Mission & Ministry Advisor's Annual Report - August 2013

Transforming Presence. Embodied Instruction. Constructive Community. The three go together, like three primary colours. All three are necessary for the Church, the organic body of Christ on Earth and the instrument of His Kingdom, to fulfil her mission and ministry.
In developing local Church, some are convinced that bigger makes for better, releasing economies of skill and efficiencies in ministry. Others are equally persuaded that small is best, allowing closer accountability and more interpersonal activity. Either way, we need people who are being transformed by the presence of God and carry that transforming presence to others.
Issues of justice, inclusion and tolerance are critically important in our contemporary society. But for us, both the definition of these terms and how they are pursued and expressed needs to be filtered through the narrative of Scripture and the prism of Jesus Christ: Christians expressing God's embodied instruction in their lives together.
A commitment to meaningful ministry will form motivated mission. If 'the medium is the message', then how we go about communicating - and what people see when they look at us - is vitally important. Church means community. Community has to be constructed. Hard work but basic to our baptist way.
Ministry means meeting together. The Bible the book we share. Making 'then' into 'now', relating 'this' to 'that'. Learning through listening to one another. All of us looking to listen to God, learning from His Word. Bible Study for Baptists cannot be but a personal pursuit. It takes both humility and 'servant spirit' to try to hear God both communally and clearly.
Deliberately reaching out. Mission doesn't 'just happen'. It may take different forms. And as evangelist Chris Duffett points out, it begins in the heart. Born of our big-hearted God.
Because of this, our present mission strategy begins with sharing encouraging stories of what is supernaturally happening among us in a natural way. Real stories. How big-hearted ministries birth meaningful mission. How, in present day Scotland, our churches are - and they are - finding effective means of communicating love and truth in Jesus' name to folk around us. And getting others inspired to do the same. Watch out for videos from our churches. Check the Baptist Union Facebook account and website. Look for the stories that will appear spelt out and written down about what God is doing among us and through us. I see lots of people getting on with it. Especially in engaging the question, 'How can we meaningfully serve, in Jesus' name, our neighbours and communities?'
Overseeing the development of Mission and Ministry involves engaging with both Board of Ministry and the Mission Initiative Group. These groups continue to develop, how to encourage and facilitate mission and ministry from our present congregations as well as making space for pioneers. These challenges become opportunities to be explored and embraced.
Our Conflict Resolution Team continues to form, ready to fight the fires. But it is also there to teach how conflict, when managed and controlled, can be turned into a positive and maturing experience.
Our accredited ministers are people you have recognised, through the Board of Ministry, as fitted for leadership roles across our churches. This doesn't mean they don't struggle or stumble at times. We are thankful for a growing team of Regional Pastors, mature ministers, to bring care and counsel when called upon.
Now, completing a second year in office as your Mission and Ministry Advisor, I am increasingly excited by witnessing what God is doing among our churches. The privilege of visiting congregations and working with ministers throughout the land, as well as relating to and working with colleagues in neighbouring Unions in the UK and Europe, allows the honest observation that our Baptist Union is being blessed by God and that His Spirit is wonderfully active among us. Of course challenges arise: that's normal. Sins seep out: that's how it is for sinners. But the bigger picture is that the Baptist Union of Scotland, holding to the Holy Scriptures and looking only to Jesus, is a good and blessed community of which to be a part. 

Mission & Ministry Advisor's 3rd Report - January 2013

Sheer variety in how we go about 'doing church' is a beautiful and powerful characteristic among Scottish Baptists. But there are common emphases. As I travel and visit I see that both our larger and smaller churches are seeking to express excellence and effectiveness in ministry. Meaningful involvement with the community through servant- ministries; equipping and making disciples; exploring alternatives that express Christ-like conformity, not mere novelty: these are goals found in congregations throughout our Union, the length and breadth of our nation.

How to improve the ‘more’? Every Christian among us and every baptist congregation can be intuitively engaged in addressing at least three questions, daily and worshipfully, in the light of both the driving truth of Biblical revelation and the peculiar culture and context in which we find ourselves placed by God.

