New book is minister’s manifesto for a stronger Church

A new book set to be launched at this month's General Assembly asks how the Kirk can throw off the image of one of Scotland's most famous fictional ministers and replace Jolly with true joy.

Finding Our Voice is described by its author, Perthshire minister Rev Neil Glover, as "almost a manifesto" and a passionate call for the Church of Scotland and similar mainline churches to change and reverse the steep decline in numbers they have experienced for over half a century.

Mr Glover, who is minister at Aberfeldy, Dull and Weem, and Grantully, Logierait and Strathtay parish churches and convenor of the Church of Scotland's Seeds for Growth fund, believes churches have been taking the wrong approach to reversing this decline.

By focussing on technical changes, they are overlooking the more fundamental transformation required to meet the challenge of spreading the Good News of Jesus in a secular society.

"Amalgamations, building closures or reform of our structures are not the things that are going to spark renewal in the Church of Scotland, and yet that is where we are spending a lot of our energy," he warned.

A major reason for the steady decline in church attendance since the 1960s, Mr Glover believes, was the way God was presented in our churches.

"We had created a God who was far off and distant and emotionally disapproving," he said.

"You could never get to know this God, but He would judge you when you died. For generations of church-goers, the memory of church was the most boring hour of their week. Then the ‘60s came along and you didn't have to go to church any more."

Joy not Jolly

While the Presbyterian churches are not alone in projecting this image, for many Scots, that dour image of joyless Christianity is personified by Rikki Fulton's fondly remembered comic creation, the perennially pessimistic and downtrodden Rev I.M. Jolly.

"I.M. Jolly captured that whole Scottish mainline church experience," Mr Glover said.

"What makes church boring? You are boring when you are not being authentic. You are trotting through the motions, but not really connecting either with God or our people."

This lack of connection could also be stopping people from achieving their potential, he fears.

"People want to flourish and want to discover themselves, but historically the message from churches has not been to discover yourself, but to serve others, and we have particularly said that to women. Churches became places that asked and asked, but didn't actually give," Mr Glover suggested.

"If I was to sum up the book, I would say its message is that our future lies in encountering God and becoming ourselves.

"Our churches need to be places of holy encounter with God and we really need to attend to our worship because it is worship where people go: ‘Wow! God is here! And we have got to be places where people can grow."

His vision is of a faith that is not confined within buildings. People also encounter God in wild places, and Scotland has the advantage of many of those, from mountains and lochs to pilgrimage routes and sites long associated with spirituality.

The Church in Scotland also has many positives which can help it build for the future, such as churches' close ties with their communities.

"I spoke to several ministers who were growing churches and all of them were really good at working in their communities," Mr Glover said.

"Often, they will not do that with the intention of growing their church, but it has the effect that the church starts to grow."

Another strength of the Church is a willingness to speak out for truth and justice, and Mr Glover hopes this will be matched by a willingness to speak about faith.

The Church's heritage can also be a source of inspiration for its future, as with its artistic legacy, particularly in music, and its traditional encouragement of Christians to study the Bible for themselves.

"All protestant church renewal movements have been sparked by reading the Bible, but people need confidence to read it for themselves, including the tricky bits," he said.

The gift of stillness

There is another important gift he believes the Church can offer to our busy world: the gift of stillness.

"That's something we were terrible at because we turned it into the Sabbath, but stillness is good because in a social media dominated internet age, people are desperate for places where you can be still and know God," he explained.

"It needs to be less about locking up swings on a Sunday and more about creating places where we stop, we breathe, we are silent and are still."

Mr Glover's book also suggests the Church of Scotland should be cautious about the lessons it takes from other denominations.

"One of the things we have to do is try and learn from some of the Britain's fastest growing churches (like those from the Evangelical Charismatic tradition) but not try to become the same as them," he said.

"For one thing, it's just not us, but secondly, we are diverse churches, with a diversity of theologies and a diversity of ages, and we mustn't lose that diversity by trying to become exclusively conservative."

However, while the general picture is of decline, ultimately he is positive about the future.
"I am optimistic, but not because I found growing Presbyterian churches in Auchterarder or in California – which I did – but because I believe in God and I believe God always brings his people through cycles of death and resurrection," he said.

There will be a launch for the book at 12.30pm at St Columba's on Wednesday May 22nd, at St Columba's by The Castle at 14 Johnston Terrace.

There will also be an Aberfeldy launch at Aberfeldy Church at 7.30pm on Friday May 17th.

Finding Our Voice: Searching for Renewal in the Mainline Church is published by St Andrews Press, price £19.99, and will be available through all the usual outlets.