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General Assembly met at Loughborough July 2-5. News from Assembly can be found on the main URC website, and many of those unable to be at Loughborough received updates on the URC Facebook page and through a Twitter stream
Thirteen of our reps made it to Assembly -
(ministers) Liz Blair, Bill Ellerby, Philip Gray, Ann Honey, Meg Robb, Val Towler,
(lay) Matthew Appleyard, Joyce Calcraft, Rhona Dunn, Chris Eddowes, Henry Gowland, Maranny Jones, Donna MooreBe sure to invite them to share their experiences with your own church or mission partnership.
In the meantime, here are some of their impressions.....
and Rhona Dunn's Photo Albumn .....
We had been warned in advance that the locations of the university buildings we would be using involved a lot of walking. Despite the provision of maps many of us got lost at times. Fortunately the food was excellent in variety, quality and quantity. The packed lunches gave us the opportunity to enjoy eating in the fresh air, enjoying fellowship and the fine weather that lasted throughout Assembly - Bill Ellerby
It was an exhausting but enlightening experience. I have been excited, encouraged, exasperated and engaged by the events there. - Donna Moore
Being renowned for its sporting prowess, the Loughborough University Campus encompasses many sports fields and pitches, thus there were quite some distances to walk between the accommodation, eating and Assembly Hall venues and I would guess we covered at least a mile each day, probably more, usually carrying the necessary papers (which began by weighing 21/2 lbs and finished over 4 lbs!).
Each day began with worship, accompanied by a small modern band, followed by bible study led by Gerard Kelly. Days were long, commencing at 9 am and finishing at 9 – 9.30 pm.
The enormous Assembly Hall was equipped with large screens and a cameraman was kept busy trying to locate the disembodied voice of any speaking Assembly Member, so that he or she could be seen on the screens. 2010 is the first time Assembly has used seating around circular tables, each of which had its own microphone. There were, of course, problems at times, but for the most part, Members were able to have their say. In order to keep speeches short, the traffic light system was employed – when the green light turns to amber you have to cut it short, when red shows, that’s it........ you stop! - Joyce Calcraft
Worship was an uplifting experience. The music group leading worship was perfect for the purpose and I learned some new songs. The praise was a very good mix of traditional and modern. The music was of a very high standard and always empathetic to the rest of the worship. The incoming moderator’s chaplains, Revd Jim Coleman. and Revd Rachel Poolman led us in inspiring prayers - Maranny Jones
The first business was the induction of the two new moderators, Mrs Val Morrison and the Revd Dr Kirsty Thorpe.
The main presentation on the Saturday morning was that for Vision 2020. Described as a framework – not a programme – this raised much discussion over the wording of the resolution as some people thought it suggested that the programme was effectively mandatory, rather than one in which churches could opt out.
Sunday was the day of business. The URC boycott of Nestle produced a very lively debate. Discussed under consensus voting rules agreement could not be reached so the debate was carried over to the afternoon. The resolution was reworded so that in effect ALL companies should be treated in accordance with our ethical policy. The next resolution was passed by will only apply IF Nestle obtains a FTS4Good Index listing.
Due to the unique situation whereby Ministers are Officers, and not employees, of the URC the passing of a resolution recommending that ministers work no fewer than 160 hours and not more than 192 hours within a four-week period caused some concern. How do we monitor this and what actually counts as work?
The two moderators for 2012-2014 were elected. They are Mr Lawrence Moore and the Revd Dr Michael Jagessar.
The resolution on the guidelines on conduct and behaviour of Ministers, elders and CRCW’s provided a long and at times contentious discussion. Unable to pass it by consensus voting the procedure was changed under standing orders and was eventually passed by a majority vote.
And Assembly passed a resolution to pledge £1M to the redevelopment fund for Westminster College, one of the URC’s resource and learning centres. - Henry Gowland
Running at the same time, were also FURY and Children’s Assemblies, and for a valuable, small part of each day they joined us in the Assembly Hall. They asked that Assembly listened to their views. They made the bread for our Sunday Communion. A very moving DVD they had produced , repeatedly stressed “YOU ARE LOSING US” “THE QUESTION IS: IN TEN YEARS TIME WILL YOU HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE?” We also saw a DVD of the Pilots big day at Warwick Castle. - Joyce
My highlights include every contribution from Children's Assembly (except the "dwarf bread" for communion). They have a directness, honesty and clarity of vision that we adults could learn from.
I found the short video they showed us where they set out what they expect from the church very moving. They long to be welcomed, included, treated as disciples in training, rather than in waiting and they want us to make a difference.They brought us sweets on Saturday to sustain us but we could have done with more on Sunday. I thought Ed Cox deserved Chocolate Cake after the bruising round of discussions on Vision 2020. - Donna
And another light on children -
Res 34 was reworded – “The General Assembly of the United Reformed Church calls upon Her Majesty’s government to end the detention of children for Immigration purposes and ensure that alternatives to detention should not involve the separation of children from their parents.
The daily Bible Studies by Gerard Kelly from the book of Acts were challenging and uplifting, our theme gor assembly being ‘telling the story’ he made links with the sory of the development of the church through Acts and the challenges Christianity now faces. Some points made on Saturday morning were about humanity being on a threshold, and the danger of crossing the threshold without the Holy Spirit. As Christians we can have Spiritual Anorexia and be too afraid to move. As the weekend progressed it was obvious that if we took on board the message from the bible studies we could write a mission statement for the whole denomination.
We were reassured also as he said ‘God will not call us to a place where he doesn’t want us to be’. - MarannyWe all loved the Community Awards and the stories of hope and renewal that were woven into the various committee reports.
Loretta Minghella, Director of Christian Aid, was an inspiring speaker, as was Sughra Ahmed, one of the Interfaith guests, who spoke movingly of the events of 7/7 and her hopes that all faiths
can work together for peace.I also enjoyed the moment when assembly demanded, as one, to hear Lawrence Moore again speaking about the Identity and Marketing Campaign, when he was cruelly cut short by the red light and earlier speakers had been allowed to go on at length.
There were so many other highlights, Gerard Kelly's Bible Studies, John Marsh reading the letter to Her Majesty and the last song of the weekend, from Children's Assembly, had us rocking round our tables. - Donna
And the lows? Too much walking between meeting places. Too much talking by a small minority which held up debates, increased the time reaching decisions and generally caused disruption to carefully timed sessions. We all left hoping that for the gentleman on Table *** this was his last Assembly. - Maranny
And do we have a consensus on consensus?? -
The consensus method of decision making worked quite well most of the time, but at others it caused some frustration necessitating a return to traditional voting. - Bill
I thought that consensus decision making was long and tedious, and just three people out of the six hundred or so, could hold up business considerably. I hope that we return to majority decision making, which has served us so well for many years, in future assemblies. - Joyce
Visit this page again - there may be more to come!
with our Mozambican guests gather after business on the last evening
