[Hugh:] Number twenty two You er you need to tell the assembly thank you.
[Mr Malloch:] one one four nine... Moderator... is it possible or legal at all to insert a completely new twenty two?... Simply in light of the... the vote that we've just been held?... I'd like simply to ask the assembly... to simply reaffirm that we are indeed a christian church, a christian trinitarian church... to father son and holy ghost, the gods whom we adore... why do we sing this every time if there are a number of members in this assembly who are no longer able to completely agree with such a sentiment Moderator? I move that the
[Hugh:] Mr... Mr I think it's implicit in our own nature and in our own character and a known fact that we are constituted here as a general assembly and we indeed ascribe to that and I don't think we need to affirm it on a lower level of what is in fact the very standard of our existence here... er in a general assembly. I can assure you of that.
[speaker003:] [applause]
[Hugh:] Number twenty two... approved. Number twenty three... thank you... Yes Bishop... please come forward. I'm delighted to welcome you... I'm sure you'll be at home with one accord being sung on Sunday night....
[speaker003:] [LAUGHTER]
[speaker004:] one two eight nine. I have arrived, I have been given... a number by the Church of Scotland
[speaker003:] [LAUGHTER] [applause]
[speaker004:] I might suggest that you too have arrived, I have answered your roll call.
[speaker003:] [LAUGHTER]...
[speaker004:] And indeed it's a sign of the times that I speak not with a mitre metaphorically upon my head but perhaps the glengarry of the convenorship of the Central Council of ACTS and therefore I am in part your servant here. And it really is to... to promote... a couple of the initiatives of your instrument that I stand here.... First of all I would like to... bring to your attention the regional ecumenical teams. At every stage of the interchurch process we were hearing voices saying to us... it is not sufficient that there should be... fellowship, agreement, companionship, cooperation at the highest levels but it had to be found at every level, it had to be found at grass roots level. And the meeting of the ACTS'Central Council has recently had a report from its local and regional unity... er committee... proposing that a network of regional ecumenical teams should be established throughout Scotland to further the cooperation and joint commitment of congregations and church members in each area.... This proposal was enthusiastically approved by the Central Council of ACTS and has been well received by member churches which are appointing local representatives for each of the forty six areas. These areas as you might... recognize, are the presbytery areas of Scotland... as these areas seem to be most closely allied to natural and civic boundaries.... Now the Presbyterian Church as the Church of Scotland enjoys a unique place in Scottish life... and its structures... it has a privileged place but I would suggest to you it has also therefore... a number of responsibilities and one, I would suggest in this case, is to try and ensure that these local regional teams are in place. I think it would be most appropriate for the local representatives of the Church of Scotland, since the areas are presbyteries, to take the initiative or to give that encouragement without which these... local teams will not find a place.... The second thing that I would like to recommend to you on behalf of the instrument ACTS is the Scottish christian gathering which will take place this year... from Friday the twenty sixth of June to Sunday the twenty eighth of June at Saint Andrew's College.... It is according to the book, which is our sort of bible on the matter, for celebration and vision, for fellowship, exploration and discernment of opportunities and tasks with broad participation from all member churches and others to amplify and strengthen the whole movement of ACTS.... You will notice it is a yellow card also er it is somewhat larger than the other one which was flaunted earlier before us... and the good news is that you've got, each one of you, a copy of this in your cubbyholes. Could I just conclude Moderator by saying that those who are engaged in ACTS... the churches which are participating members of this... action of churches together in Scotland... are engaged in a journey together.... The imaginations of each church and indeed s of the several members perhaps shape differently the goal... that lies ahead.... But we must be sure that, however shaped in our imagination that goal is, it must be inspired by our lord's own will for his church... praying that his disciples would be one as he and the father are one. And it seems to me that that oneness, that that unity is pneumatic in character. It is based on the holy spirit. And it is for us surely to open ourselves without... prejudice to the shape that it will take... in the future.... I think we can say that if it is pneumatic in character, the shape will be organic. For the moment we move forward believing that we are going in a direction to which we have already been prompted, and in the confidence that the holy spirit is working among us. Thank you.
[speaker003:] [applause]
[Hugh:] I'm delighted Bishop you took the opportunity to so address us and it underlines our benefit in being able to have our delegates participate in our debates and discussions. Thank you for your contribution.... I put to the assembly deliverance number twenty three... approved. Deliverance number twenty four... thank you....
