June2020

Vacancy matters
Finlay Macdonald
This year, for the first time in over three centuries, there was no meeting of
the General Assembly.
Throughout the seventeenth century the Kirk swung between presbyterian
and episcopal government and between 1652 and 1690 no General
Assemblies were held. The latter year saw the restoration of presbyterianism,
including the first Assembly in 38 years. An intriguing footnote of history
records that, in the interests of continuity, the 1690 Assembly was
constituted by the moderator of 1652, by then a very old man. One of the
Assembly’s first tasks was to appoint a new and younger moderator. Let’s
hope that Martin Fair, the present moderator, doesn’t have to wait 38 years
to introduce his successor.
A year ago the 2019 Assembly adopted radical changes for more efficient
governance through the appointment of a body of Assembly trustees charged
with delivering root and branch reorganisation and the determining of
priorities for the future. Unable to report this year in the normal way the
trustees delivered their initial findings through an on-line webinar streamed
on Friday 22 May.
Here are some of these findings:
Scale back or stop work where it is clear that there would be greater
benefit through working in partnership with charities or agencies
already working in specialist areas;
Stop areas of work where there is no clear benefit to the life of the
local church;
Stop work which does not provide some clear measure of support to
those in the ministries of the church or to those engaged in
resourcing the life of the local church;
Examine the outcomes in relation to all projects and partnership
work, and scale back or stop work which does not justify the current
resource allocation.
They continue:
As an overall yardstick the Trustees have had in mind the need to
appraise work by reference to one or other of the first three of the five
marks of mission which have gained widespread ecumenical
acceptance. The fourth and fifth marks are of great importance but,
especially in a time of crisis, only in conjunction with the first three: