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COMMITTEE ON EVANGELISM AND YOUTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2004 INTRODUCTION As I write this report, I am aware that I follow a procedure that more eminent conveners have undertaken down through the years. My concern, as I am sure was theirs, is that the challenge presented by the report should be embraced by the fellowships who have entrusted the members of the Committee with the task of preparing it. To be an effective force for God in Scotland we need to stop bemoaning the fact that year by year we are on the decrease or that year by year we are becoming more stretched in our personnel and in our ability effectively to be the Church of our forefathers; rather we need to take on the challenges of being the Church for today. Are we saying that we are incapable of the obedience required to embrace the power of the Gospel, the “Good news which is to all the people”? Surely this is the task we are commissioned to undertake for God? Could it be that failing to undertake this task in all its enormity is the real reason for the situation we find ourselves in today? Yes, we can look at the changing patterns of living in Scotland today; yes, we can look at the declining numbers attending our fellowships; yes we can all come up with plausible reasons of why we are failing to be an effective Church in our land today. It may be true that our congregations are elderly, our leadership is stretched near to breaking point and financially we are struggling. WHY? Scripture informs us that Jesus on viewing the people around Him had compassion on them. He saw them as “sheep without a shepherd.” ( Mt. 9: 35 - 37) Do we see the people in and around our Churches in this manner? Jesus turning from the crowds to His disciples said,“ The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few, pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest” (Matthew 9:37- 38). At a later point Jesus said to these same disciples, “Why do you sleep? Rise up and pray that you may not enter into temptation” (Luke 22:46). Luke informs us that the reason for their sleep was that they were filled with sorrow. Could this be a part of our problem today? Have we become so sorrowful of what we are not, that we have lost sight of what God has called us to be? Are we so focused on what has gone that we have fallen asleep and lost sight of the harvest and its Lord? Let us rise up with a compassion for the harvest which is all around us and bend the knee in prayer to the one who has promised never to leave us or forsakes us as long as we observe what He has commanded us to do. This is the task that we have been called to, none other. The report that follows reflects some of the struggles and victories of the past year. As a Committee we would want to rejoice in the fact that there is the encouragement of growth and blessing to be found in some of our congregations. It is our prayer that all of our fellowships may know God’s blessing in the coming year and that none of us would fall into the temptation of sleep or rest, but rather rise up and enter the harvest fields. Evangelism In last year’s Deliverance, the request of the Committee was that every Church would identify a suitable person to have responsibility for evangelism within the local Church. To date the response has been disappointingly poor. What does this say about our present state? History tells us that the Church has always been at its strongest when it is going forward in obedience to God, even when it encountered adversity. J. I. Packer penned these words “Let us not tell half the story, let us learn to proclaim the whole counsel of God. And may God bless us as messengers and others through our message.” Is there a danger that we are settling for half the story? PLANNING FORUM In June last year the Committee met with the Elder Training team under the leadership of Mr. G Steel, the Presbytery Development team under the leadership of Rev A M Ford to draw together the skills and experience of these various groups in an attempt to coordinate the work of evangelism. We were also interested to see if there was common ground for cooperation and working together and where best it might be used. The outcome of the meeting was very positive. Without question there is common ground and it was agreed that closer working together was both desirable and essential. For example the Elder trainers are under used, not only for the training of our Eldership but also within the wider work of the Church. The team of Mr. Gordon Steel, Mr. Nicky Kyle and Mr. George Banks has a wealth of knowledge and training which, to the church’s shame, has not been used to its full potential. The Committee must accept some of the blame for this failure. This is a group which has been trained to run courses relevant to both our personal life and our Church life and we need to start using their talents. A list is available from Church Office of courses which can be run in our congregations. The meeting of the groups brought forward the vision of holding evangelistic outreach meetings in each presbytery. The intention is that the Committee would be responsible for the music, speaker and content of the meeting and would work with presbytery representatives so that ownership of the event is locally grounded. The group felt this was important. Choosing a venue and distributing information would be the responsibilities of Presbyteries. The concept shared by the group was to provide a form of outreach that would enable the local churches to have a useful and practical tool for evangelism regardless of their size. We realised that for smaller fellowships it can be hard to run events on their own because of lack of personnel, finance etc. The vision is that this type of event is something which both small and large fellowships could be involved in. It will provide a challenging message of the Gospel. The local Church in each presbytery would be encouraged to invite people along both from within their fellowships and without i.e. the harvest fields. These events could then be followed up by the local Church as part of its outreach work. The first of these events is to be held in Croftfoot U.F. on Sunday May 23rd. The speaker on the night will be Phil Stead, Scottish Director of OMF. Other individuals will share their favourite praise items and the music will be led by the local church praise group. It is hoped that the other Presbyteries will come onboard in the near future. DAY OF PRAYER The Committee wishes to affirm that prayer is not an optional extra in the life of the Christian. It is essential both in the life of the Christian and in the life of the Church and must always be so. The Day of Prayer took place on Sunday 12 January 2004 and the Committee wishes to express its gratitude to those involved in preparing the material. However the Committee is concerned with some negative comments about issues including timing, material and even the concept of observing a Day of Prayer. It would appear that many of our fellowships neither use the material sent out or even observe the day itself. There would also appear to be great confusion as to what is meant by “a day of prayer” and how it is meant to be observed. This is regrettable and a matter of concern. In the light of the comments made and looking toward the stewardship of resources the Committee propose that the Day of Prayer be discontinued as a denominational event. DRUMCHAPEL We rejoiced with the Drumchapel congregation as Mr. Roger Gray was introduced to the congregation on Sunday 31st August 2003. The fellowship of Drumchapel are to be commended for their vision of employing an evangelist. A report of the work being carried out by Mr. Gray can be found in appendix 1. This report does not and cannot hope to cover the many other activities which are going on within the denomination – courses such as ‘Becoming a Contagious Christian’, ‘Alpha’ and ‘Network Courses’ plus other forms of small group training which have been undertaken in the past year. We as a Committee give God the praise and give you the thanks for all the work that is going on unseen by others but recorded by our Father God. May we all know God’s blessing and envisioning in the days to come. YOUTH The present Last year the Assembly gave the Committee permission to: “explore the appointment of a part time youth worker for two days per week on a one year contract and take the necessary steps to fill this position if a suitable candidate can be appointed”. As a Committee we are glad to report that a suitable candidate was found in the person of Miss Laura Hubbert. Laura finished training at I.CC. in the summer of 2003 graduating with a BA in Applied Theology with Youth Work. Laura gained an MA in Historical studies from Glasgow University prior to attending I.C.C. She brings with her the experience of leading young people’s outreach camps in Greece; involvement in her church youth programme in Hillington, Glasgow and many years working with the Boy’s Brigade. We are fortunate to have a person of her calibre and experience involved in leading our youth work. We give God all the praise for His guidance in this matter. YOUTH LEADER TRAINING A very successful training event for youth leaders was held on 12th - 13th September in Carronvale House. Those attending came from as far afield as Lossiemouth and Ayr and many fellowships in between. In total 32 leaders attended this event. All found it informative, helpful and welcomed the opportunity to meet with other leaders within the denomination. We were grateful to Mr. Neil Pratt and his team as well as our youth worker for a very full and challenging programme. A further event is in the planned for the near future. ORBIT Last year we reported we would be reviewing Orbit by considering feedback and comments and this we have done. Our thanks are due to Mrs. Rosemary Sandell for her faithful marking of the Orbit entries and to Morag Stevens and her team in creating Orbit. These people give selflessly of their time and talents and for this we are truly grateful. The prizes this year were presented at the Big Day event in May because of the changes in the General Assembly timetable. Names of the winning congregations will be given during the verbal report of the Committee. Following the review of Orbit, the decision arrived at by the committee is that Orbit has reached the end of its natural life. This is not a financial decision as the cost of production and postage is covered but is a decision based on stewardship of time and resources. A great deal of time is spent in preparing, marking and delivering Orbit to the churches. We are also aware that many who receive the Orbit fail to use them and some are left lying in cupboards etc. for whatever reason. This is a waste of both time and resources. We believe it would be more useful and more akin to the concept of the original Orbit to produce a news sheet several times a year to be sent out to Sunday Schools informing them of what is happening around the Denomination and in their Presbyteries. We thank all who in past years have produced the Orbit and commend them for all their hard work and effort. However the Committee feels that the time has come to end the production of Orbit. CONNECT This is a new production aimed at those in their teens and upwards. It is written by the Youth Worker and seeks to provide a means of keeping in touch with our young people. Connect has been well received but it seems that many young people still do not receive them despite the churches or youth contacts having been sent them and this is regrettable. BIG DAY - 29th May 2004 Carronvale The idea behind this venture is to bring all our young people and their families together in the one place for fellowship, fun and the Glory of God. It is not envisaged that it will take place every year unless it is asked for or that it will always be held in the same place. It is a mixture of the old Sunday School ‘Trip’ event with the new for our young people. Many of our sixteen plus young folk have taken time off work to be present so that they can be involved. We know that Churches as far afield as Aberdeen and Ardeer are planning to be there. EASTER SCHEME Last year’s Easter Scheme for the Disabled Trust for Scotland raised the tremendous sum of £5,150. This year the appeal is under the “Amazon Hope” banner and is to help provide Motorised Rickshaws for Peru. Rev. Jim Marshall has recently returned from Peru and has first-hand experience of the situation which he plans to share with us at the Big Day Event in May. The Rickshaws can be hired by the young people so enabling them to earn an income. SUMMER MISSION Burntisland was the location of last year’s mission. The leaders were Laura Hubbert, Gordon Mackenzie, Sarah Meredith and Jason Thomas with Ian and Margaret Robertson as house parents. The congregation made us feel very welcome as did the minister and his good lady. However it has to be said that some eyebrows were raised when they saw the transformation of the church hall into “Banana Island” complete with parrots, grass, a time shed and five boxes of ripe bananas! The children and adults enjoyed the whole experience and the team wish to express their gratitude for the hospitality afforded to them during the week. The outcome of the mission was that several new children started Sunday School in the new session. We give God the praise and the glory for this fact. It is planned to hold another Summer Mission in 2004 with a bigger team of our own young people. CAMPS 8 - 14 camps Again we are glad to report an increase in those attending camps over past years. The figures for 2003 were 112 young people. Already this year we have held two camps both of which show an increase on last year not only in young people attending but also in the number of churches sending young people. The team this year consists of Laura Hubbert, Gordon MacKenzie, Morag Stevens, David Shering, Sarah Meredith, Lindsay-Ann Purdie and Ian Robertson. The theme this year is “People who laughed at God.” As a Church we are indebted to these young people who give of their time and talents to serve God in this way. It is an interesting fact that many of this present team have come through the camp programme into leadership roles. 14 - 16 camp 23 young people attended the camp this year an increase of 4. We are grateful for the leadership of Laura Hubbert, Morag Stevens, Richard Bisset and David Shering who led this programme during the weekend of 14th- 16th November 2003 in Carronvale. Another camp is planned for 2004. Youth Assembly The Youth Assembly, at Carronvale House, Larbert, in January was attended by 15 people. Rev Archie Ford was the main speaker and the theme was “Chrysalis”. Laura Hubbert, Richard Bisset and Ian Robertson were also there. The young people were asked to think about their personal faith, the Church and their place in society as a Christian. The aim of the weekend was to challenge and help our young people to come together with like-minded people to discuss and grow in their faith. We are very grateful that the Moderator and his lady were able to spend the whole of Friday night and part of Saturday morning with us. As well as opening the Youth Assembly the Moderator gave his testimony which not only set the tone for the weekend but challenged everyone present. Mrs. C. Mackenzie brought greetings from The Women's Home and Oversees Committee. The Committee wish to thank the Ladies of the Women's' Home and Overseas Committee for their financial