[Mr Holt:] three three five. I am s one that has just been recently appointed to one of these er regional... ecumenical teams and at a meeting that was held for the three presbytery areas in the sort of west coast of Scotland, around the Greenoch area, erm... it was, it became apparent that all these people who are being appointed er through their, their churches are... in the main... clergy and the convenor of the local committee himself a ruling elder of the Church of Scotland expressed concern about this, that there is no real er and I would just put it to the, to the assembly, there is... there is no need for these members to be members of the clergy, in fact it would be good if presbyteries remembered when making a nomination... eh that it, er it needn't be, it could be a, a an elder or indeed er a lay person holding no particular office within the church. That would sustain what eh Bishop has just referred to, the grass roots of, of this movement....
[speaker003:] Twenty four approved then?... Thank you. Twenty five... local involvement number twenty six... twenty seven... yes?...
[Mr Mckweon:] Reverend eleven twenty six.... I've read number twenty seven says draw attention to the possibilities for church members to take part in overseas and exchange visits and I would simply like to do that. Yesterday a minister from an urban priority area... er while er welcoming the thought of a an urban priority area fund or urban and rural priority area fund, said that people were at least as important as money in many situations. None of us can doubt the economic plight of many of the countries where our mission partners work... but the relationship of people is every bit as important and visits play a large part in that. A small group er... from my own parish went to India two and a half years ago to visit our missionary partner. She had visited us many times over a nu number of years and said it was our turn to visit her and we just laughed. Us go to Darjeeling?... But eventually she persuaded us she meant it and we went and it was an invaluable experience... meeting not only our missionary partner but the people among whom she lives and... and works and has done for many years. The warmth of the welcome from the girls in the school hostel... would have gladdened anyone's heart. They were not well off and they didn't welcome us because we had brought gifts... they simply welcomed us because we had had the interest to go and see them and talk to them. We enjoyed their music and shared their worship and we came back changed and enriched and I commend number twenty seven to everyone's attention. Thank you Moderator.
[speaker003:] [applause]
[Hugh:] Number twenty seven approved?... Thank you. Number twenty eight... approved. I've got a new number, twenty nine, and you'll find that on the pale blue papers... page number sixty five... the first notice of... I put number twenty nine to the general assembly... is that approved?... Number thirty... approved. Number thirty one... approved... the deliverance as a whole and as amended, approved. Now before we... move further I'd like to take this opportunity of expressing on your behalf... our thanks to Hugh here for the service that he's rendered our church to this point in time but particularly as the convenor of the Board of World Mission and Unity. Hugh you've been minister of the parish of Inverleith here in Edinburgh for the past seventeen years, and I understand you were one of the very first vice convenors of the Board when it was set up eight years ago... having already served the church on the former Interchurch Relations Committee.... You were born in India on the mission field... and through your family's experience and your own you've brought to the convenorship of the Board a great personal interest in the overseas church and in international affairs. For several years here in Edinburgh [clears throat] you have been the presbytery's World Mission and Unity convenor and then you became the convenor of the Board's local involvement committee which links our congregations to people who work overseas in churches there with whom they serve. As the convenor of the Board since nineteen eighty eight you have visited the European work of the Board in Rotterdam, in Paris, in Budapest and in Prague... also in Israel and Egypt... and you have represented the Board at meetings of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. Hugh you have shown throughout all of your work a deep concern for the people working abroad... for our partner churches... and for our ecumenical relations... and the need to keep these matters to the fore of the church and also of our country. Hugh you and I share the gift of a very unusual christian name. I understand it's the only way in which these letters are arranged in the anglosaxon language and is often used as an example of such. It's a very difficult name at times to live up to I'm sure because the word Hugh literally means mind or soul... and it is important that we seek indeed to live up to what our names mean. You have certainly applied your mind to the work of the Board and you have encouraged its vision and its direction through your intellectual gifts and perceptions and insights. And you've also brought your soul to bear on the work of the Board and the work of the church. Within the assembly council I personally valued your contributions... the very courteous and thoughtful way in which you presented these... and the courage with which you expressed at times the stand that you had to take for the interest of the Board. And yet above that and beyond that what you were seeking to do was not just to serve the Board of World Mission and Unity, it was to serve what you believed was the good and right for the church of god which you have sought to serve and to support and to take further. For that contribution, and for that depth of spirituality within yourself which you have brought to bear for the benefit of the work of this Board and for that of our whole church, we want to thank you very much indeed this morning.
[speaker003:] [applause]...
[Hugh:] I'm delighted and I'm sure you'll be delighted to hear the advice of the business convenor that we suspend at this point in time. And we, we recons we, we, we... we come back to continue our meeting at two o'clock this afternoon. We adjourn until two o'clock.