News

Hopes for first local ecumenical partnership gathering in Scotland

November 2, 2005

The first Local Ecumenical Partnership Gathering in Scotland will be held in Livingston on Saturday 26 November. The Revd Murdoch MacKenzie, Convener of the Scottish Churches National Sponsoring Body for Local Ecumenical Partnerships, looks forward to the event.

As people gather together in Livingston from north and south and east and west, close to St Andrew’s Day, we remember that St Andrew was the first person to introduce people to Jesus. First he brought Peter and later some Greeks into partnership with Jesus. In 1910 in the Assembly Hall in Edinburgh people gathered from all over the world with a great vision of the whole of humanity being in partnership with Jesus and with one another. As a first step towards that, they were given a mighty vision of Christians loving one another as God in Christ loved them, a vision of the world’s Churches working in a loving partnership through which the world’s people might believe that Jesus had been sent by God.

Putting this global vision into practice needs local action inspired by the prayer 'Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me!' All over Scotland local people in local churches are being called by God to fulfil that prayer as they work in partnership with one another in the re-evangelisation of Scotland. Some are in rural areas and some in city centres. Some work with young people in pubs and clubs and some with local civic authorities. Some visit hospitals or prisons together, some promote Fairtrade or Alpha courses. Some have outreach in schools and some in shops and offices. Some are very loosely structured and others are in more formal partnerships.

We look forward to welcoming all Christian people who are working together with various local churches, whether in a formal Local Ecumenical Partnership or not, to come to Livingston for The Gathering. Our hope is that in sharing our local stories with each other we will each find new ways to touch the hearts of all people in Scotland with the love of Christ. In particular we hope to rejoice with the people of Livingston as they prepare to celebrate 40 years of ecumenical partnership in January 2006. Come and join the Celebration, the workshops, the exhibits, the Ceilidh, the Keynote Address by Dr Mary Cotes, and if you can stay for Sunday worship on 27th you will be most welcome.

Full programme details and booking forms are available at www.acts-scotland.org/events/celebrate.shtml or via Lindsey Sanderson, ACTS. Scottish Churches House, Dunblane FK15 0AJ. Tel. 01786 826381.