The Gospel tells us WHO God is, WHAT He does and HOW He does it. 

So the question we answer, in response, is:

• *  Who are we?
  
• *  What does our Lord want us to do?
  
• *  How, in practices, can we begin to do this? 
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  Increasingly surveying the length and breadth of our nation of Scotland, highland, lowland and islands, it is heartening to see and hear (YOUTUBE - 'drjimpurves') how congregations are actively engaged in pursuing answers to these questions; answers that are leading to renewed and fresh expressions of life as Christian disciples. In our last report, we noted the importance of holding together a dynamic that reflects the Mission of God, in preserving the integrity of BEING, DOING and TELLING; for all three together need to be present, where the presence of God is to find expression among us. In this regard, throughout our land many are gainfully and fruitfully working through the challenge of 'An Invitation to a Journey' that was issued by our Union in 2011, and we have witnessed at our recent Assembly a significant increase in the number of new churches coming into membership of our Union - with more making enquiry - as we pursue, in the words of that document (http://www.scottishbaptist.org.uk/sites/default/files/files/InvitationJourney_final%20version.pdf) our common resolve to live Under Christ’s Rule and to be Intentionally Relational, Unashamedly Missional and Creatively Rooted: part of a common answer that is highlighted by our Baptist Union of Scotland's Declaration of Principle which, in all its profound simplicity, has punctuated who we are for around 100 years:
  
  
  1. That the Lord Jesus Christ our God and Saviour is the sole and absolute Authority in all matters pertaining to faith and practice, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures, and that each Church has liberty, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to interpret and administer His laws.
  2. That Christian Baptism is the immersion in water into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, of those who have professed repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for our sins according to the Scriptures; was buried and rose again the third day. 
  3. That it is the duty of every disciple to bear witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to take part in the evangelisation of the world. 
  
  
  We have over the past year been looking to continue to develop integrated Mission & Ministry as a unified expression of holistic mission. It embraces a necessary tension. This involved caring for present wineskins: maintenance is not to be dismissed as a bad thing. It involves taking care of who we have and what we are doing, seeking to develop it in excellence and effectiveness. It also involves looking to establish new wineskins for the new wine of the Kingdom, poured out in the richness of the Holy Spirit's creativity. We pursue development of new initiatives in holistic mission: energised with the three drivers expressed in 'An Invitation to a Journey' and expressed within the flexible parameters of our Declaration of Principle. 
• 
  
• The work of our Mission Initiative Group (renamed to avoid confusion with our partners, DNA-UK), continues to develop and take shape under the chairmanship of Mark Bentham. We will, in the coming year, look to harness and effectively utilise the collective resources of our Union in prioritising fresh initiatives in mission in Scotland that will take forward the vision of the Nazareth Manifesto, which spoke so powerfully to us through Glen Marshall's exposition and application of God's Word during Assembly 2012. This group has newly added to its number four new members: Dave Barrie, James Faddes and Al Cuthbert. In addition, Stuart Blythe, acknowledging our creatively synergistic relationship with SBC, has also joined the group.

  
  

  Working hard at being 'intentionally relational' requires focussed attention. The first of many new 'learning communities' - gatherings of leaders for 24 hours - met in November: This was a gathering of those pastoring congregations without their own buildings. Others are in the planning stage. Also, recognising that nothing of worth is accomplished unless it is born of and enabled by the Holy Spirit, the first of a new series of 24 hour prayer gatherings for leaders will be held in Pitlochry on 9th -10th April 2013.

  
  

  Some have experienced that seeking to be intentionally relational can generate conflict! Ken Russell, the leader of our Conflict Resolution Team, continues to advance the work of developing our Conflict Resolution Team and its training. Read a full descriptor for 'Mediation and Conflict Resolution' on http://www.scottishbaptist.org.uk/ministry.

  
  

  It is also our resolve to offer Conflict Management Training to congregations as part of a 'Health Check' service that will be made available to all member congregations. This is presently under development (more information on that in a forthcoming set of 2013 Council papers).

