Reimagining our common mission: ‘Tell Scotland’ now
Main Article Content
Abstract
In mainstream churches, with particular reference to the Church of Scotland, this paper argues that the concept of ‘mission’ is in need of rehabilitation. It has been reduced to vague objectives and is being tainted by being linked with a programme of restructuring and church closures. The rehabilitation of the concept of ‘mission’ will be necessary as the Kirk proceeds with its task of re-negotiating the future of its ministries, its buildings, and communities. To this end, the paper re-visits the life and work of the Church of Scotland minister and evangelist Tom Allan (1916–1965), drawing out principles from both his work at parish level and with the ‘Tell Scotland’ national mission campaign. Rather than being about numerical gain or preserving institutional structures, ‘mission’ might be understood and lived out through theologically reflective, lay-empowering, and relational community engagement, creating space for new possibilities shaped by God’s grace.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish in the journal grant to Theology in Scotland, St Mary’s College, University of St Andrews (“the Publisher”), the following:1. An irrevocable non-exclusive right to reproduce, republish, transmit, sell, distribute, and otherwise use the Work in electronic and print editions of the Journal and in derivative works throughout the world, in all languages, and in all media now known or later developed.
2. An irrevocable non-exclusive right to create and store electronic archival copies of the Work, including the right to deposit the Work in open access digital repositories.
3. An irrevocable non-exclusive right to license others to reproduce, republish, transmit, and distribute the Work under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial [CC-BY-NC] 4.0 licence.
Copyright in the Work remains with the author and the author retains the right to reuse the article (e.g., in institutional repositories, on their website or published in a book).
Warranties
The Author represents and warrants that the Work is the Author’s original work and that it does not violate or infringe the law or the rights of any third party and, specifically, that the Work contains no matter that is defamatory or that infringes any literary or proprietary rights, intellectual property rights, or any rights of privacy. It is the author's responsibility to obtain written permission to reproduce copyright-protected material in her/his article.
The Author also warrants that he or she has the full power to make this agreement, and if the Work was prepared jointly, the Author agrees to inform the co-Authors of the terms of this Agreement and to obtain their signature to this Agreement or their written permission to sign on their behalf. The Author indemnifies the Publisher against any losses and other expenses, including reasonable attorney’s fees, after final judgment of any claim or action against any or all of these warranties.