Becoming Structures of Mission

I asked Jared Hay, who pastors in Scotland, to tell us a little about the transition of the church he pastors in Edinburgh.  Here is what he had to say:

Priestfield Parish Church (Church of Scotland)

We are a small (under 200 membership, around 60 at Sunday worship) chiefly elderly congregation with a large A-listed building (of historic significance) that has taken up much of the congregation’s money and energy over the last decade and a half. The outside has now been repaired and we have started on the inside, making the décor bright and uplifting while hoping to adapt some of the hospitality area to make it more welcoming to visitors and function better as a base for mission. Why? Because there are two particular ways in which we believe the Spirit is leading us.

1. Through exploring the nature of our parish – the people and area for whom we have specific responsibility – with the help of the Presbytery’s Mission Facilitator, we have identified how, over the years, the church has withdrawn from the poorer part of the parish. We need to re-inhabit it. There are also a significant number of students in the area within a large residential campus and scattered in apartments. We believe that God is calling us to develop better links with them.
2. Our building is in a strategic position for reaching students and others nearby. It is made up of a main sanctuary with lounge attached, several rooms and a large hall (with kitchen) which is inaccessible to many because of the stairs. The hall is regularly used for church and community gatherings, but the sanctuary and the lounge have not been widely used. We believe God is calling us to create a more available and functional space at the front which can be a place of interaction with the local community – a High Street Monastery. We want to take the many good things about monastic life – hospitality, spirituality, learning, sharing of life and much more – and root them in this building which has so much shaped the congregation’s identity.

Since we are a small congregation we are seeking to approach this mission in two ways: by doing small things that we can cope with as a group; by creating alliances with others that will allow us to do bigger things – working with other congregations, but also community agencies.

We are right at the beginning of this adventure, but we have a sense of excitement that sits alongside a sense of the enormity of the task. The mixture of working with people and adapting a building is challenging – not everyone wants to work with Christians and old buildings are always throwing up problems (like dry rot!). But we have a strong sense that it’s down this road we are being called to travel and can only trust that the one who calls us journeys with us and knows where we are going.

Jared Hay (Rev Dr)