Synod of Scotland Scottish United Reformed and Congregational College

Though one of the smaller of Britain’s ‘mainstream’ denominations, the United Reformed Church stands in the historic Reformed tradition, whose member denominations make up the largest single strand of Protestantism with more than 70 million members world-wide. Along with other Reformed churches the United Reformed Church holds to the Trinitarian faith expressed in the historic Christian creeds and finds its supreme authority for faith and conduct in the Word of God in the Bible, discerned under guidance of the Holy Spirit. The United Reformed Church’s structure also expresses its faith in the ministry of all God’s people through the structure of democratic Councils by which the Church is governed. Theologically, the United Reformed Church is a broad church. Its membership embraces congregations of evangelical, charismatic and liberal understandings of the Christian faith – in a variety of mixtures! It celebrates being a church in three nations and acknowledges the synods of Scotland and Wales as national synods, each with particular responsibility for relating to life, ecclesiastical, social and political in its nation. Its education partner is the Scottish United Reformed and Congregational College. Scottish United Reformed and Congregational College is recognized by the United Reformed Church General Assembly and its Scotland synod as its partner Resource Centre for Learning in Scotland. It exists to offer training for ministry for the United Reformed Church and for Congregationalists and undertakes ordinand training in conjunction with Scottish universities. ScottishThe College is conscious that it is situated within a distinct nation with its own history, culture (or cultures), social and political life and theological emphases and church institutions. Its teaching reflects this but seeks to be open also to wider perspectives. PartnershipA number of partnerships are critical to the life of the College(1) the relationship with the United Reformed Church and in particular its synod of Scotland is the basis for a unique partnership between church and college: this is set out in more detail in the next section(2) the use of the schools of divinity in the universities: we most use Edinburgh and less frequently Glasgow with St Andrews having been a location for postgraduate research students; there is good liaison with a designated member of university staff(3) the ecumenical engagement of theological educators in Scotland has not tended to be strong and collaboration around lay learning suffered a blow with the demise of Scottish Churches’ Open College. Both aspects are showing significant revival however. The ministerial formation group this year has identified some areas for increased collaboration. The College is in partnership with the Scottish Episcopal Church and the International Christian College in Glasgow for library provision. Integration of learningA fundamental commitment of the College is to foster opportunities for learning across boundaries of church service. Almost all that we do is then on an open basis and seeks to recruit from ministers in continuing education, elders and lay leaders and others in order that the learning might be enriched by a range of perspectives and experiences. We believe that it also fosters a more collaborative approach to ministry. Multi-disciplinaryNaturally, theology and biblical studies are at the heart of the curriculum. Not only are they taught within the university element of the student’s studies but they are core to the college’s own provision. The College does endeavour to broaden the disciplines with which the student has to engage and take an interdisciplinary approach. To continue with the example of Doing Bible Study differently above, the course would involve an awareness of different modes of Biblical scholarship (and particularly the differences between historical-critical and more reader-response methods), adult learning processes, narrative and storytelling, philosophical method (Socratic approaches, logic and ethics), interfaith dialogue (cross-Scriptural work)… We tend to concentrate on those disciplines reflected in staffing expertise – so social sciences, education, language, literature and history. The intention is to develop a more holistic formation process than enables ministers to engage from a breadth of perspectives. Areas of Specialism The fundamental specialism is that the College is staffed by adult educators rather than staff with other specialisms who also engage in teaching. We have been happy to have made that particular expertise available to the church through the Principal’s service on committees and in other ways. We should welcome any further opportunities where the church feels that this resource could be utilised. Scottish civic society, nationalism and nation theory, community development and inter-community dialogue Ministry with older people, older people and spirituality, educational gerontology, ageing and society – the College is anticipating shortly have a member of staff working specifically on this area, in conjunction with a dedicated specialised pastoral post in Edinburgh Organisational and human development, change processes, methods of inquiry and evaluation Narrative approaches to learning, organisational development and pastoral work. Publications Managing to Change a resource pack for congregations on handling change positively Sue Kirkbride and Jack Dyce Once upon a time resource materials for adults and children around some of the stories of Hans Christian Andersen Linda Rice and Jack Dyce All kinds of storytelling training book looking at skills for storytelling and its application in worship, learning, pastoral work and church development Jack Dyce 340 Cathedral Street Glasgow G1 2BQ0141 332 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it