Commentary on the Basis of Grouping of Aberdeen City Centre Churches
The aim and purpose of the Parish Grouping is to enable the neighbouring churches named below to work together in order to be more effective in developing their common ministry and mission to the communities which they are called to serve. By agreeing a ‘Basis of Parish Grouping’ the congregations involved do not lose their separate identities but do agree to work collaboratively in agreed areas such as youth work, pastoral concern, mission, staffing, or whatever areas are appropriate in the particular area of the parish grouping. Under the auspices of the Presbytery of Aberdeen of the Church of Scotland and the Northern Area Council of the United Reformed Church, representatives of Greyfriars/John Knox Church, the North Church of St Andrew, the Kirk of St Nicholas, Uniting and St Mark’s Church have compiled this agreement to form a Parish Grouping served by a collaborative Team Ministry. Establishment of the Grouping was promoted by the CDR Committee of the Presbytery of Aberdeen as the best way forward for the ministries of the participating churches, of whom Greyfriars/John Knox and the North Church of St Andrew intend to unite to form one congregation as soon as possible. A commitment to the Grouping will be included in the basis of Union of the congregations. In entering into the grouping the participating churches recognise a mutual commitment to God, to each other and to deepening their relationship, as they serve their localities more effectively in partnership. There are four founding principles underlining the establishment of the Parish Grouping: - Depth of Relationship
The churches involved agree to work collaboratively and to support each other in agreed developments and projects. This will require mutual understanding of each other’s concepts of mission and outreach to the immediate community and may require support of each other with regard to agreed projects in human and/or financial resources as agreed. It will also require commitment to each other in the sharing of ministerial and other resources to ensure the effectiveness of focused city centre mission and outreach. This expresses the recognition that ministry and mission is the activity of the whole people of God and that as individual congregations there is need of each other as we seek to discover the ways in which God calls us to be His church in the 21st century for the City of Aberdeen. - Team Ministry
In future the ministerial resources of the Parish Grouping will be viewed as a shared resource with individuals working collaboratively and effectively. It will be a requirement of appointment that a minister serving any of the churches in the Grouping must acknowledge responsibility and commitment to all churches in the Grouping, work collaboratively with other ministers and congregations and serve the Team Ministry in mutually agreed capacities. All ministers will be encouraged to foster relationships with the other congregations by regular pulpit exchange and regular opportunities for deepening fellowship. Ministers and others involved in the Team Ministry will meet regularly in mutual support and service and share defined duties for effective mission and outreach. A prime aim for the Team Ministry will be the effective impact of focussed developments for mission and outreach. It is essential, when a new minister is being considered as a prospective member of this Team, that those already serving the Team should be given opportunity to meet her/ him and feed into the appointment process those comments that they feel might affect the work of the Team. In addition one representative from each of the other two congregations will sit as a full member of any vacancy committee established in relation to the third. - Fostering Lay Leadership
The opportunities for service for lay men and women created by the Parish Grouping will lead us into new and challenging directions. We recognise that in equipping his people for ministry the Lord Jesus Christ gives particular gifts for particular ministries and calls some of his servants to exercise them in offices duly recognised within his Church as Office-bearers and Elders. The effectiveness of the Grouping and of the Team will depend to a great extent on the development of constructive and mutually beneficial ways in which those ordained to the ministry of word and sacrament, to the ministry of eldership and to the vast range of particular callings on which the church’s mission relies, relate to each other and understand each other as contributing to the whole. As the Parish Grouping develops, the congregations and office bearers will recognise the same responsibility and commitment to the others within the Grouping as the Ministers are required to make. Opportunities will therefore arise for lay people to serve in new and dynamic ways. We commit ourselves to providing training and support for lay people to become involved in mission and outreach to the local community and wider parish as well as contributing to the developing life of the congregations and the Grouping. - Ecumenical Basis
The Kirk of St Nicholas, Uniting represents a united ecumenical congregation established by the union of The Kirk of St Nicholas and St Nicholas United Reformed Church in September 2002. The churches forming the Parish Grouping therefore fully recognise and welcome the ecumenical basis of the Grouping and will be mindful of continuing good relations and liaison with Presbytery, Northern Area Council and other congregations within the city centre of Aberdeen. The Three Ecumenical Principles adopted by the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church are attached as Appendix A. A summary of the present ecumenical stance of the Church of Scotland is attached as Appendix B.
