As I have been saying, this week there are traditionally three General Assemblies and I will honor the trifecta and bring you a brief note about the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) and its General Assembly. And I discovered an error in a previous post – there are now three General Assemblies in Scotland, but only two in Edinburgh itself this year. More on that in a minute.
The General Assembly of the Free Church (Continuing) convened yesterday, Monday, 22 May at Patrick Free Church (Continuing) in Glasgow.
The new venue allows them to live stream the proceedings on the church’s various channels. These are all listed at the bottom of the General Assembly article, but I am watching on the YouTube stream.
The Reports for the meeting are available to download. Likewise, there is a page to download the Acts and Proceedings. I don’t expect regular updates during the Assembly but following the meeting we can expect a summary article on the News feed.
The Free Church (Continuing) does have a Twitter account @fccscot, but again, there is nothing being posted live, and a notice of a summary article will probably appear shortly afterward. They have indicated the hashtags #fccscot and #GA2023, but remember that the second one is also being used by the Church of Scotland, so the first one may be a better one to watch.
The convening of the Assembly yesterday evening included the formal election and installation of the Rev. Gavin Beers as the Moderator for this year. In an interesting trend among the Assemblies, Rev. Beers is a church planter in North Carolina. However, unlike the other two American-born Moderators, that is his current charge, but he is a native of Northern Ireland. I guess the trend is for Moderators not native to Scotland.
Following the Church of Scotland’s meeting last year the Free Church (Continuing) adopted a statement expressing their “grave concern” on two actions the Church of Scotland took: the approval of same-sex marriages in the church and the adoption of the Saint Margaret Declaration on cooperation with the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland. In light of these actions, an additional response of the Free Church (Continuing) was to change venues from the Liberton Kirk in Edinburgh (a Church of Scotland congregation) to the new location in Glasgow.
In the business tomorrow, Wednesday, 24 May, the Assembly will consider additional responses to these actions. In the Reports, beginning on page 65, is the report of the Committee on Public Questions, Religion, and Morals. This Committee first brings a statement on the doctrine of man. The statement begins:
Many of the issues affecting our nation, and with which the Committee have had to concern themselves, involve a very basic teaching of the Bible. We find that there is a very concerted attact today on the doctrine of man, and particularly on man as male and female. The truths of which our generation needs to be remineded are there in the opening chapters of the Bible, and are worthy of considering briefly.
Another statement that the Committee brings is a response to the St Margaret Declaration. This response was sent to the Scottish Parliament last fall as it was getting ready to express its approval of the Declaration. This is a detailed rebuttal of the Declaration, taking each section and arguing against it using many quotes from historical and contemporary sources. This is not an item for formal approval by the Assembly since it has already been produced and distributed, but the deliverance has the Assembly thanking the Committee for its work.
And so we look forward to following the work of this General Assembly and we pray for their deliberations and witness.