support over the last few years. Our thanks are also due to Rev. Archie Ford for all his work. In his four session Archie challenged the young people with the gospel in a manner that was thought-provoking and inspirational. Many of the young people spoke well into the night about matters raised in his presentation. YOUTH NIGHT Due to the changes in this year’s General Assembly it was no longer practical to hold the Youth Night during Assembly time. We have moved the night to coincide with the Big Day event on May 29th and are calling it “The Big Night”. The Committee realises that commissioners will not be able to come along and have discussion (as in past years) with the young folk but we feel that holding this event will meet the requirements of the young people for fellowship. In reviewing the camps etc., you will have noticed a decrease in numbers as the age group rises. There are several reasons for this. The main one was that when choosing the date for the older groups events we clashed with important exams. The Committee must and does accept the blame for this blunder. It has been noted and every effort will be made to make sure that it does not happen in the future. Other contributing factors are: ¨ The younger age group are asked to attend a camp in their own area so that travel is kept to a minimum. ¨ The younger group are not as involved in studies to the same extent as the older ones are. ¨ The younger group do not have Saturday jobs. Some of these problems can be addressed, the Committee would argue need to be, if the work which has been carried out in past years is not to be lost. The Committee feel that our youth work is at a crossroads. To meet the needs of our young people we really have to expand the work in several directions. Our young people are thirsty for teaching, support and fellowship. We have lost count of the number of requests for more events, even week-long camps, that bring them together on a more regular basis. We are finding that the need to run events both in the North and in the South for the older age groups is growing. As a Committee we are faced with asking ourselves ‘Do we continue as we are in the knowledge that we are not really meeting the true needs of our young folk who have a desire to meet around God’s word and have fellowship with other young people or do we tackle the problem and find the answer which will allow us to meet the need of our young people?’ The resolve of the Committee is to seek, under God’s guidance, the answers which will allow this work to develop for His Glory. THE FUTURE OF YOUTH WORK As a Committee we wish to set up a Web site forum for all our young people. The young people would be invited by personal invitation to join the forum. This would be a safe, monitored site to be used only by those approved by the Committee. It is envisaged that for 16 + an online Bible study would be available. The intention is that discussion can take place and questions be asked about the passage being studied. There will also be an opportunity to discuss wider issues. For the younger age groups an “information page”, a “what are we up to” and an “ideas swap shop” would be available. The information for the younger age group would be updated and monitored by the Presbytery representatives on the Committee. There is a need to extend the work among our older young people. The young people attending the 8 - 13 camps come in groups some as large as nineteen, others in two’s or three’s and at present we are (just) able to cope with the numbers. The teaching team had to be housed in a bothy at one of our recent camp because the accommodation was fully used by the young people. The 14-16 will alternate venues from the North - South on an annual basis. We feel this is only fair considering the distances involved within the denomination and the concentration of young people. The Web Site could be an invaluable tool in allowing this group to keep in contact. However, when it comes to 16+ we are dealing with youngsters who have mainly come to the Assembly on their own. The need for fellowship for these young people is vitally important. Evidence is beginning to emerge that these young people have a desire to be more involved in Church at a local and Denominational level. We are finding that more are taking on leadership roles. As a Committee we would urge that every opportunity is afforded by the local Church to their young people to be involved the fellowship. The Youth Assembly, needs to be more flexible in its location and in its programme. Last year’s report stated: “The whole reason for, and nature of, the Youth Assembly will therefore be under continual assessment” As a Committee we feel that this is still the case. The problem is that for approximately three years in the lives of these young people exams have a great bearing. This leaves only a small window of opportunity in which the Assembly can be held. Couple this with the distances involved from the North or the South to a central location and this results in groups of our young people being thwarted from attending, regardless of where it is held. The Committee feels the time is right to hold a “Youth Assembly” weekend in the North