NEARLY 1,200 commissioners gathered in Edinburgh on Saturday, 20th May, for the Church of Scotland General Assembly. Rev James Harkness, former Chaplain General of the Army, succeeded Rev James Simpson, Dornoch, as Moderator.
Reports of the Church’s declining membership (down by 300,000 since 1971), the fewness of young people in its congregations, and a continuing fall in income, all increase the concern about its future felt by even the more optimistic in its ranks. Yet another General Assembly demonstrates the tragic fact that the Church is not yet realising, let alone facing up to, the fact that its departure from the Scriptural doctrine, worship and practice which it inherited at the Reformation, is the root cause of its crisis.
In his opening address the moderator called on the Church to “communicate with that large number who have little or no understanding of the faith”. He added, “Among those with whom I have lived and worked there is a lot of confusion about what the Church is saying. There is desperate need for clear communication about Christian belief.” In his closing address he asked the Church to remember its Christian inheritance. “At every critical moment in the Church’s history there has been this rediscovery of the Gospel of the unconditional and free grace of God. I believe that the starting point for the Church’s renewal will rest on the rediscovery of that message.” Fair words indeed, but it is a sad and deplorable fact that the preaching given to the nation from the vast majority of the Church’s pulpits is not that of which God says, “Preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.”
A clear indication of the Church’s departure from the old paths is its having invited Cardinal Winning to address its Assembly — the man who is the principal representative in Scotland of a system which is the inveterate foe of the Reformed Faith. His speech was regarded by the press as an adroit seizing of an ecumenical initiative. He expressed the hope that “the entire Christian family in Scotland will gather together in assembly such as this” to celebrate the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Christ. He received a “tumultuous ovation”. The Moderator not only “agreed with Cardinal Winning’s vision of Protestants and Catholics sitting down together in a Scottish Christian assembly”, but also told him that he was “welcome as a brother in Christ.” So much for the Moderator’s fair words about remembering our Christian heritage. He fails to realise that Rome, in her ecumenical activities, is not going to depart from her position, whatever might be the appearances to the contrary.
Of course, the Church of Rome does not lack support from the media. A leader in The Scotsman says that “the Cardinal’s visits (to both Assemblies) surely shed some much-needed light on the way forward.” It adds that “the Churches must have the grace to realise that Cardinal Winning is right; and the gumption to follow with real action.” A journalist in The Herald praises Winning for his sincerity and says that he made the most significant ecumenical advance in Scotland since the Roman Catholic Church agreed to come into ACTS, adding, “He gave Scotland a vision.” Although it dazzled many members of Assembly and the press it is a vision which will result in the nation being brought back to the gross darkness from which it was mercifully delivered at the Reformation.
The Church’s ecumenical zeal was also shown by its agreeing to the recommendation of the Ecumenical Affairs Committee that it accept the invitation from the Scottish Episcopal Church to enter into negotiations on union. The Convener of the Committee regards the invitation as “evidence of the spirit at work”. Certainly, it is not a movement which bears the marks of the work of the Holy Spirit. It would have been the wisdom of the Assembly to heed the elder who, in opposing acceptance, said that spiritual revival was more important than structural union, and warned the Assembly to never forget their inheritance and the cost of it. Another item focussed on by the press was the Church’s perilous financial situation. Ministers’ salaries have had to be subsidised by drawing on reserve funds earmarked for mission and aid work, to the sum of £1.5 million. These funds will not last longer than another two or three years, the Assembly was informed. Nevertheless, ministers’ salaries were increased by £883 to a basic stipend of £14,000.
Moves to allow children to receive communion without being baptised were defeated. One elder, who was opposed to this recommendation by the Board of Parish Education, said that the moves were part of a general tendency to downgrade baptism and were desperate measures to hold on to the younger members of the congregation.