By the time you read this letter, Pentecost Sunday will be well and truly past. However, I find myself with some time to write this part-way through my participation in this year’s General Assembly of the Church of Scotland (19th-26th May). Our congregation in Brussels has strong representation in the presence of David Lloyd and Evan Lamos who is the Youth Commissioner from the Presbytery of Europe.

Pentecost is all about God pouring out the Holy Spirit on a very diverse group of people gathered in Jerusalem. As Jesus had promised in the upper room, they were blessed with the gift of the Holy Spirit. Such was power of the Holy Spirit that the believers spoke in different languages (preparation for them to take the gospel into the world). These new followers of Jesus the Christ came under the one Lordship of Christ. Yet for all of the unity under Christ’s Lordship, there were many occasions when problems arose in the early Church. Our studies from the Paul’s letter to the Galatians makes this clear regarding the issue of circumcision and factors related to this. Similarly the church in Corinth was divided albeit for different reasons (hence Paul’s exhortations on Christian love in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 to an unloving church). As I have already stated on some Sunday mornings, the 1st century church was not a perfect place.

The Church of Scotland is presently facing challenges on many fronts. Thriving and vibrant congregations like our own with such a rich variety of ages, backgrounds, races, etc. are not the norm in Scotland. Two thirds of the congregations do not raise sufficient income to cover the cost of a minister. For 2010 the Ministries Council is projecting a deficit of £5.7 million. For other Councils of the Church there are projected deficits and the reality of this is further cuts in the Church’s work and witness in Christ’s name.

I am not relaying this information to depress you. I suspect many of you are not quite aware of the perilous state of our denomination in Scotland. So how do we respond?

Firstly, we ought to show humility. Is the Lord humbling us (and other denominations like us in the west). I believe in an omnipotent (all-powerful) and sovereign God as He is revealed to us in the scriptures. He could turn around the decline of the Church of Scotland in an instant, but maybe he is trying to tell us something. In his book ‘The Problem of Pain’ C. S. Lewis describes suffering as ‘God‘s megaphone’. Is this God’s wake-up call to us, I wonder?

Secondly, for those us involved more deeply in the structures, please pray for us and share our pain. It was in the Church of Scotland that I first heard the Gospel preached. It was our denomination that recognised my gifts and affirmed my call to ministry. It was through the Kirk that I was able to study and train to be a minister of Word and Sacrament. It is the place where I have many friends in ministry. These are friends who have had a profound influence in my ministry and for whom I have the deepest respect and admiration. To see such ‘change and decay in all around I see’ is disturbing and painful.

However, there are good things going on in the Church also. In particular, there are many ‘good news’ stories from local congregations. My hope is that God might pruning us back in order for us to grow. I have not lost my zeal for the Gospel, or my vision to see believers sustained in their faith in Christ and new people brought into God’s Kingdom. You can read more about these ‘good news’ stories in the ‘Church of Scotland’s Annual Review’ on the Church of Scotland website (www.churchofscotland.org.uk/organisation).

May you know the Lord’s sustaining presence, his mercy and grace during the summer months.