THE Church of Scotland as we know it today has never developed much beyond the mindset of a 19th century institution.
Our centralised Boards and Committees, now known as Councils, emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During this period the church centralised its mission policy for home and overseas and also began to develop a more centralist approach to ministry.
The restructuring of the central activities of the church’s functions during the mid ‘naughties’ was in the eyes of many, nothing more than a rearranging of the functions into diff erent boxes. And while the present Councils are seeking to work more closely with each other, understanding their role in relation to Presbyteries and local congregations is something that needs to be continually restated.