Francis Alao guest at Glasgow Churches agm
PDF The keynote speaker at Glasgow Churches Together’s annual general meeting for 2010, held at the Ogilvie Centre in Rose Street, was Rev Francis Alao, Racial Justice Officer for ACTS (Action of Churches Together in Scotland).
Rev Francis Alao
Mr Alao said it was clear that through the immigration of non-Westerners, Christianity in Scotland is finding new forms of expression. This raised questions regarding the effect this development is having on the life of the church and on the profile of Christianity here.
“What will be the chemistry between the old and the new,” he asked. “Will they react against each other and go their separate ways? Will well-established Churches give the cold shoulder to new groups whose spirituality seems strange? Will newcomers shun the older churches, writing them off as dull or dead? Or will they find fruitful forms of interaction? Will Christianity be found fragmented into groups united by their ethnicity, including groups of ethnic Scots? Or will ways be found to show that the faith which unites is stronger than any identity which divides?”
After the celebration of bicentenary anniversary of the abolition of slave trade in 2007, it was suggested that ethnic minority Churches which had been operating as splinter groups might come together on a united platform. A few African and Asian ministers who had been meeting under the auspices of the United Pastors Forum came together to form Minority Ethnic Christians Together in Scotland.
The general purpose of MECTIS is to enable and support minority ethnic Christians in Scotland in their partnership and work with other local and national organizations:
• to grow together in faith
• to work in partnership with established mainline churches
• to represent the voice of Minority Ethnic Churches to authorities as necessary and
• to challenge exclusion and racism.
MECTIS was registered as a limited company in 2008 and since over fifty emerging churches have been registered as members with a sizable membership of individual minority ethnic families who are members of mainline churches.
