater freedom in exploring the possible roles and functions of the united church structure, without the distraction of names which carry particular denominational baggage. Comment is invited in all the areas set out below.
5.1 The Local Church
5.1.1 Just as consideration of the Church’s ministry began with the affirmation that the ministry of Christ belongs to the whole Church as the body of Christ and is therefore to be located in the ministry of all Christians, so the setting out of the structure for a united church begins at the point where the church member participates in the life of the Church. If it can be said that the ministry of the eldership is a gift to the whole Church from the presbyterian tradition and the ministry of bishops is a gift from the episcopal tradition, so it can be said that the local church meeting is the gift from the congregational tradition. The local church meeting is not just a business meeting, but is the place where theological issues are tackled and faith is worked through together in policies worked out locally. This aspect of congregational polity would be received in the united church as part of its structure. In the Methodist Church local churches have been gathered into circuits to facilitate their individual lives. This contribution from the Methodist Church has helped the group to develop its thinking on the maxi-parish outlined below. The structure of a united Church would therefore need to facilitate and encourage the development and practice of all such patterns. From the local church meeting local leaders would be elected to serve on the local church council. This council would ensure the on-going life of the local worship centre community.
5.2 The Maxi-Parish
5.2.1 In exploring the need for a Church equipped for mission, a Structures Working Group has been setting out a possible model which would take account of recognised communities in which there might be more than one existing worshipping community. The idea has been shared with people in different parts of the country to gauge initial reaction. It is presented here in some detail in order to encourage further exploration and discussion at local level.
5.2.2 The maxi-parish would refer to a designated area, recognised by the local people as a definable community in which geographical and sociological factors are taken into consideration. Generally speaking, it would be the area of a sizeable town and those surrounding areas which focus in on it. The area would have within it a number of church buildings, which are referred to in this report as worship centres, in that the building indicates the focus of a worshipping community. The area cannot be so large as to make administration and management unwieldy. In major cities several maxi-parishes could be identified. Ideally there would be no more than seven worship centres in a maxi-parish.
5.2.3 The maxi-parish would be administered by a parish council whose primary function would be the planning of missionary strategy, the oversight of pastoral care and the co-ordination of fund-raising for local and wider church needs. People would be elected to the maxi-parish council from the local church councils. The staff, full time and part time, would form a ministry team. Questions still have to be answered about how the team leader is appointed. Should it be by rotation, or someone specifically called because of recognised gifts of leadership? Could a lay person be team leader? How would the leader relate to the bishop in council? The Working Group is presently engaged in drawing up some leadership models. In order to allow the greatest amount of flexibility, it may seem prudent to offer a choice of models so that each maxi-parish would choose the one that best fitted its situation. The choice would be intimated and agreed with the regional church council which would have the task of encouraging and nurturing maxi-parishes.
5.2.4 The maxi-parish would allow the continuance of different worship traditions. Small fellowships have a contribution to make, but where financial or human resources would make an ordained minister of their own inappropriate, they would contribute as part of the maxi-parish. In many cases too, this model would deal constructively with readjustment issues in a united church, since the continuance of worship traditions does not imply that a building must continue. Two traditions can flourish in one building. Local management practices and terminology may also be preserved within such a model, diversity being one of the touchstones of this initiative.
5.2.5 It is possible that such a model of local unity could begin to be introduced ahead of union. It is equally the case that it would continue to be a model that would be commended, but not imposed, after union.
5.3 Regional Church Council
5.3.1 The group is only now turning its attention to the role and function of the regional and national councils of the united church. The intention is to produce a regional structure of councils which would comprise roughly 15-30 existing worship centres. Parishes, whether maxi or not, would be represented on the regional council in proportion to their size. Working towards a harmonising of regional boundaries could begin immediately, since this does not depend on union and would in any event greatly facilitate ecumenical co-operation throughout Scotland.
5.3.2 It is envisaged that the bishop would be located within the regional council of the united church. Parallels can be drawn between the role of the bishop in the regional council and that of Provincial Moderator in the United Reformed Church and of District Chairs in the Methodist Church. Each has particular pastoral responsibility for local churches and their ministers, exercising leadership in relation to worship and mission. It will be important in a united church that the bishop should be elected by the ordained ministers and representatives from the local churches that make up the council in which the bishop will serve. The precise procedures will need to be worked out. Questions that remain to be answered relate particularly to the role of the bishop in the regional church council. Would the bishop chair the council? Would there be bishops and moderators? Could the council be chaired by a lay person, and if so, does that have implications for chairing of the local church and maxi-parish councils? The practices differ among the participating churches. The solution will depend on how the functions of the councils and of specific ministries are related to the ministry of the whole Church.
5.4 National Church Council
5.4.1 Again detailed consideration is only now beginning. Some of the detail will need to take into account the status of the Church of Scotland as a national church. As in the case of the regional church council there will be questions to be answered about who would be eligible to chair the national church council. There will also be questions relating to composition. For example, present practice varies. Some churches appoint to their national body for one year, some for several years. Some churches restrict membership to particular groups within the church, for others church membership is the only qualification for election. The benefits of enabling the greatest number of members to participate in the national church council will need to be balanced with the benefits of continuity. Some participating churches seek to ensure appropriate representation of gender, age and ethnic background.
