Category: News

The Methodist Conference, which met recently in Birmingham this week, voted overwhelmingly  to recommit the Methodist Church to being a Justice-seeking Church.
The report received by the Conference hopes to encourage more Methodists in acting for justice, along with their local communities, and to focus efforts on contributing to change in key areas including poverty, refugees, the environment, discrimination and peace.
The report is the result of a two-year process of conversation and listening. This involved looking at how Methodists have worked for justice throughout their history and what is being done now, as well as hearing people’s experiences of injustice. The report involved churches, young people, communities and schools sharing their visions of what a just world looks like.

More information, and a link to the report.

Just launched –  a new Bible animation made in Lego!  For a limited time you can download it completely free.

This short animation of the Good Samaritan would be ideal to use in church services, groups, schools or for personal/family use.

You can download it free either in 1) English with a Scottish accent or 2) Scottish Gaelic.

There’s also helpful teachers notes and a Lego schema to accompany the video.

Download free from this link: https://gochattervideos.com/the-good-samaritan-cos/

Massive thanks to Bòrd na Gàidhlig and the Church of Scotland for making this project possible.

From Dan Rackham and the rest of the Go Chatter team 
(We had the pleasure of creating the animation!)

The Learning Network is offering two possibilities.

1. A 5-hour Mental Health Aware Day – 4-hour session (plus breaks so more like 5 hours) at a cost of £20 per person (about 15% of publicised cost to cover resources .  This has no licence applied to it so is relevant across the nations. Become Mental Health Aware · MHFA England
2. A 2-day Mental Health First Aid (Adults) course – 8 hours per day (no pre-work) at a cost of £50 per person (again a fraction of the cost and includes access to an app for 3 years plus all the learning materials). Become a Mental Health First Aider · MHFA England

Both of these are delivered online so it could be offered across our districts. For more information – please contact Lorraine.

The Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Church of Scotland, the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church provide the following response to the publication on 27 April of the UK Government’s Gambling White Paper.

The Government’s White Paper, High Stakes: Gambling Reform for the Digital Age, is a combination of welcome changes, disappointing delay in some important areas, and missed opportunities.

The Government has indicated that it will consult on the introduction of a number of measures that Churches have been calling for, which we believe are needed to prevent the harm caused by gambling.

Gambling costs in physical and mental health, relationships, jobs, families and has an impact on wider communities, and tragically, in extreme cases, it can lead to suicide.  Churches have long supported a statutory levy on gambling companies to contribute towards treatment and the prevention of harm.  The industry’s voluntary financial contribution has been inadequate so we welcome the Government’s decision to introduce a statutory levy.

In our submission to the Government’s consultation on the White Paper we highlighted evidence that young people aged 18-24 routinely have the highest rates of problem gambling. We are therefore encouraged to see that the Government will be consulting on additional protections for younger adults through some enhanced checks and limits on online stakes.  The Churches have for several decades campaigned in support of the principle that gambling is an adult activity, and so we welcome the plans at long last to legislate to ban children from Category D cash slot machines.

Recently a number of gambling companies have been fined for failing to carry out checks and allowing people to gamble and lose enormous amounts of money.  Many more will have simply lost more than they can afford, leading to cycles of debt, addiction and gambling harm.  The Government’s decision to consult on the introduction of financial risk checks to address binge gambling is welcome.

At the moment there are no statutory limits on stakes for online gambling.  Given the amount that people can lose online in a short space of time, the consultation on introducing a limit on stakes is welcome. However, this has to go hand in hand with other ways of making online gambling safer by design, looking at features such as the speed and volatility of play and the illusion of player control.

This white paper has sadly missed an opportunity to significantly strengthen controls on advertising.  Advertising is a powerful tool for normalizing gambling, particularly around sport.  Many young people who have a susceptibility to gambling say that advertising has affected their decisions to gamble.  By only offering limited consultation on marketing and voluntary codes, the Government is missing an opportunity to do much more to minimise the harm that gambling is causing particularly to young adults but also to those whose circumstances make them vulnerable.

The direction of travel within the White Paper is largely encouraging and responds to various concerns that Churches have raised over many years.  However, after waiting three years for this White Paper, it is frustrating to see how many of the changes will now be going out again to consultation, risking further delay and dilution.  We cannot afford further delay, and encourage the Government to ensure that gambling is indeed a public health priority.

• Revd Fiona E Bennett, Moderator of General Assembly, United Reformed Church
• Revd Karen Hendry, Convener pro tem, Faith Impact Forum, Church of Scotland
• Revd Graham Thompson, President of the Methodist Conference, The Methodist Church in Britain
• Revd Hayley Young, President of the Baptist Union of Great Britain

The new edition of the Connexion magazine is now out – majoring on ‘Room for Faith’.

Scottish Faiths Action for Refugees (SFAR) and Faith in Community Scotland have produced some short videos, Journeys of Faith and Welcome, to celebrate the stories of New Scots and faith communities, and the role faith has played in their journeys of seeking, finding and offering sanctuary.  SFAR are always keen to encourage faith groups to get involved in or start similar projects and would be delighted to work alongside and equip any group that might be interested.

Any faith communities wanting to get involved in welcoming and supporting asylum seekers can find further information here or contact Sabine Chalmers, Co-ordinator for SFAR at schalmers@churchofscotland.org.uk.

The Learning Network in Scotland is offering a series on ‘Working out Worship’ and the first of those begins with Local Arrangements on Tuesday 18^th April from 7-9pm.

This session is designed for church stewards and worship leaders, as well as anyone else who currently or would like to contribute to worship. This will be a very accessible session and will be a great opportunity for churches to explore different ways of worshipping together. It will look at the steps of planning a service, different aspects and approaches to keep in mind, and how to plan ahead. The session will also signpost participants to useful resources.

Sign up here:  Working out Worship Tickets, Multiple Dates | Eventbrite

This link is the same to register for the other events which will be helpful for all involved in worship and preaching. They are:

• 2^nd May Creative Worship 7-9pm on zoom
• 16^th May Intergenerational Worship 7-9pm on zoom
• 20^th May Practice what you preach 10.30-3pm onsite – venue to be confirmed