INTRODUCTION
In light of the COVID-19 situation, a decision was taken in March 2020 by the Assembly Business Committee to hold a Commission of the General Assembly to agree ‘straightforward, time-critical and non-controversial decisions’ – with which the Legal Questions Committee concurred under Act VI 1997.
COMMISSION OF ASSEMBLY
A Commission of the General Assembly took place on 5 May using videoconferencing to agree the following:
i. To elect the Revd Dr Martin Fair (Arbroath: St Andrew's) as Moderator of the General Assembly 2020–2021, including an installation service;
ii. To pass Acts uniting (1) the presbyteries of Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and St Andrews to form the Presbytery of Fife, (2) the presbyteries of Aberdeen and Shetland to form the Presbytery of Aberdeen and Shetland and (3) the presbyteries of Dumbarton and Greenock & Paisley to form the Presbytery of Clyde;
iii. To agree that membership of the Social Care Council would, with effect from 1 June 2020, be reduced to 12 in accordance with a revised nomination process;
iv. To make certain appointments to standing committees as proposed by the Nomination Committee, and to trusts as requested by those trusts;
v. To agree that the Ecumenical Relations Committee shall act on behalf of the General Assembly in the dissolution of Local Ecumenical Partnerships;
vi. To amend the process for appointing the Committee to Nominate the Moderator and to ask the Nomination Committee to populate that committee so that it can select a Moderator for 2021–2022;
vii. To amend the Income Protection and Ill-Health Act (Act VI 2019 amended as Act IV 2020) to reflect Income Protection provision commencing at 78 weeks rather than 52 weeks.
A further Commission of Assembly was convened on 7 July with regard to vacancy procedure and the administration of Church courts as follows:
i. To agree that until the opening day of the next General Assembly it shall be permissible for a presbytery to sustain a call by following a vacancy process which follows the terms of the Ministers and Deacons in Civil Partnerships and Same Sex Marriages Act (Act I 2015) and the Vacancy Procedure Act (Act VIII 2003), save only to the extent that those are altered by the Protocol outlined or indeed by changes in civil legislation. To acknowledge that the Protocol set out in the Report may subsequently be amended as directed by the Legal Questions Committee but only to the extent necessary to reflect changes in civil legislation;
ii. To agree that until the opening day of the next General Assembly both presbyteries and kirk sessions may meet and vote by videoconferencing or audioconferencing or a combination of the two, provided that the principles stated in the Protocol set out in the Report shall be adhered to by all involved.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2020
A full online General Assembly was held on 2– 3 October with Prince William as Lord High Commissioner. The assembly was much reduced, however, in line with church activities being curtailed in 2020, as well as the two Commissions of Assembly. There were few pieces of legislation passed as a consequence; however, General Assembly passed an Act amending the Safeguarding Act (Act XVI 2018, as amended).
The Church structures were changed and two fora were established to streamline its administration and finances: the Faith Impact Forum seeks to enable and support the Church, its congregations and its presbyteries as they engage with local, national and international issues, while the Faith Nurture Forum supports the recruitment, education, training and ongoing development of ministers, deacons, readers and anyone else who is confident and eager to share their faith. The Faith Nurture Forum is also involved in presbytery planning and developing new ways of being church across Scotland.
The following largely administrative and financial decisions were made (albeit with significant implications):
i. Approval of congregational ministry and mission contributions in 2021 of £38.172 million, being an 18% reduction from 2020 to take into account the drop in congregational income;
ii. A targeted reduction in the 2021 expenditure budgets of the Faith Nurture and Faith Impact Forums of £4 million, along with management of investments and the Growth Fund;
iii. To welcome the use of the Church of Scotland Vision Statement and the Five Marks of Mission which underpin the Faith Action Plan and to endorse the incorporation of the Radical Action Plan in the Faith Action Plan;
iv. To instruct presbyteries, in light of this year's annual review of presbytery plans, to exercise robust oversight which will prepare the Church for revising down the number of charges, buildings and ministries required across Scotland and to note the intention to produce realistic predictions on the number of ministries that are needed and can be afforded in order to structure the local church for mission and growth;
v. To put on hold the review of the church offices estate at 121 and 123 George Street, Edinburgh (originally the United Free Church of Scotland Offices), though the General Trustees are instructed to aim to produce options for the 2021 Assembly.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2021
In 2021, the General Assembly will again be held online, with Lord Wallace of Tankerness as Moderator-designate. An elder at St Magnus Cathedral, Orkney Presbytery, Jim Wallace has been Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Member of Parliament for Orkney and Shetland, Member of the Scottish Parliament for Orkney, the first Deputy First Minister of Scotland in the Scottish Executive and Advocate General for Scotland in the Westminster Government.