in September and a “Youth Assembly Teaching“ weekend in the South in the early part of the year. This suggestion is being presented to make sure that none of our young people are disadvantaged by not being able to attend because of where they live or study. By holding one in September it is felt that it would be more relevant to information coming from the General Assembly thereby give the young people an opportunity to express their feelings and concerns to the respective committees and give the committees the opportunity to reply. The spring “Teaching Assembly“ would allow opportunities to explore aspects of our faith and discuss aspects raised in the September Assembly. Having worked with many of them over the years we would be failing if we as a church did not continue to support them and nurture them for the Kingdom outside these weekend events. With this in mind, using a central location, the Committee is looking at holding one-day events for this age group in an effort to support them during this time. All this takes time and yes dare we say it money. The Committee is aware of the financial situation we face as a denomination and have undertaken a review of running costs. We have increased the cost of the camps to reduce the deficit incurred in past years. We have removed the 50% subsidy on the 14 - 16 Camp. Regarding the Youth Assembly, we are very grateful for the support afforded to us by The Women's Home and Overseas Committee in the past years and fully understand their desire to fund other ventures in the future. Without their support in the early years much of the work undertaken could not have been achieved. With the loss of this support we are now going to have to pass on the full Assembly costs to the young people. We are grateful to the Committee on Business and Administration that in the present financial situation they are proposing a doubling of the Target allocation to youth work for the coming year. The Committee is also grateful to Kirk Sessions who subsidise the cost for those attending the various camps and would hope that this could continue so that youngsters are encouraged to attend. Regarding the running of these programmes and the time involved in preparing for them we employ our youth worker Laura Hubbert on a two-day per week basis at the present time. We are grateful to Laura for the many extra unpaid hours she has put into the work in the past year. Without it much of the work would not have happened or would not have been of such a high and professional standard. It is true that many of those employed on a part-time basis within the church work far more hours than they are paid for, but that does not make it right nor should we expect it to be so. At present Laura is working for two days with the denomination and a further day with our Lochwinnoch congregation who meet the full cost of a day’s employment. This means three days are already covered. With the extra funding afforded us from Target it will be possible to extend Laura’s employment to three days by the Committee but that puts a strain on the camps or other parts of the Committee’s programme. We are also unable to give a guarantee for future years. There is a likelihood one of our congregations wishes the services of the youth worker for a six month project. Again like any fellowship who request the services of the youth worker they will be responsible for the cost during that time. If the vision presented to the Assembly in 1999 of having a programme to cover those from the age of eight to twenty six in the denomination is to continue it cannot continue to be run on project availability or even a year to year basis. If we wish to take seriously the task of meeting the needs of our young people, then the Committee feel that it is time for the appointment of a full time youth leader. Having tried other avenues of funding for this project and failed to secure any, the Committee therefore will be asking for permission to approach the churches within the Denomination to invite them to become partners with the Committee by financially supporting the youth programme of the denomination. We are suggesting that churches covenant with the Committee for three years so that we can have stability and freedom to plan for the future both for our young people and the Kingdom. Congregations in turn will be kept regularly updated by the Committee on all aspects of the work so that prayer may surround this important work. In years past one of the strong points of the denomination was its care and nurture of its young people, many of whom went on to full time service in the ministry of the Church. The Committee has no desire to depart from this practice. CONCLUSION The Convener would like to thank both Vice-Conveners as well as the Committee for their work, their support and prayers during the last year. We are extremely grateful to the General Secretary, General Treasurer and Mrs. H. Jarvis for all their help, advice and encouragement throughout the year. < In the name of the committee < IAN N. ROBERTSON Convener RALPH DUNN Vice-Convener ELIZABETH McNAUGHTON Vice-Convener JOHN O. FULTON Secretary

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