  We are thankful to colleagues who have taken up the honorary role of serving as Regional Pastors, providing valued, local support to colleagues in ministry. Ian Thompson was earlier established in this role, in the Shetland Islands. The new ministers are largely drawn - but not exclusively - from the ranks of those in post-stipendiary ministry. They presently include Alan Berry, Bob Baxter, Edwin Gunn, Bill MacDonald and Derek Murray. Others are being added. We thank them for their readiness to serve colleagues by giving confidential, pastoral support and advice.

  
  

  Recent developments in the work of the Board of Ministry and execution of its expanded remit, under the chairmanship of Steve Hibbard and Colin Mutch, together with other defining practices and policies pertaining to integrated Mission and Ministry and their development, in working out convictions compatible with the Declaration of Principle that lies at the heart of our Baptist Union of Scotland, are reported on by colleagues on the National Team.

  
  

  I would like to conclude my report by expressing a heartfelt thanks to ministers and congregational leadership teams throughout the land for their welcome and encouragement. It has been a very exciting and faith-building year in visiting with lively, Spirit-filled congregations which are genuinely and effectively engaging in Kingdom work. Those of us privileged to serve our Union nationally witness a healthy and exciting Movement taking place. Yes, there is much still to be done. But this should not distract nor defer us from giving thanks to God for what is already, presently taking place. Hallelujah! 
• 
  

Mission & Ministry Advisor's 2nd report: August 2012

In this report, following the earlier report submitted to Council in May, I again seek to highlight ways in which our Union is seeking to serve churches in helping to punctuate the power of the unchanging Gospel against an everchanging cultural and contextual backdrop.

FROM DECISIONISM TO DISCIPLESHIP

Surviving the war. The UN charter on Human Rights.  Baby boom. The rise of the New Towns and Housing Estates.   Billy Graham crusades. Renewed prosperity and the pound in your pockets. The end of Empire.  Rock and Roll. Flower Power. Vietnam and Catch 22. Consumerism. The right to choose - your job, your orientation, your life. Making a decision. An invitation to believe. The age of decisionism. Is ended.

It can be a hard thing to swallow, but the culture that dominated the second half of the twentieth century and the one in which most contemporary Christians in Scotland were birthed and rooted is now radically changed. The age of decisionism has passed. People are beginning to feel constraints that limit their freedom. Economic change is the most immediate. The choices aren't there in the same way. And the choices that people make are not necessarily applauded or defended by others.

As I travel around I am seeing that, in Christian circles in Scotland today, people are talking less about decisions and stressing more the importance of discipleship. We live in a culture of cynicism where authenticity matters in the face of autonomy and  disdain of authority. Being an authentic disciple is now more important to people than simply hearing of someone having made a decision to believe.

Of course the message of the Gospel has to be communicated and the Scriptures understood and applied. People need to be told about a living Saviour, the Cross and forgiveness, the opportunity to be born again. But there is a renewed sense that Christian  Mission is about more than evangelism. Christian leaders are aware that we have to do something in addition to preaching and persuading people to believe about Jesus Christ.

Christian mission has to do about who we are as witnesses (literally, 'martyrs'), about the way we behave and serve others in Jesus' name (again, literally, as 'deacons'), in ways that earns credibility for the message that we share with: that Good News that God's rule comes among us with Jesus Christ. Schisms and scandals in Christian churches undermine credibility. What matters more than ever is the sequence, BE - DO - TELL: the order of the Mission of God.

This quest for authenticity is reshaping, in a very positive way, what it means to do mission and ministry now, in 21st century Scotland. Food parcels, charity shops, Street Pastors, Healing Rooms, Counselling services. These are just some of the ways our congregations are finding opportunity to serve.  Relationships matter and congregations are increasingly asking the question, 'how can we meaningfully serve others?' rather than, 'how can we get more people into our building?'.  Innovative ways of making meaningful contact and of building caring and compassionate relationships offer a real alternative in an increasingly fragmented and isolated culture. Enriching, Christian contact provides an alternative to substitutes forsurrogate comfort and relationship proffered through TV reality shows, drink and drugs.

