In just about an hour from now on Monday 19 May, the Free Church of Scotland will convene their 2014 General Assembly in St. Columba’s Free Church in Edinburgh. The meeting will run until Friday 23 May. Lots of interesting items going on with this meeting so here is some of the info to help you follow along.
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To follow along in social media you should be checking the official Free Church Facebook page as well as their Twitter feed @freechurchscot. The host church can be followed at @stcsfreechurch and the hashtag will be #fcga14.
I am trying to figure out where to begin in recommending personal Twitter feeds as there are a number of individuals with interesting ones at the meeting. I will begin with Iain D. Campbell at @revdridc. Maybe the most high-profile minister in the Free Church of Scotland, at least in the public eye, is David Robertson who you can follow at @theweeflea. Let me start there and add others as the Assembly gets going.
Two items of business are getting a bit of publicity. The first is the transformation of the Free Church College into the Edinburgh Theological Seminary. A program marking the launch of the new seminary will take place on Wednesday evening at the Assembly with the Rev. Sinclair Ferguson preaching. The Principal’s Report in the Report of the College Board talks about the nature of this change:
This year, in accordance with a decision at the 2013 General Assembly, the Free Church College will be renamed as Edinburgh Theological Seminary. Some may see this as a mere external facelift but the whole process has encouraged the staff and Board to actively explore ways of making the College more accessible to the wider church. Already, not only has there been substantial interest from various parties but the Free Church itself has become more aware of and excited about our training institution as a vital and indispensable resource. The key to the Seminary’s future is its attachment to a vibrant confessional church which will support its work and ensure its stability. To this effect, the Principal is gratified at the encouragement he has received from the Free Church at large.
The second item is the discussion of the future of Scotland leading up to the independence referendum. This will come up in the Report of the Communications Committee which has arranged for four papers from Free Church pastors addressing the issues of independence from the perspective of the church. While the Committee report provides summaries of the papers links to the full papers can be found under the news item announcing their release.
I also found it interesting that the Free Church of Scotland, like many other Presbyterian branches, is reviewing how they structure their Assemblies. The proposal that comes to the 2014 Assembly in the Assembly Arrangements Committee Report is this (Deliverance item 6):
6. The General Assembly authorise the Committee to make arrangements for the 2015 General Assembly to meet over three whole days, the evenings to involve shorter business sessions and to include worship items. The General Assembly approve the Committee’s recommendation that invitations to other Churches and organisations to send representatives be issued only every third year, phased over a three-year period so that representatives do not all attend in the same year. They also authorise the Committee to examine how more powers may be given to the Commission of Assembly and report to the next General Assembly.
Finally the Report of the Board of Trustees will be bringing an extensive report that deals with two current issues. The first is a new plan for the church boards and committees “related to ordering the Church’s activities in such a way as to bring finances back into balance” based on the charge from the last General Assembly. The second is a Policy for the Admission of Congregations.
I am struck by how they are dealing with issues that are being examined by other Presbyterian branches around the world, including ministerial training and the structure and nature of their Assemblies. We look forward to seeing how the Free Church considers and decides on these pressing issues.