Tonight the full compliment of General Assemblies are in progress as the Free Church of Scotland 2018 General Assembly convenes at St. Columba’s Free Church in Edinburgh. The meeting will run until about noon on Thursday. It is always an interesting meeting so here is some info about following along.
- Live streaming is available.
- There is a draft programme for the week available online
- The advanced set of reports are available on the and Supplemental Reports may be released throughout the week.
- Daily updates are expected in the news stream.
- If you need the polity documents you can check the Acts of Assembly and Free Church Practice.
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 #fcga18, although sometimes tweets slip by with #fcga or #fcga2018. In addition, I would suggest also keeping an eye on the Twitter account for the official bookstore, Free Church Books (@freechurchbooks). Also, the seminary, Edinburgh Theological Seminary (@ETS_Edinburgh) and its principal Iver Martin (@IverMartin) should be informative.
Regarding other individuals and church tweeting the GA let me start with @jedirev, the moniker of Gordon Matheson, who has come back to Twitter for the GA. Add to that an elder from St. Columba’s who is a commissioner this year “Neil DM” who’s feed is @neilbriogaisean. (And must add I had a great evening talking with the two of them after the opening session.) I will update here any additional accounts that are interesting as the GA progresses.
Not present at the GA but worth mentioning is the former Moderator David Robertson. He is on sabbatical in Australia but might weigh in on either Twitter at @theweeflea or on his blog, The Wee Flea.
Much of the business before the Assembly seems like the routine but necessary work of a connectional denomination. A couple of interesting items include the approval for the London City Presbyterian Church to sell their manse and an agreement between the Assembly and the congregation as to how to split the proceeds. There is also a item to deal with ruling elder representatives to Synods, which still exist but meetings were suspended in 2009. The Assembly Clerks are also proposing a policy regarding electronic records and their handling and storage. There is also a action item regarding the structure and procedure of the quinquennial review of the seminary.
One of the important items is the Board of Ministry report and the section on Ministry with Integrity. This continues the close examination of the ministry in the Free Church in response to the ” the tragic and untimely death by suicide of Rev. Dr Iain D. Campbell in January 2017,” and other pastoral integrity issues. There are a number of steps and safeguards recommended in the report but the lead point is:
It was agreed to commend to all ministry candidates and serving ministers the challenging and realistic book, Dangerous Calling, by Paul David Tripp. This volume deserves to be read and re-read to help foster a healthy pastoral culture where genuine repentance and heart-humility is normal and where glory and fear is not given to men but to God alone. To that end pastors need to be encouraged and supported through healthy relationships with other Christians and their fellow leaders to whom they must be properly accountable.
It is a pleasure to sit in as an observer of the Free Church Assembly this year. I look forward to a couple of stimulating days with them.
So best wishes to the Free Church on their Assembly and we pray for the Holy Spirit to guide your discernment throughout.