MISSION

The DNA group continues to develop in serving our Union, looking to develop appropriate mission initiatives that reflect the context and culture we are dealing with today. Our primary strategy for mission lies in encouraging congregations and pastors to share stories of the BE - DO - TELL, in what they are doing to build meaningful relationships. The publications, Mission Scene and Connect, help in pursuing this purpose.

In the coming year, we will launch initiatives in bringing together leaders to learn from one another. These already include a planned gathering of leaders fromcongregations; and another for who don't have buildings, as well as one for those leading new church-plant initiatives. We are also looking towards a gathering of ministers who live and work in a bi-vocational context. DNA also oversees new church plant initiatives, and news of these are contained in the Mission Development Coordinator's report.

MINISTRY

We know that the quality of leadership in any Movement, including that found withinour congregations, will directly affect those in membership. Those with accredited ministry serve us all in this wider work of nationally recognised leadership ministries:those who have submitted themselves to be recognised as fitted for trans-local, Christian leadership. For those who seek to embrace this accreditation, the 2008 publication, That Journey Called Ministry, still serves to lay out levels of expectation, emphasising accountability with minimum levels of control. We continue to develop this ‘pursuit of excellence’ in ministry further. We will strive towards ensured that every accredited pastor is well supported in a network of encouragement and accountability.

As with gatherings for accredited ministers, we are presently looking to set up similar opportunity for Church Secretaries who want to improve their skills in their important ministry.

Further, important developments relating to the work of the Board of Ministry are outlined in the Ministry Development Coordinator's Report.

REGIONAL PASTORS

The role of the Regional Pastor is essentially relational and supportive. We therefore hasten slowly in their recognition and appointment.  These are senior, Christian leaders serving in a non-stipendiary capacity. We rejoice in recognising and appointing those who have already responded to God's calling, to support and seek to help colleagues in pastoral ministry. Derek  Murray, Alan Berry, Edwin Gunn and Bob Baxter have all agreed to serve in this way. We await the Lord's leading in identifying others called to this invaluable ministerial role among us.

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

Dr Ken Russell has kindly agreed to put together a team of able and qualified Christians to assist in the task of conflict resolution, as this is called upon or requested by congregations within our constituency. We pray that congregational leaders willavail themselves of this valued ministry when such needs arise. Ken and his team will liaise directly with myself and members of the National Team in assisting wherever this ministry might be needed and requested.

In addition, we have a vision to see conflict training to be offered to congregational leaderships. John Howard Yoder wrote, 'To be human is to have differences; to be human wholesomely is to process those differences, not by building up conflicting power claims but by reconciling dialogue’. We aim to offer such training to congregations who request it: for further details, please contactministry@scottishbaptist.org.uk

THEOLOGICAL AND MINISTRY TRAINING

Our new partnership with DNA-UK will offer and provide training in the practice of mission and ministry, for both younger and older Christians, in the local congregational setting.

The Scottish Baptist College continues to offer an expanding and practical selection of courses, offering an integrated menu of courses, from those accessible to all church members through to courses suited to continued, professional development by ouraccredited ministers. The partnership of our Union with the Scottish Baptist College in shaping the INITIATE programme, designed to 
replace the the Christian Workers’ Certificate and Diploma, will allow folk to enrol in courses that can count towards recognised and nationally accredited qualifications. We look forweard to courses in this being launced over the coming academic year.

Mission & Ministry Advisor's 1st report: April 2012

Introduction

I am thankful for this opportunity to share with you some initial impressions in observing and reflecting on what the Holy Spirit is doing among our union of churches in this land of Scotland, as I embark on the ministry of seeking to advise and encourage pastors and congregations in mission and ministry. In order to gain an overview, I am undertaking an initial visitation around our churches and pastoral leaders, a process that I seek to complete within the next three years. The scope of ministry assigned to me in the office of Mission and Ministry Advisor is a privileged one, attempting to build on some of the excellent work undertaken by both Andy Scarcliffe and Andrew Rollinson, embracing both ideological and dynamic dimensions. I begin with some ideological comments and then proceed to rehearse present and developing dynamics embedded in our practices and procedures.

