A S S EMB L Y R E P O R T

This year’s Assembly of the Baptist Union and Baptist Missionary
Society in Scotland took place at the Vine Church in Dunfermline
from Thursday 28 to Saturday 30 October. The Vine Church is a
converted warehouse with a large sanctuary (bigger than Bristo’s!), a
big cafe area and excellent hall accommodation. A great venue for
what turned out to be a very inspiring Assembly. Bristo’s delegates
were Robert and Andrea Mill.

The theme for the Assembly was Communities of Conviction. Opening
and closing keynote addresses were given by Rev. Alan Donaldson,
the recently appointed General Director of the Union. Five other talks
on aspects of the Assembly’s theme were given by Marc Owen, on
Discipleship; Ian Randall, on Religious Freedom; Parush Parushev
(IBTS Prague) who gave two talks on Communities of Discernment
and Interdependence and Diversity; and Stuart Blythe, on Mission. Ian
Randall (author of the book “Communities of Conviction” whose title
was borrowed for the Assembly) also gave several shorter
enlightening talks that highlighted key events in Baptist history since
the beginnings of the denomination in Europe in the 16th century.
Formal business took up a mere half day, a great contrast from
Assemblies that I attended in the 1980s! What was transacted was
nonetheless serious and likely to result in big changes for the Union.
Financially the Union, like so many other organisations, is
experiencing the effects of the credit crunch and low interest rates.
Income in financial year 2009/10 was approximately £586,000
compared with about £653,000 in 2008/09. The fall was largely
accounted by a big decrease in contributions from associations and
individuals, from £71.6k to only £10k, and a halving of bank interest
from £60.5k to £31.1k. The Union is facing a much bigger shortfall in
2010/11. To alleviate this, it put its current headquarters (14 Aytoun
Road in Glasgow) on the market in September with a view to
purchasing or leasing more modern office accommodation that will
allow open-plan working. It is also cutting back on staff, with the
Structure Review Group proposing to merge the present Mission and
Ministry Departments, currently headed respectively by Rev. Andy
Scarcliffe and Rev. Andrew Rollinson , and to cut some administrative
posts.

Interconnectedness, touched on by Parush Parushev in the first of his
two talks, was a major feature of the Assembly. In his keynote address
Rev. Alan Donaldson likened the Union to a bicycle wheel. Just as a
bicycle wheel has many spokes and if too many of these break the
wheel becomes unsafe, the Union is made up of many fellowships all
of whom are valuable. And in the local church every person plays an
equally important part. Interconnectedness was demonstrated by our
Bible readings being given over phone links from places such as
Afghanistan, South America, the Middle East and Asia where BMS
personnel serve; by a live link to the BMS Action Team serving in
Kolkata, India; and by Assembly breaking up several times to discuss
aspects of business or the theme in small groups.

Bathgate Baptist Church was welcomed into the Union. This recently
formed church, with Rev. Harry Sprange as its interim pastor, has three
-quarters of its membership under the age of 30.


Robert Mill