16 January 2026

The ‘Five Marks of Mission’ have dominated the life of the Kirk since the Radical Action Plan was accepted by the General Assembly in 2019. They have been used as an instrument to measure not only the health of a congregation but also the retention of its buildings.

The five marks are all active – to proclaim, to teach,  to respond, to seek to transform, to strive to safeguard. There are two areas of the life of the Church which are not often highlighted as they should be.  They are even more important.

The first is public worship. There is a reference in the ‘Five Marks of Mission’ to proclamation of the Gospel and to baptism but nothing is said about the commitment to worship with fellow Christians week by week. So much so that this aspect of church life is not considered sufficient to retain a church building.

Isn’t it the case that the proclamation of the Word which has been happening in our kirks without fail for almost five centuries is a very significant missionary endeavour. Nowhere else in the parish can people feed on such a living Word. The worship in the Kirk is public. Anyone may attend.

The second is the witness of the church not in action but in being. We gauge the health of a congregation by the foodbank, the messy church, the holiday club, the group for people with mental health issues and so on. We do not ask about the quality of relationships which exist amongst members and across parish boundaries.

Is this a congregation which is forgiving? Are they striving to reconcile differences with neighbours? Do their prejudices manifest in elite groups or cliques? Do they criticise their neighbours, the young people, those who don’t belong? Are they humble, obedient, gracious?

It is my view that non-Christians notice such things. In the early church, the quality of love amongst Christians was noted. ‘See how the Christians love one another!’ Is that true today? To what extend are our declining congregations a reflection of the poor witness evident within our personal and corporate relationships?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

  4 November 2025 Two months before his death, Archbishop Oscar Romero   wrote in a Mexican newspaper, ‘ As a shepherd I am obliged by Divine Law to give my life for those I love, for the entire Salvadoran people, including those who threaten to assassinate me. If they should go as far as to carry out their threats, I want you to know that I now offer my blood to God for justice and the resurrection of El Salvador.’   A   death squad was ready. On 24 March 1980, the Archbishop was celebrating mass in a hospital chapel. He had just finished preaching his sermon.   He had come to the Liturgy of   the Sacrament. He picked up the bread, ‘ This is the body of Christ which is broken for you!’ he said. Suddenly, a   man with a pistol aimed his gun at Romero. A shot rang out.   The Archbishop fell down at the altar with the broken bread in his hands. The gunman ran off to a waiting car. People rushed to the Archbishop’s assistance but he was dead!...
Read more
  17 October 2025 I was making a purchase on the internet. The item was no longer in the shop. The shop-keeper had failed to remove it from the   internet but was able to source   another. I discovered it was coming by ship from New Zealand. I wondered whether to continue with the purchase? It turned out that the shop was in   Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. Somehow that made a difference. It had become part of our corporate history. I confirmed my willingness to   wait and said how we remembered the courage of the people at Enniskillen. She thanked   me for my encouraging words. I remember the town well. The bombing immediately came to mind. It was at the War Memorial on Remembrance Sunday 1987. An IRA bomb exploded killing 11 civilians and a policeman. 68 were injured. The IRA made a mistake. Their target was a parade of   soldiers marching to the war memorial. Among the dead was a young nurse Marie Wilson. She and her dad, Gordon, a local dra...
Read more
  23 October 2025 Sunday is going to be a day of reckoning. There are   seven crucial votes taking place in two corners of the Presbytery. The first   two are in the North Fife Cluster where I have been working as Facilitator. Balmerino and Wormit and Creich, Flisk and Kilmany are voting to unite. Balmerino and Wormit have already united. Once this union takes place, there is a third to negotiate with Newport.   Newport has a minister in post and so any union will be dependent on more than the agreement of the two Kirk Sessions. The second five votes are taking place in three congregations – Crail, Pittenweem and St. Ayle (Cellardyke and Anstruther). St. Ayle is already a union and it is voting to unite with neighbouring Pittenweem where I am Interim-moderator . If the union goes ahead, they will each be voting to link with Crail. The linked charge will be an appealing   prospect for a minister. It is a hugely attractive parish – four villages   se...
Read more