1.         Ideological Observations

There are many fundamental changes taking place within our context and culture that have both theological and social aspects. Here I rehearse some broad features of these changes.

1.1       Theological Change

I detect in these days an encouraging re-emphasis and even a rediscovery of certain Biblical perspectives. In our Scottish environment these Biblical perspectives are exemplified in what I would describe as neo-Calvinist, Anabaptist and post-Charismatic narrative theologies. Let me briefly outline each of these general categories of theological approach and emphasis.

The neo-Calvinist renaissance represents a synthesis of movements originating in the traditions of Reformed thought, developed in North America over the last 150 years, yet easily married to the strong Reformed traditions of Baptists encultured in the Scottish setting. Its best known present proponents would be, ecclesially, Mark Driscoll and, theologically, John Piper. In emphasising a form of Bezan Calvinism that draws on theological indicators traced through the British Puritans, its insistence on an expository preaching of Scripture has salvation rooted in our election and predestination in Christ, the efficacy of Christ’s atoning death carrying us through to a life of sanctification by God’s grace. Such a theology happily emphasises God’s decision to love and to save; and the priority of His initiative over ours, inviting us to celebrate and rejoice in God’s character and goodness testified to in Scripture and replete in Christ.

Anabaptist revisioning describes a range of developments in mission and ministry. Its Anabaptist component is most readily associated with a particular expression of Anabaptist tradition traced through Mennonites. This is readily blended with other developments, such as Anglican initiatives that bore fruit in what is now widely coined ‘Fresh Expressions’; developing missional thought out of The Gospel And Our Culture Network; British Methodist traditions of social involvement revised into Scottish ones amplified through the Iona Community; and a fresh interest over the last two decades into research and writing on the nature of continental Baptist roots among the central European Anabaptist communities of the 15^th and 16^th centuries, work pioneered both at IBTS in Prague and Spurgeon’s College in London. In our British environment this strain is well represented in the work of Stuart Murray Williams. In terms of wider influence, it is best represented by the writings of John Howard Yoder. This Anabaptist revisioning brings to us an emphasis on radical forms of social engagement, conflict management and pacifism.

Post-Charismatic narrative theologies also embrace and express a blending of influences. On the one hand, the Charismatic Renewal that peaked in Scotland in the 1970’s through to the ’90’s stressed a personal experience of God in and through the Holy Spirit. Personal testimonies were looked for that spoke not only of conversion but of present engagement with God, both in the mountain heights and in the dark, deep valleys. A rediscovery of charismatic Healing Ministry also reinforced the need for stories of God’s transformative presence amidst pain and suffering. When this is combined with a growing emphasis, over the last 20 years and especially in New Testament studies, of looking to the Bible to describe the narrative of present experience and events and to root theological discovery in applying the ‘then is now’ of its stories to our lives, this has reinforced an approach to theology and an expression in worship gatherings that favours shared experience and story-telling over against propositional preaching phrased with precise, theological definitions.

Each of these three differentiated approaches can be found, in varying forms, among our Scottish Baptist churches. They are not exclusive of approaches to the Bible, mission and ministry, but they are in my observation significant within our constituency. What is of particular interest and should be encouraging to us all is the way that these differing approaches are often being blended in a manner that does not lead, as might first be imagined, to a discordance; but to congregational enrichment in discovering more of what it means to be creatively rooted in Christ. A creative confluence of contrasting approaches reinforces the key place of the Bible as our basis and starting point in theological exploration. The synergy arising as these three approaches interact also enriches our understanding of what it means to live our lives professing Jesus Christ as our only hope. I look with excitement and expectancy to see how Scottish Baptist theological perspectives and ecclesial expressions continue to interact and develop.

