I have 18 days left of my internship (but who’s counting;) ) Here’s my goodbye magazine article.  Ruminative and grateful.

June St. Columba Newsletter Article

What is church? I’m fascinated with this question and the many responses it elicits. To answer the question, “What is church?” one can speak theologically or functionally, of ideals or examples, or even ask further questions. Since the last magazine, I have attended two events that address this question at least in part.

The Church Without Walls National Gathering was held May 3-4 at the Royal Highland Center in Ingilston. Several thousand people attended the conference, participating in lively worship services, hearing various seminars, and visiting the “tented village” where congregations told the story of the mission and experience of their particular congregation using camping tents later sent to the needy.

The weekend’s theme, “What we can’t leave behind” tried to address what the church is at its minimum, what the church must have in order to function. Though it wasn’t brought up, the old guidance of the Scots Confession is apt. According to that document, the three marks of the church are the word of God rightly preached, the sacraments rightly administered, and ecclesiastical discipline rightly ministered. Though the church can and should be much more, it at least has these marks (though later generations de-emphasized the need for church discipline). As the Church Without Walls gathering focused on what the church, at a minimum, can’t leave behind, I’m struck by the minimal nature of the marks of the church in the Scots Confession. The confession suggests only three marks–crucially important ones–but only three. I enjoyed the CWW National Gathering’s reflection on a lean, svelte, and faithful church.

A few weeks later, I attended a day of the Church of Scotland General Assembly in Edinburgh. I was fascinated with the many similarities and differences to the American Presbyterian Church’s general assembly. At the assembly in Edinburgh, minister and elder commissioners heard and voted on reports having to do with church administration, national policy, world affairs, theology, and various other topics. Many good things were accomplished, and God’s work was continued. But the words of one particular commissioner still strike me now. Quoting from the Church of Scotland statistics put out before the assembly, this commissioner noted the severely declining numbers of the denomination and rampant closures of church buildings, and suggested if the current trend continues the Church of Scotland will cease to exist in its current form within my lifetime. Unhelpfully, the commissioner made his rant in a particularly condescending manner, and the assembly continued to address another topic at hand.

It’s easy to forget, but the church has not always been a large institution meeting in packed assembly halls. In St. Paul’s time, the church barely existed. Believers quietly gathered together for fear of attack by the authorities. Amidst a culture that called the Roman Emperor a god, where Rome’s reach covered all imaginable, St. Paul preached and wrote to tiny house gatherings of those who believed in Jesus Christ–and Paul suffered for it, was imprisoned for it, and eventually died because of it. This early Christian church represented much less than 1% of the population; a church on the extreme margins of society.

As my time in this particular congregation of Christ’s church, Ayr St. Columba, comes to an end, I extend my deepest gratitude to all the members who made this year so fruitful to my formation to ministry, and to Fraser for his wise tutelage and generous spirit. Thanks to your support, I learned much more than I had hoped in my ten months as Assistant Minister. And Ayr, a particular part of God’s kingdom, has made a special place in my heart.

So what is church? What is the church in Scotland? Ten months isn’t nearly enough time to figure that out, and the context of the question constantly changes. What seems to be true, though, at this particular moment in the Church of Scotland is a struggle to define the essentials, the minimums for ministry, to find a faithful balance between maintenance and mission.

If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit the Church of Scotland is in some state of decline, numbers-wise at least. But, I insist, this is not all bad news since the church of Jesus Christ began not with impressive numbers, but with just a few scared, honest, and open believers. I recently heard the phrase, “Declining to Significance” which captures my prayer for the denomination in the days ahead. As Paul knew so well, the gospel of Jesus Christ functions most faithfully from the margins of society, for it is to the marginalized to whom Christ calls us. We’re called to feed the hungry, comfort the afflicted, give hope to the hopeless, encourage the downcast, and when the church has too much power invested in a society, too many golden calves it calls sacred, we can lose our way.

I shall always be grateful to Ayr St. Columba for nurturing me as I consider these questions–and many others–in my preparation for ordained ministry. What is church? Many things and few things. Thanks to you at Ayr St. Columba, however, I will always know a fine example of a loving, healthy, and faithful church in a beautiful kind-hearted country. For the experience, and for you all, I give thanks to God.

image by Buckey