5.4.2 The relation of the church to the nation will need to be articulated in a way that is appropriate for the 21st century, with a recognition that the relationship between church and state has been constantly changing throughout history as the nation changed its sense of national identity or the church has changed and reformed itself. With the decision to have a devolved parliament in Scotland, once again the relationship of church to state is bound to change. What is important is that the united Church would be constitutionally rooted in the Scotland of the present, where Scottishness is defined in terms of citizenship and the pluralist nature of the nation is accepted. In such a context, the role of the church as a national church, through the decisions of its national church council and the encouragement given by that council to local churches, will be to show the concern of a loving God for the people of Scotland through its own love of its people, exercised with humility and in suffering service, a missionary and evangelical relationship. Furthermore such a commitment to Scotland must be clearly worked out within the context of the wider, global community.
6 Challenge to the Churches
6.1 In presenting this interim report, the Scottish Church Initiative for Union group wish to challenge the churches at all levels to become involved in the process of union. It offers four particular areas of challenge.
6.1.1 Education. In preparation for union, the group believes that church people need to participate in the process. This requires both education about their own tradition and contact with people from the other traditions involved. The discussion group has already produced one leaflet on the union talks and intends to produce others. It is proposed that a second one might look at patterns of worship. These should receive the widest possible attention, preferably on an ecumenical basis. It is vitally important that voices from more than one tradition are heard, so that the issues are viewed from angles other than our own.
6.1.2 Boundaries. Co-operation at local level is hampered throughout Scotland by the fact that each church has its own set of regional boundaries. Harmonising boundaries would go a long way to facilitating joint regional work, quite apart from being a step towards the union of these structures in a united church. We therefore challenge the churches to set up a boundary commission with a view to producing a map of harmonised boundaries.
6.1.3 Maxi-parishes. The churches are challenged to respond to the concept of the maxi-parish proposals. Where these proposals are broadly welcomed and where local conditions allow, voluntary pilot schemes could be set up to test the model.
6.1.4 The Interim Report. This report itself is offered as part of the process towards union. It is therefore important that it receives the fullest consideration in local churches and regional bodies, remembering the value in studying it ecumenically. Responses and reactions to any aspect of the report are invited by 30th June, 1999.
6.2 While the Interim Report is being discussed by the Churches, the group will continue to work on three themes: the whole people of God, the checks and balances of conciliarity and the function of the bishop in relation to the people. It will also do further work on leadership in a maxi-parish, on mission and how we understand it, and it will begin work on the central administrative structure of a united Church. Between 1999 and 2000 the responses from the Churches will be considered. Depending on the nature of these responses, the earliest specific proposals for union could be presented to the churches would be 2001.
Notes
1 Controlling Principles for a Basis and Plan of Union Among Scottish Churches 1969; an Interim Report 1972; Worship and Sacraments 1974; The Faith of the Church 1978; Christian Unity - NOW is the Time 1985; and Who Goes Where? 1992
2 Christian Unity - NOW is the Time, The Saint Andrew Press, 1985, pp 9-10
3 Who Goes Forward with Us? General Synod, Scottish Episcopal Church, 1994
4 Who Goes Where? p.17
5 Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (BEM), known also as the Lima Report, was published by the WCC Faith & Order Commission in 1982. This text incorporates areas of agreement between Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, Reformed, Pentecostal and Roman Catholic traditions.
6 The ordained ministry ‘should be personal because the presence of Christ among his people can most effectively be pointed to by the person ordained to proclaim the Gospel and to call the community to serve the Lord in unity of life and witness. It should be collegial, for there is need for a college of ordained ministers sharing in the common task of representing the concerns of the community. Finally, the intimate relationship between the ordained ministry and the community should find expression in a communal dimension where the exercise of the ordained ministry is rooted in the life of the community and requires the community’s effective participation in the discovery of God’s will and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.’ (Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry Ministry section 26)
7 Union Churches are the Waldensian Church, the Evangelical Church of the Czech Brethren, some of the German Landeskirchen and the United Reformed Church. The Leuenberg Agreement was also signed by the Evangelical Lutheran, Reformed and Methodist Churches in Latin America and in 1995 by the Methodist Churches in Europe, including the British Church.
8 Consultation on Church Unity - USA negotiations since the early 1960s, including African-American, Disciples, Episcopal, Methodist, Reformed and United Churches.
9 Reports to the General Assembly, 1989, page 198f.
10 ’As we stated in our Interim Report in 1972, our Churches are already in fundamental agreement with regard to the various roles of the ordained minister - or the presbyter as that Interim Report describes him or her: ....In our Churches, people are ordained to a multiple role including the following: •Sacramental •The Ministry of the Word •Liturgical •Pastoral •Pioneering •Universal and •Reconciliation.’ Christian Unity - NOW is the Time p.16f.
Copyright © 1998, United Reformed Church
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