1.2       Social Change

All of us are affected by the immense, tectonic changes present across Scottish and wider European society, changes that have both economic and demographic implications for the life of our congregations and their memberships. Rising unemployment and the stretching of budgets means a lowering in levels of disposable income. Enforced movement in search of work has compounded problems already present in levels of high social mobility across the country. Not to mention the accompanying stress and its effects laid upon people, families and communities. Add to this the increased isolation arising from a subconscious cult of individualism and hedonism that has been germinating in our culture for more than a generation, we are left with a question: ‘where does all this take us?’ The answer: into a wonderful opportunity to bring the message of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to our nation in a fresh way, through our personal witness, our acts of social service and our heralding and proclaiming that the Good News of God’s Kingdom has come close and is already among us through Jesus Christ, present in and through the ministries of His church.

I would not minimise the difficulties and challenges so many people in our society presently face: these difficulties and challenges are more than likely to increase. But such stresses and strains push us as Christians towards a reappraisal of what it means to be God’s people who live in this present Age, but do not belong to it. The effect of this will mean an ongoing reworking of what it means for us to ‘be’ church and to ‘do’ church. To reimagine and rethink budgets and buildings in the light of God’s Kingdom priorities. To rediscover and redefine what is essential to our mission mandate and ministry responsibilities.

What are the effects of this on our avowed intent to be unashamedly missional and intentionally relational? It means we prioritise our Union resources to investing in developing disciples as ministering saints, rather than delivering decisions as membership statistics. It means stressing that we are committed to building people more than peopling buildings.

2.         Dynamic Observations

Our goal is to further develop among our Union a culture of missional ministry. Where we have in the past differentiated between ‘mission’ and ‘ministry’, we will now look at the way this affects the practices and procedures in place for both of these.

2.1       Missional Practices

Where our primary interest lies in seeking to develop Christians who are people bearing witness to Jesus Christ, we will seek to encourage the development of congregational life in a way that leads to building people who are ‘witnessing, serving heralds’ of God’s Kingdom come through Jesus Christ. We will seek to invest together in identifying and encouraging people who are pioneers, who will take opportunity to form new disciples of Jesus Christ. We will look to help congregations redevelop present structures and ministries in ways that emphasise mission over maintenance, whilst seeking to maintain congregational and other structures that healthily facilitate mission.

2.2       Missional Procedures

Our Union’s ‘DNA’ group, now constituted under the chairmanship of the Rev Mark Bentham, will play a key role in looking into areas for missional initiative and investment of resources, effectively replacing the ‘Mission Resource Team’. This task group will be serviced by appropriate members from the National Team together with a revolving constituency of local leaders from across our Scottish Union. This group also oversees our ‘Prism’ initiative, planning our united initiatives in church planting.

Other initiatives are presently being envisioned and explored and it is heartening to welcome the Rev Judy White as a valued and experienced colleague in joining in this task in looking to encourage, help, develop and facilitate missional initiatives in conjunction with other colleagues throughout the country and beyond. We are committed to observing, noting and highlighting commendable practices and procedures as these emerges among our churches.

2.3       Ministry Practices

Our accredited ministry programme has, since the publication of A Journey Called Ministry in 2008, sought to emphasise that those accredited to lead us should exemplify excellence in ministry. We will seek to further this through encouraging increased networking among our accredited ministers, stressing the importance of continuing, ministerial development for all, as emphasised in Mike Breen’s favoured maxim, ‘high on accountability, low on control’. We will continue to develop and improve upon the ‘Next Stage in Ministry’ and similar conferences aimed to inspire, refresh and encourage. We will also seek to model, within the National Team, the ministry mentor relationship commended within A Journey Called Ministry and presently practised among our pre-accredited ministry candidates. We would encourage all accredited ministers to take part in a mentor relationship. It is anticipated that we will continue to work with neighbouring Baptist Unions with whom we presently share a mutual recognition of accredited ministries. We also will continue to look towards the ongoing emergence of regional pastors in seeking to serve and promote this practice, as suitable candidates emerge and are identified by colleagues locally and nationally.

