July 8, 2009
New approach to community role could be Kirk’s salvation 0
Falling numbers are nothing new for the Church of Scotland. Membership has been dropping steadily since the 1950s.
The decades of gradual decline mean people have got used to church buildings closing and congregations merging or sharing a minister.
But the Rev Dr George Whyte, the man responsible for overseeing the Kirk’s 85 congregations in Edinburgh, believes it’s time for a different approach.
He argues that attempts to patch up the traditional pattern of church life and organisation are doomed to failure and churches need to find new ways of engaging with people.
Dr Whyte, who was minister of Colinton Parish Church for 16 years before becoming clerk to the Kirk’s Edinburgh presbytery last September, claims the struggle for survival has diverted the church from its real purpose.
He says: "We should turn away from the idea that we can save the life of the church as we have known it – it simply cannot be done."
Times have changed, he says, and there is no way back.
Now he has persuaded the presbytery to back a radical plan which will see every congregation in the city visited by a presbytery team over the course of next year to discuss how they see their role in their own community.
• Full story at the Edinburgh Evening News.
