Church Link with St Mary's, Dundee

Link with Dundee Parish Church

From Rev Jim Roy, Interim Minister

Dear Friends,

You will be intrigued to read of an exciting new development in the life of our church in the pages of this new issue of our magazine.
After consulting with the office bearers and the congregation at a special congregational meeting, it was unanimously agreed that St Stephen's and West should enter into an infor­mal partnership with the congregation of Dundee Parish Church (St Mary's).
I must emphasise that this new part­nership is an informal and voluntary arrangement, which will run for a year in the first instance. It is an initiative of our two congregations, arising from discussions between the ministers and the two sets of office-bearers. It does not involve Presbytery or any other outside body.
My friend and colleague, the Rev Keith Hall - or perhaps we should call him our 'partner minister' - is already well known to many of us. He writes to introduce himself elsewhere in the magazine. He and I come out of the same stable - St Mary's College, University of St Andrews - and have known each other for a long number of years. We share a common theological background, and were born and bred in 'the Auld Kirk' tradition of the Church of Scotland, which is also shared by St Mary's and St Stephen's & West.

Our partnership is barely a month old since it was first mooted. It is still very much a blank sheet to be filled in the coming months. As any minister will tell you, there are few more daunting sights than a blank sheet of paper on a Saturday evening! But that same blank sheet offers us the exciting prospect of being able to write our own future, with God's help.
We stand at the beginning of this project, preparing to write a blank cheque. Already the ministers are embarked upon a monthly pulpit exchange and will attend and contrib­ute to each other's Kirk Session meetings. We look forward as con­gregations to sharing in the activities and social events of our two churches. And we want to encourage all our members to come forward with your ideas and suggestions.
What will happen when the year of the pilot project is up? You will tell us how you wish us to continue and extend our project. Two words of reassurance. There are no readjust­ment implications. Each congregation remains separate and independent. Nor are there any financial implications so far as the pilot is concerned. Each congregation will be fully consulted on any new proposals.
Please give us your full support and participation in the weeks and months ahead.
With all good wishes and every blessing.
Your interim moderator, Jim Roy

PARTNERS IN PARTNERSHIP

All denominations of the Christian Church have suffered falling num­bers, and have been left a legacy of too many churches, too few Ministers and too little money. The Church of Scotland can no longer support the concept of one Parish, one Minister, and changes of one sort or another are inevitable. Sharing a Minister is not new in our denomination, but was the norm in some others.
One example is the Methodist Church, which for most of its existence has had more churches than Ministers, and it might be of interest to see their solution. The Methodists are very similar to us both in their form of worship and in not having Bishops.
Churches were grouped into Circuits such as the Brixton Circuit in south London, which consisted of 11 churches. There were six Ministers, one Deaconess, 27 trained Lay Preachers and 12 Lay Preachers in training. The Circuit was led by one of the Ministers, who was designated the Superintendent of the Circuit.
From time to time Ministers or Lay Preachers (mostly retired) came in from other Circuits. Halcyon days for manpower! Not all Circuits had as many Churches of course, but the basic pattern was the same. One big difference was that Ministers moved to other Circuits, usually after 3 years, although Superintendents stayed 5 or sometimes for 7 years.

Modern times have not left the Methodists unscathed, and like us they have had to face building closures and diminishing recruitment of Ministers and Lay Preachers. Indeed some churches have merged with other churches of different denominations, especially the Congregational and (lower) Anglican churches.
John Wesley is regarded as the founder of Methodism, although he himself was opposed to breaking away from his Mother Church. (He was an ordained Minister of the Anglican Church). It is widely expected that in due course, most of the remaining Methodist churches will reunite with the Anglicans.
How the Church of Scotland will change to meet current times is obviously a live issue at the present time, and our link with St Mary's is just one of many experiments, to test how to plan for the challenges ahead.
Peter D Griffiths

Greetings from Keith Hall,Partner Minister

Dear Friends,
Allow me please to introduce myself, especially to those who for good and perfect reason, are no longer able to attend morning worship within your quite delightful sanctuary at St Stephen's and West Parish Church. For the past eighteen years, I have been privileged to be Minister at the historic parish Kirk of the City of Dundee - St Mary's.
St Mary's is as splendid a setting for worship as St Stephen's, and given that she is the stable out of which I was groomed as a fledgling probationer over thirty years ago, she is very dear to me, as are those past and present who avail themselves of the services offered therein.
Given the sense of urgency in the programme of rationalisation of ministerial personnel in the Church of Scotland, the Kirk Session at St Mary's agreed the following: "The Kirk Session at Dundee Parish Church (St Mary's) remains open to discuss and if necessary debate any firm proposal advanced by the Presbytery of Dundee, whereby we, the Minister and ruling Elders of this charge, may better serve The Church of Scotland within the bounds of the Presbytery of Dundee."
Congregations, I believe, are built on friendship and goodwill, the chemistry of which cannot be forced! St Stephen's & West and St Mary's have much in common - a similar ethos - which, in faith and trust, may prove to be the very foundation upon which an exciting and creative linkage can be cemented.
Our manse is in the heart of your parish and your Interim Moderator, Jim Roy has been a faithful friend to me since my days as an assistant minister at St Mary's in 1979. We are keen to offer you a team ministry until such time as the Presbytery of Dundee formalises the linkage or tells us to 'get lost!'
This pilot scheme is not primarily a financial cost cutting exercise but an attempt to be proactive in helping our national kirk to make more responsible use of present personnel and hopefully, to be of more effective service to you, the faithful of our respective parishes.
I am NOT a "committee man" nor have I much interest in the bureaucracy of the Kirk, but I am interested in PEOPLE for their own sake and humbly offer myself, with all my imperfections, at the service of YOUR parish church - St Stephen's & West, Broughty Ferry.
With every good wish,
Keith Ferrier Hall Partner Minister