So a good time was had by all – 36 hours – long enough to get a flavour of it but not a huge commitment. This Scotland/Ireland link has been around for a number of years but it’s sort of gone neither forward nor back. So we decided to do a visit in each direction to see if we could get it into focus.
I don’t know whether the fact that I belong on both sides of the relationship helps or hinders. But there’s plenty to learn from being in a church which is quite like the SEC but not the same. Just for starters: minority church .. issues of identity and [over] identification with one community .. rural area close to city .. age profile issues .. mission/ministry patterns .. finance.
This relationship belongs firmly in the Ryanair category – meaning that a Ryanair link means that it is possible to bring a considerable number of people back and forth at various times. We’ll look forward to the return visit in January.