General Assembly 2010: Funding plea as Kirk urged to sell off unused buildings

CONGREGATIONS are not receiving enough state support to help care for historic churches, the Kirk's building trust has warned.

The call came as the General Trustees, who take care of 5,000 properties, said that selling unused and unsuitable buildings was key in making the Church of Scotland's proposed reforms work.

Addressing the General Assembly yesterday, the Rev James Jack, the vice-chairman of the trustees, said a new strategy for managing buildings was vital.

"There is no avoiding the fact that the Church still has too many buildings, often neglected and quite often in the wrong place and, sadly, the mission of many congregations is being crushed by what has become for them an unsustainable burden," he said.

"The emerging Church must be clear as to the assets it really requires for its future mission for … there is no point in expending resources to maintain or reorder buildings which are no longer required."

The trustees have repeatedly reported in recent years that many Church properties are in poor repair,. due to neglect or the high cost of maintenance.

Mr Jack said that selling surplus buildings would help fund "the imaginative forms of ministry" that the Kirk was looking at but currently found "unaffordable", while allowing congregations to focus on viable, useful properties.

He emphasised that there was a need for congregations to share facilities – both within the Church and with other denominations. The vice-chairman also encouraged congregations to make Kirk properties more attractive to groups outwith the Church community to use.

He added it was "shocking to still find that many (congregations] still expect people in the 21st century, especially the elderly and families with young children, to want to come to buildings with little or no sanitary or kitchen arrangements. Yet this is a situation which not infrequently confronts the trustees on visits."

Mr Jack said he hoped this "increasing realism" among members would help the Church to arrive at a proper strategy for tackling its unneeded properties.

Speaking outside the Assembly, Mr Jack answered concerns about the Kirk divesting itself of national heritage by stating that if the nation wanted the Church to maintain its old buildings, then more financial support had to be given.

"If the nation really appreciates our buildings, we would appreciate help from the nation in maintaining these buildings," he said.

However, Mr Jack that the Kirk had "continually argued" with the Scottish and UK governments that it does not receive enough support for maintaining its property stock.

He highlighted the fact that the UK government had not maintained the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, which had allowed congregations carrying out repairs on their churches to reclaim VAT, and that come March next year, they would be hit by steep increases in bills.

Committee to look at ways of creating 'an ethical economy'

CAPTAINS of industry, inequality campaigners and theologians are among those who will lead the Kirk's special commission to investigate how the economy can be reset on sustainable and ethical terms.

The commission, named during the final session of the General Assembly yesterday, will address the "deeper" issues underpinning the economy, and ask the question: "What is our economics for and who is our economics for?"

Speaking prior to the announcement, Ian Galloway, convener of the Kirk's influential Church and Society Council, who helped to set up the commission said: "This commission is going to go underneath the immediate issues and ask questions about how we need to go forward."

Mr Galloway said a defining feature of the commission was that it gathered together people from all areas of life who would not otherwise work with each other. The two-year, 13-strong team will be led by Professor Charles Munn, a former chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland. Other members include: Linda De Caestecker, director of public health for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde; David Lonsdale, assistant director of CBI Scotland; Grahame Smith, general-secretary of the STUC; senior banking figure Jim Spowart; and the theologians Doug Gay and Werner Jeanrond. Also sitting on the commission will be social inequality campaigner Cathy McCormack and Kathy Galloway, the head of Christian Aid in Scotland.

Prof Munn said: "That many parts of the economic system have broken so badly impacts all of our lives. It is important the national Church takes the time to look at the ways in which the economic system can operate more efficiently and fairly, in order that the benefits of economic growth are shared more widely."