Category: Thorn in the Flesh
Free Church Ministers & their Consciences
Ever since the Plenary Assembly the Free Church seems to have sprouted a remarkable number of consciences, and each one, sadly, seems to think itself more important than either the collective wisdom of the Church or the unity of the denomination.
The latest claim is that as a result of the Act passed by the Plenary Assembly many can no longer in good conscience assert, maintain and defend the form of worship authorised by the General Assembly. This set me thinking: to what, exactly, are the consciences of Free Church ministers bound?
We are bound, first of all, to the supreme and final authority of Holy Scripture as the only rule to direct us. Oddly enough, the question, ‘What saith the scripture?’ has scarcely figured in this sad debate. ‘Ordination vows’ have been invoked to proscribe all appeal to the Bible.
Ministry in the 21st Century
Of this year’s six new entrants to our BTh programme only two are candidates for the ministry. The remaining four, including three women students, have other careers in view. Though the numbers are disappointingly small, the trend is welcome, and should help dispel the idea that the Free Church College is only for ministers and only for men (though the main illusion at the moment seems to be that the College is only for international students, not for home-grown ones. Our own young people seem to suffer from Free Church College phobia.)
Read more about 'Ministry in the 21st Century'...Psalmody and Apostasy
It’s odd, isn’t it, how things apparently unrelated can connect in your head. “We are living in a day of great wickedness,” said the lady, and she was right, of course. She had noticed that someone had nicked her neighbour’s wheelie-bin, and drawn the obvious conclusion. We are indeed living in an age of great wickedness.
Read more about 'Psalmody and Apostasy'...Ordination Vows?
One of the concepts which has figured prominently in the post-Plenary Assembly discussions is “Ordination Vows”. To the best of my knowledge there is no such concept in Scottish Presbyterianism; the phrase is entirely foreign to our practice. In Acts of the General Assembly 1648-1842 the word “vow” doesn’t occur once; and the only significant occurrence of the word “oath” refers to the Oath taken by the Sovereign to maintain the Church of Scotland. In the Free Church Practice, again, there is not a single reference to a vow; and the only oath (apart from the Oath of Purgation) is the vow taken by witnesses giving evidence in cases of discipline. This oath is in a very explicit form: “I swear by Almighty God….” There is nothing remotely resembling this phraseology in the Forms for Licensing, Ordination or Induction.
Read more about 'Ordination Vows?'...