2.4       Ministry Procedures

The procedures of the Board of Ministry, now served by the Rev John Greenshields, are referred to in his report: it bears only for me to make mention of what a pleasure and privilege it is to be working closely with John, a close friend as well as supportive colleague of over three decades. It is also good to have Dr Jacqueline Primrose as a valued contributor to the Board, together with the Rev Judy White: as the Board answers to Council through the National Team, the contribution of National Team Members as well as other Council members on the Board assists this strategic group in executing its remit. An expanded Board of Ministry is expected to ably serve in accommodating and absorbing initiatives previously undertaken by the Ministry Resource Team.

We have instigated a system of sharing news of items for prayer pertinent to pastors by means of the internet, and this is proving to be both popular and well used by many serving pastors in keeping abreast of such matters. Areas of wider church news and immediate but not confidential prayer concerns are accessible to those interested through our Union website. Ministry Matters will continue to be published, highlighting stories and accounts told by local ministers from across our Union of the challenges and encouragements in seeking to develop missional ministry.

I cannot conclude this section without highlighting the excellent work done by our Scottish Baptist College both in synchronising with the values expressed through our Board of Ministry and in preparing candidates for ministry, together with developing courses for ongoing ministries within our family of churches. I would especially thank the Principal and staff for their unrelenting labour in serving our Union. The College has a long and valued history in preparing candidates for ministry, and I would join with the whole of our National Team in unreservedly commending our Scottish Baptist College to all seeking to train and develop in ministry, both full time and part time, and also to the prayers and continuing support of our Union.  

3.         Conclusion

As Scottish Baptists, we seek to operate as those ‘high on accountability, low on control’: we are a networked union of congregations, College and Christians, not a hierarchical denomination.

We readily affirm the Bible to be God’s Word to us, testifying and leading us to confess none but Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Sovereign Lord. We firmly believe in the importance and value of communally discerning God’s Word to us in our local context and culture within a congregational setting, whilst also making reference to the wider Christian family: those in our wider context and culture who own faith in Jesus Christ, fidelity to the Bible and communal discernment as central tenets of our life together. This is what we mean when we describe ourselves as those Christians constituting the Baptist Union of Scotland, part of the Fellowship of British and Irish Baptists, the European Baptist Federation and the Baptist Word Alliance.

In closing, I would want to thank the Rev Alan Donaldson for his excellence of leadership within the National Team and as a valued colleague; thanks to each of my fellow team members and support staff for their generous, friendly and open welcome of me into the environment of the offices at Spiers Wharf; and for the colleagues and congregations that I have already enjoyed visiting and meeting throughout the nation, a special ‘thank you’ for their wonderful encouragement and receiving of me into this new role. Pray for God’s enabling of us all in engaging with the tasks that lie ahead and faithfully fulfilling the remits entrusted to us through our Union of Churches.

Mission & Ministry Advisor - role descriptor

The Visionary Framework

1.                  To show by practices agreement with the principles and practices of the Baptist Union of Scotland.

2.                  To be responsible for the oversight and promotion of mission and ministry development within the Baptist Union of Scotland with the aim of encouraging our ministers and churches to seek and strive for the growth of God’s Kingdom throughout Scotland.

3.                  To reflect on the development of mission and ministry in light of the changes currently taking place within the denomination, the global church and Scottish society  in order to stimulate discussion and facilitate the implementation of new initiatives.

4.                  To work closely with the General Director in ‘big picture thinking’ and theological reflection on the life of our family of churches.

5.                  To be strongly relational and personally pro-active in all aspects of the exercise of this ministry.

The Practical Framework

1.      To oversee the pastoral care of pastors through a regional network and personal support.

2.      To give creative and effective leadership to the members and work of the Ministry and Mission Resource Teams as they fulfil their remits. 

3.      To stimulate and encourage passion for best ministry practice among our pastors and churches; to assist them in their understanding of, and commitment to, the development of all that they are called to be.

4.      To encourage a passion for holistic mission in ministry through advocacy, strategy and writing.

5.      To oversee the work of the conflict resolution team.

6.      To fulfil key administrative tasks related to the role.

7.      Regular engagement with our churches.

8.      To serve as a Core Leader within the National Team of the Baptist Union of Scotland, being accountable to the General Director.