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Kay Keith, National Convenor


Dr Nancy Lin

The Brightons Praise Group



Dr. Margaret Fowler 


Iain Whyte 




Rachel Hutcheson 

John Lowrie Morrison

Guild Annual Rally  -  3rd November


Guild members meet outside the Caird Hall Dundee before the annual meeting

The Guild team organised a change of presentation and location for the Guild meeting on Monday 3rd November. Agnes Ovenstone had obtained a video with the highlights of the September Guild Annual Meeting in Dundee which she and others from the Penicuik team had attended. We used the church as the location for the showing using the big screens and projection system, popular for showing the words of our hymns at the Sunday morning services.

The theme of the 2014 annual meeting was 'Go Serve'.  Kay Keith, National Convener, introduced the event, welcoming everyone from all corners of the country and around the globe.  Dr Nancy Lin, visiting from the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, added her welcome.

The Moderator of the General Assembly, John Chalmers in his address pointed out that we are not defined by what we do, but what we are, the core of our being, the integrity of our lives, the consistency between what we practice and what we preach.  As the Greek philosophers Socrates said, ' to do is to be', and Aristotle said 'to be is to do'. But John felt that Frank Sinatra got it right when he said 'do-be-do-be-do'.

John told us of Jesus' frenetic life, always on the go. However even he took time out with a few friends for rest, meditation and prayer, to find the strength he need for the challenges of his public ministry.

He talked of  two great epidemics spreading across western civilisation. One is stress, which can wear down and burn out an individual.  He believes that Christian faith can speak into lives that are so worn down, and that a Christian life offers the tools and rhythm, which can help prevent such breakdown.


John Chalmers
What does Go Serve mean? It means 850 ministers leading 1400 congregations in Scotland. It means £50 million pounds spent on social services. The churches Credit Union being developed and launched. Fighting child labour 'sweatshops' in Bangladesh. A doctor working in a remote part of Africa. Adults with learning difficulties supported in Stonehaven, and people with dementia supported in Polmont.  A woman's project enabled in the occupied Palestinian territories. A commitment to supporting the poorest parishes in Scotland, at a time when in the economic climate, others can't. We don't just talk about it, we are doing it.

The second epidemic sweeping our nation is loneliness, a huge issue, despite the plethora of methods of keeping in contact, through the likes of social media.  John questioned if we spend more time 'tweeting' than meeting and talking face to face with some immobile person, or their family. We should make time to help the lonely, to make them feel more valued in our society.

John finished with the story of the two friends trudging their lonely way to Emmaus, after the resurrection, thinking that their Lord had gone from them, when the risen Christ drew alongside of them, entering into their loneliness.  We are the friends of Jesus, agents of His friendship, and when we enter into the loneliness of others, we do not only meet them, we encounter the love of the living Christ.  Go Serve.  

Dr. Margaret Fowler of the United Church of Jamaica, talked of her work under the title 'Ministry on the Margin,'  on the edge.  Whilst the church may be in trouble, Margaret was going to stay on the front line, and may even go over the edge!

She questioned the mission of the church if it is fulfilled by sitting around a planning meeting with church members talking about church matters. The margins are where the action is.  The bible has no stories of Jesus attending meetings! Margaret believes that pastoral ministry involves leading and redirecting the attention of our congregation toward the margins, where we then fulfil the mission of Christ.

She said that if we want the church to grow, we must reach out, stretch ourselves. She explained her work with prostitutes and human trafficking, and her call to Kingston Jamaica, where she worked with gay, lesbian and transgender people, living in sewers, rejected by society. Offering pastoral ministry to a group who are outcasts in the society was a huge challenge, and very hard.

Returning to home Margaret talked about growing our church, and asked how many challenges are knocking on our doors, within a mile of our church, and what are we doing about it? However it goes wider than just the pastoral and the community, to the very way we worship in our church.

Continuing she said “People of the margins of our church represent the mission fields entrusted to us by God. They are the reason that the church exists, not you and me in our fancy churches and ministries. Your church is the means of grace God uses to reach them”.

Margaret concluded by congratulating the work of the Guild, that has reached not only Scotland, but worldwide, and encouraged Guild members to keep taking their ministry to the margins. 

Iain Whyte, General Secretary, spoke on how the church is supporting the Guild, through initiative such as the Golden Age Project.

Rachel Hutcheson, Moderator of the National Youth Assembly spoke how they work together with the Guild.

John Lowrie Morrison, artist and church reader,  talked of the place of art and Christianity.

Thanks  to the St. Mungo's Guild team for sharing their experience with us through showing this video, which members and visitors found very interesting and moving. 

Penicuik: St. Mungo's Parish Church (Church of Scotland). Scottish Charity No SC005838