Areas of Co-operation The churches have, by mutual agreement, identified several areas of joint co-operation whereby progressive development will be sought, as follows: Management & Lay Leadership The first steps to aid the process of collaborative and effective working will be the establishment of a Grouping Development Team and the establishment of a case and policy for employing additional resources to supplement team ministry. Communication The development of joint resourcing to share and disseminate information and sponsor opportunities for fellowship of which the priority aim will be the establishment of means for providing integrated information. Worship The development of opportunities for joint worship, regular pulpit exchange (regularity to be such as to afford meaningful development of relationships) and opportunities for fellowship. Pastoral Care The sharing of responsibility for care of the congregations and parish of the Grouping. Education The pooling of resources for effective educational programmes and trai programmes and training. Mission and Community Involvement Opportunities will be sought to explore and extend links with key establishments in the community and to co-ordinate effective outreach. Development Group In order to foster both the Grouping and the Team Ministry it will be essential to develop good, clear and effective communication between the governing bodies of the congregations involved so that decision making is not hampered by tardy consultation. To this end the Grouping will establish a Development Group, inviting Kirk Sessions to appoint to this body, on an annual basis, two of their number, together with the Minister and Session Clerk. During a period of vacancy that Kirk Session may nominate another representative in lieu of the Minister. Each Kirk Session, in annual rotation, will nominate the chairperson from among its four representatives. The Development Group will actively seek to inform itself of the life and work of each congregation within the grouping and share that information throughout the grouping. The Group shall then advise the congregations on ways in which the Grouping and Team Ministry can more constructively realise the potential of co-operation between the churches (see particularly Areas of Co-operation above). It will, with the help of the Presbytery of Aberdeen and the Northern Area Council, work through any issues of tension that are not helpful to the development of fullest co-operation within the Grouping. The Development Group will also recognise a responsibility for fostering fellowship between the congregations.
Resources The Parish Grouping is being established in the hope that there will be the equivalent of at least one full-time additional person to serve in the Team Ministry, as authorised by the Presbytery of Aberdeen and Northern Area Council IndividualChurch Development Issues It is recognised that the churches forming the Parish Grouping are themselves at differing stages of development and planning for the future. Greyfriars/ JohnKnoxChurch and the North Church of St Andrew will have the immediate focus of achieving a union of the congregations but, while this must be a priority, it cannot preclude responsibility and commitment to other members of the Parish Grouping in supporting the aim and purpose of the Grouping. However, the reality of a vacancy of indeterminate length must also be taken into account. The Kirk of St Nicholas, Uniting will be engaged in major fund-raising and re-building with a view to engaging anew with the local community and wider parish, but this also cannot preclude responsibility and commitment to other members of the Parish Grouping in supporting the aim and purpose of the Grouping. However, the reality of an impending vacancy of indeterminate length must also be taken into account. St Mark’s Church will wish to continue its commitment to OAK (The Organisation of Aberdeen Kirks) in particular the OAK Café, currently organised with the North Church of St Andrew and Crown Terrace Methodist Church but this cannot preclude responsibility and commitment to other members of the Parish Grouping in supporting the aim and purpose of the Grouping. Arrangements for Review In covenanting to the “Basis of Parish Grouping” the churches named above agree the aim and purpose of the Grouping and Team Ministry. These are agreed for a period of 5 years and the Presbytery of Aberdeen and Northern Area Council will conduct a review of the Grouping and Team after 18 months from implementation. At this review there should be further agreement of the aim and purpose of the Grouping. It is vital that this commitment, made by the congregations, is one which will promote a marked development in the ministry and witness experienced by the City of Aberdeen and a flourishing and development in the life of the congregations, lest the Grouping merely become another cause of ecclesiastical bureaucracy.
Appendix A The Ecumenical Position of the United Reformed Church - The United Reformed Church will seek to expand the range and deepen the nature of the Christian common life and witness in each local community.
- The United Reformed Church will seek to proclaim more clearly, in word and deed, that in Christ we are one world church family living in a world, which God loves. It will, therefore, seek to celebrate the rich diversity of cultures, languages and church traditions within each local community and worldwide and seek, as appropriate, to work with members of other faith communities for the promotion of Biblical values of love, peace and justice.
- The United Reformed Church will persevere in the search for the visible and organic unity of the Church through church-to-church conversations on matters of faith and church order so that sinful, and sometimes death-dealing, divisions may be healed and the Christian message of reconciliation be proclaimed with integrity.
Appendix B The Ecumenical Position of the Church of Scotland - Article VII of the Church of Scotland’s Declaratory Articles states: The Church of Scotland, believing it to be the will of Christ that His disciples should be all one in the Father and in Him, that the world may believe that the Father has sent Him, recognises the obligation to seek and promote union with other Churches in which it finds the Word to be purely preached, the sacraments administered according to Christ’s ordinance, and discipline rightly exercised; and it has the right to unite with any such Church without loss of its identity on terms which this Church finds to be consistent with these Articles.
- The Church of Scotland has committed itself to the Lund Principle that churches should act together in all matters except those in which deep differences of conviction compel them to act separately.
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