Assembly Trustees Update February and March 2023
The Trustees met on 9 February and 9 March.
This Update is just one of the ways in which we as trustees seek to share with the Church at large. Another is the articles from our Convener David Cameron and the Chief Officer Dave Kendall in the ‘new look' Life and Work magazine, available both digitally and on paper. Subscribe to the magazine and directly support the vital work of the Church of Scotland.
A banner heading in the January issue quoted from Matthew 28:19 – ‘Go and make disciples' – and headlined an infographic and text about investment and support for new church growth, with the national serving the local. In March, under the heading Priorities and Purpose, there is another infographic, a picture that summarises what we see as the main priorities. It's a tree whose trunk is about making disciples…growing and renewing the church; whose branches are about development in and through the new Presbyteries, the national being there for the local and modernising and simplifying governance, structures and processes; and whose roots are the support services provided through the national office. In April the heading is ‘stepping forward in faith to a new era of evangelism: the core calling of the Church is to follow Jesus Christ as Lord, to share in the mission of Christ.'
Our role as Assembly Trustees includes being the responsible charity trustees for a very large Scottish charity – and being a standing committee of the General Assembly tasked, among other things, with assisting the General Assembly to determine strategy for the church, and with encouraging vision among the members and agencies of the church so as to enable the emergence of ministries to meet the needs of the people of Scotland.
In structuring our meetings, we aim to keep these key elements in mind. Finance, of course, also features and each month we have a report from the General Treasurer on the management accounts. We also hear from the Chief Officer of the challenges and opportunities over the period and looking to the future. The minutes from the Faith Impact and Faith Nurture Forums are received with items highlighted as appropriate by the Head of Faith Action Programme. On the governance front, we look to our Governance Group to interrogate the detail and they last met on 30 March. Among other things, the Group examine tables of data about regulatory compliance and high-level management information. Now, for the first time, and thanks to diligent work across the staff group, a whole year's worth of data has been produced. It expands our existing data to the full range of key areas that have been identified and will support our awareness of trends and decision making. This kind of detail helps give the assurance that is needed for the organisation as a charity with Designated Religious Charity status, this status being important to the way in which the national serves the local.
In February we were updated on the grant funds. From the Pioneer Mission Fund, £100,000 was allocated over 2022 for 10 projects. From the Small Grants Fund, over £110,000 was allocated including the Winter Support Grants introduced in the autumn.
We heard from the Net Zero Strategy Group. There is a huge responsibility ahead for the church as a whole in moving towards ‘net zero' and we were pleased to be updated on what will be presented to the General Assembly.
We also had a wide-ranging discussion with the Convener of the Faith Nurture Forum and the Convener of the Presbytery Mission Plan Implementation Group about Presbytery Mission Planning, touching on the encouragements and the challenges and the ongoing work as plans are adopted and implemented.
In March, we considered the Annual Report and Accounts for 2022 and also the latest budget figures for 2024-28 to be included in our Supplementary Report for the Assembly. As we mentioned in our November update, the figures are stark.
At both meetings, we heard from one of our number, Ian Forrester, about the work of the Assembly Trustees' CrossReach Task Group, tasked with articulating CrossReach's place in the church and wider society. In summary, their conclusion is that CrossReach plays a fundamental role in delivering the Church's mission. It is a highly complex and regulated part of the Church's work in Scotland, and is something to be celebrated. Yet it is currently under-recognised, under-esteemed and under-celebrated – a situation that needs to be addressed.
We have two meetings planned for April.