The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland appointed a special commission this year. Today I received an email asking me to make the information I'm posting in this blog widely known.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND
EAGLAIS NA H-ALBA
Special Commission on Same-sex Relationships and the Ministry
The Remit
The General Assembly of 2009 has given the Special Commission this remit:
“A Special Commission composed of nine persons, representative of the breadth and unity of the Church, to consult with all Presbyteries and Kirk Sessions and to prepare a study on Ordination and Induction to the Ministry of the Church of Scotland in the light of the issues (a) addressed in a Report welcomed by the General Assembly of 2007: “A challenge to unity: same-sex relationships as an issue in theology and human sexuality”, and (b) raised by the case of Aitken et al v the Presbytery of Aberdeen, and to report to the General Assembly of 2011.”
The membership
Rev John Chalmers, Pastoral Adviser and Associate Secretary (Ministries Support and Development), Ministries Council
Mrs Ruth Innes, advocate, member of Palmerston Place Church
Very Rev Dr Sheilagh Kesting, former Moderator of General Assembly; Secretary & Ecumenical Officer, Ecumenical Relations Committee
Rev Dr Donald MacEwan, Minister of Largoward linked with St Monans, secretary of the working group which produced "A Challenge to Unity"
Rev Dr Angus Morrison, Minister of Stornoway St Columba, immediate past Convener of Mission & Discipleship Council, also a member of the working group
Rev James Stewart, Minister of Perth: Letham St Mark’s, with experience of a previous commission
Rev Professor Allan J Torrance, Professor of Systematic Theology, University of St Andrews
Miss Kim Wood, Student at St Andrews; a youth representative commended by the Moderator of the Youth Assembly
The Hon. Lord Hodge (Patrick Hodge), Convener, Court of Session Judge; former Procurator of the Church
Rev W Peter Graham, Clerk, former Clerk to the Presbytery of Edinburgh
Our proposed method of working
We will prepare a short consultation paper which will invite Presbyteries and Kirk Sessions to express their views on the questions which we consider arise from our remit and the divisions in our Church which have led to our appointment. We are considering using the Church’s website to make available documents to supplement the consultation paper.
In order to inform the consultation document, and in particular to enable us to express accurately the competing views within the Church and the views of other Churches, we are engaged in a pre-consultation exercise of obtaining current statements of such views. The aim is to enable us to summarise those views accurately in the consultation paper.
We hope to send out the consultation paper by the end of February 2010 and to have a consultation period until the end of May 2010, during which we will expect every Presbytery and Kirk Session to hold a special meeting in order to prepare a response. We will spend the latter part of the year in analysing the responses and preparing our report for the General Assembly of 2011.
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
EA Scotland podcast
There is a new podcast from EA Scotland. This month it is with Martin Clark, Director and Worship leader at Souled Out in Aberdeen. You can listen to this podcast and catch the back catalog of other podcasts here.
Souled Out is an inter-denominational (representing seven churches), city wide ministry primarily involved in organising large-scale worship events. Previous speakers to Souled Out events have included J. John, Tony Campolo, Mike Pilavachi, Pete Greig, Steve Clifford and Nicky Cruz
In this interview Martin shares his heart for worship and praise within the local church and within Souled Out. He talks about a number of issues including the celebrity culture within the modern worship scene and how we can start to see more songs being written by Scottish worship leaders.
Souled Out is an inter-denominational (representing seven churches), city wide ministry primarily involved in organising large-scale worship events. Previous speakers to Souled Out events have included J. John, Tony Campolo, Mike Pilavachi, Pete Greig, Steve Clifford and Nicky Cruz
In this interview Martin shares his heart for worship and praise within the local church and within Souled Out. He talks about a number of issues including the celebrity culture within the modern worship scene and how we can start to see more songs being written by Scottish worship leaders.
2gether Scotland Magazine
The EA in Scotland have re-launched our magazine, here is the blurb on it.
2gether Scotland Magazine
The Evangelical Alliance Scotland has just re-launched our new 2gether Scotland Magazine. This has previously just gone out to our members in Scotland but we are now making this available, free, to any one who wants it. We can also send more than one copy to your church or organisation.
The Evangelical Alliance Scotland has just re-launched our new 2gether Scotland Magazine. This has previously just gone out to our members in Scotland but we are now making this available, free, to any one who wants it. We can also send more than one copy to your church or organisation.
Just email us at Scotland@eauk.org
We are really excited about how our newsletter may be able to benefit the evangelical church across Scotland. We hope it will become a key resource for individuals, churches and organisations wanting to know what the Lord is doing across this nation through His people. With stories, interviews and articles we hope you will be able to share with us in the vision to see this nation transformed through a church united!
Kevin Vanhoozer's ten thesis
Here are the ten thesis of Kevin Vanhoozer mentioned in a post yesterday.
