A residential Council Meeting of the Baptist Union of Scotland was held between the 18th and 19th of May at Gartmore House. In part the purpose of the exercise was to model a new way of relational discussion and decision making learning not least from the experiences of BUGB and indeed for part of the Council we were joined by Jonathan Edwards the General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain (who kindly recognised the problems with the name!). The (new) General Director of the Baptist Union of Scotland, Alan Donaldson, also gave some important input related to matters of 'building missional relationships' and the 'mind' (of the meeting or of Christ?) was to go forward in informal and formal conversations exploring this idea through the prism of our own Baptist Identity in order to see where that took us.
Andrew Rollinson gave a really helpful bible study paper on the matter of 'communal discernment'. I have included it with permission on this post.Download Hearing God Communally Council May 2010 .
My own contribution (Stuart Blythe) at the invitation of the Council organisers was to deliver an address on 'Who do we think we are?' I engaged in some collaboration with others in the preparation of this although the final form and weaknesses in what was presented were all my own. I have also attached the address with some minor modifications. Download Who Do We Think that we Are May Council 2010 .
Alan's address is also now also avilable. Download Towards a vision for the future Council report .
your presentation was very helpful. I have found myself reflecting quite a lot this week on what people joining my church should know. and also joining the thoughts of suggestions from grenz, wright and you on how many things there are that make us distinctive!
Posted by: lynn | May 21, 2010 at 03:15 PM
Just read the download. Brilliant! My favourite bit was What would happen to the content of our meetings if we changed our language in this way? I for one would be embarrassed to announce after 3 hours of discussion – ‘We believe that Jesus thinks that the hall should be painted red!’ I actually laughed out loud! Hit the nail right on the head as always!
Posted by: Margaret | May 26, 2010 at 01:30 PM
Two excellent papers with a prophetic edge to them, which have inspired my own Baptist convictions yet, at the same time, have made me think about the importance of defining for a 21st century Scotland, who we, as Baptists are, and the importance of taking time to hear God together.
Posted by: Glen | May 29, 2010 at 01:20 PM