So, let’s round out this weeks assembly activity in Edinburgh…

While the other two Assemblies are meeting up near the top of the Royal Mile, a bit to the south of them, in the Liberton area, the smallest of the three will be in session.

The Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) convened at 6 PM this evening at Liberton Kirk, Kirkgate, Liberton, Edinburgh, and will conclude this coming Thursday, probably before noon. The church’s press release has more details on the meeting arrangements as well as a summary schedule.

The book of reports is available for download online. For governing documents and church order, the Acts of Assembly are available online and the basic polity document is the Westminster Form of Presbyterial Church-Government. In addition, the church is guided by the Westminster Standards. And finally, there are a few documents related to this branch’s formation back in 2000.

Compared to other meetings the social media footprint will be fairly small. Expecting some news on their Facebook page, and the church’s Twitter feed is @fccscot. The hashtags for the meeting are #freechurchcontinuing and #ga2019. Probably best to focus on the former as the latter is in use by the Church of Scotland as well. Typically, there is not a lot of tweeting from this Assembly. Will update if I find a good follow.

Looking through the Reports there is a lot of the usual business that you find with General Assemblies that makes the church operate. But two items stand out because of their more public nature.

The first is in the report of the Committee on Public Questions, Religion and Morals. Among the multiple topics they discuss, the highlighted issue is a bill in the Scottish Parliament regarding a smacking ban. This is a continuing point of concern and last year the church issued a press release regarding their proposed comment to the Scottish Parliament. This is still an active matter and the church’s press office has sent me a copy of this year’s press release on the same subject. (I have not seen it online yet.) The release reads:

Holyrood shows skewed processes and closed minds on smacking ban, says Free Church of Scotland (Continuing)

The Public Questions, Religion & Morals Committee of the Free Church of Scotland, in a report to their General Assembly due to meet in Edinburgh from 20th May 2019, state that Holyrood has demonstrated skewed processes, in that the Holyrood Committee tasked with scrutinising the Children (Equal Protection from Assault) (Scotland) Bill is comprised of seven members of whom five had indicated their support for the proposals before any scrutiny took place. When the representative of the Free Church (Continuing) presented the views of the denomination generally at a meeting of the Equalities and Human Rights Committee of the Scottish Parliament, held recently in Portree, along with numerous other witnesses presenting their concerns, the Committee demonstrated closed minds on the subject.

This information and additional details are also contained in the committee’s report, beginning on page 44 of the Book of Reports.

Another topic of focus this year will be Christian Education, part of the report of the Welfare of Youth and Education Committee. (Beginning on page 26) The committee will present the recommendations of a working group that is encouraging the availability of Christian Education resources on the denomination’s website, possible funding for Christian Education, and approving in principle the establishment of an annual conference on Christian Education. That report also recommends that the All-Age Holiday event be discontinued after this year due to costs unless a less expensive venue can be found. And finally, jumping back to Christian Education, a special program will be presented in Glasgow the day following the adjournment of the Assembly with Dr James Wanliss addressing the meeting on the theme “The Profit of Christian Education”.

I enjoyed my time with this GA last year and while I will be waiting for the post-GA reports from them this year, my prayers are with them for their deliberations and work. May it all be guided by the Holy Spirit.