1. The nature and function of the Bible are insufficiently grasped unless and until we see the Bible as an element in the economy of triune discourse.
2. An appreciation of the theological nature of the Bible entails a rejection of a methodological atheism that treats the texts as having a “natural history” only.
3. The message of the Bible is “finally” about the loving power of God for salvation (Rom. 1:16), the definitive or final gospel Word of God that comes to brightest light in the word’s final form.
4. Because God acts in space-time (of Israel, Jesus Christ, and the church), theological interpretation requires thick descriptions that plumb the height and depth of history, not only its length.
5. Theological interpreters view the historical events recounted in Scripture as ingredients in a unified story ordered by an economy of triune providence.
6. The Old Testament testifies to the same drama of redemption as the New, hence the church rightly reads both Testaments together, two parts of a single authoritative script.
7. The Spirit who speaks with magisterial authority in the Scripture speaks with ministerial authority in church tradition.
8. In an era marked by the conflict of interpretations, there is good reason provisionally to acknowledge the superiority of catholic interpretation.
9. The end of biblical interpretation is not simply communication - the sharing of information - but communion, a sharing in the light, life, and love of God.
10. The church is that community where good habits of theological interpretation are best formed and where the fruit of these habits are best exhibited.
I really liked this quote from Vanhoozer towards the end of the paper:
"Seminary faculties need the courage to be evangelically Protestant for the sake of forming theological interpreters of Scripture able to preach and minister the word. The preacher is a “man on a wire,” whose sermons must walk the tightrope between Scripture and the contemporary situation. I believe that we should preparing our best students for this gospel ministry. The pastor-theologian, I submit, should be evangelicalism’s default public intellectual, with preaching the preferred public mode of theological interpretation of Scripture."
1. The nature and function of the Bible are insufficiently grasped unless and until we see the Bible as an element in the economy of triune discourse.
2. An appreciation of the theological nature of the Bible entails a rejection of a methodological atheism that treats the texts as having a “natural history” only.
3. The message of the Bible is “finally” about the loving power of God for salvation (Rom. 1:16), the definitive or final gospel Word of God that comes to brightest light in the word’s final form.
4. Because God acts in space-time (of Israel, Jesus Christ, and the church), theological interpretation requires thick descriptions that plumb the height and depth of history, not only its length.
5. Theological interpreters view the historical events recounted in Scripture as ingredients in a unified story ordered by an economy of triune providence.
6. The Old Testament testifies to the same drama of redemption as the New, hence the church rightly reads both Testaments together, two parts of a single authoritative script.
7. The Spirit who speaks with magisterial authority in the Scripture speaks with ministerial authority in church tradition.
8. In an era marked by the conflict of interpretations, there is good reason provisionally to acknowledge the superiority of catholic interpretation.
9. The end of biblical interpretation is not simply communication - the sharing of information - but communion, a sharing in the light, life, and love of God.
10. The church is that community where good habits of theological interpretation are best formed and where the fruit of these habits are best exhibited.
I really liked this quote from Vanhoozer towards the end of the paper:
"Seminary faculties need the courage to be evangelically Protestant for the sake of forming theological interpreters of Scripture able to preach and minister the word. The preacher is a “man on a wire,” whose sermons must walk the tightrope between Scripture and the contemporary situation. I believe that we should preparing our best students for this gospel ministry. The pastor-theologian, I submit, should be evangelicalism’s default public intellectual, with preaching the preferred public mode of theological interpretation of Scripture."
Monday, 19 October 2009
The Bible and Theological Interpretation
Mike Bird has a very helpful post on theological interpreation of Scripture in which he copies ten thesis from Kevin Vanhoozer, read it here.
Well worth reading and reflecting upon.
Well worth reading and reflecting upon.
Holiday blogging
On holiday this week, hopefully a good chance to catch up on some blogging, I've got to keep up with Wright and Bebbington.
We had a really good day yesterday with the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Rt Rev Bill Hewitt, at St Ninians, celebrating our 125th anniversary. It was great to celebrate long service with three elders and one minister who has been ordained for 50 years.
I've added some Amazon links to the side of the blog: there is a search facility for any book and also a list of some of the books I've mentioned in the blog, click on the arrows to take you through and then the link to go to Amazon to buy the book. (Other on line book sellers are available, although I don't have links to them.)
We had a really good day yesterday with the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Rt Rev Bill Hewitt, at St Ninians, celebrating our 125th anniversary. It was great to celebrate long service with three elders and one minister who has been ordained for 50 years.
I've added some Amazon links to the side of the blog: there is a search facility for any book and also a list of some of the books I've mentioned in the blog, click on the arrows to take you through and then the link to go to Amazon to buy the book. (Other on line book sellers are available, although I don't have links to them.)
Friday, 9 October 2009
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