FIEC Scotland Representation - Assisted Suicide Bill

FIEC Scotland letter to the Scottish Parliament (Health and Sport Committee) in response to the 'call for evidence' for the Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill. Submissions must be no more than 2000 words and be made by Friday 6th June 2014. 

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12^th May 2014

FAO: The Health and Sport Committee

The Scottish Parliament

Healthandsport@scottish.parliament.uk

Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill – Call for Written Evidence

Dear Sir / Madam

ASSISTED SUICIDE (SCOTLAND) BILL - REPRESENTATION FROM THE FELLOWSHIP OF INDEPENDENT EVANGELICAL CHURCHES (SCOTLAND).

The Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches (FIEC) represents 18 churches throughout Scotland with over 1000 members in total. In addition FIEC represents a number of other Scottish church leaders and pastors affiliated to our ‘Pastors’ Network’. In the United Kingdom as a whole FIEC is made up of over 500 churches and exists to support independent churches and represent them at national levels.

As a significant church grouping representing many Scottish citizens we wish to express our deep concerns about the Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill currently under consideration by the Health and Sport Committee. We believe that the proposals in this Bill to allow the intentional and proactive taking of human life on the grounds of health is a hugely dangerous step.

As churches and pastors we are often deeply involved, and witnesses to, situations of great suffering and human tragedy. We are very conscious and sensitive to the pressures, heartache and pain that people face at such times – both those directly afflicted and those close to them. It is in such circumstances that people need the greatest care and support; the provision of pain relieving medication and other palliative care by the NHS and other care providers is something we are deeply thankful for, and whose funding and provision by government is a mark of a caring society.

Indeed it is at the very heart of our society’s ethics that medicine and medics should only ever be employed to sustain and protect human life (we note in this regard opposition to this legislation by many parts of the medical profession[i]). Such care, of course, is demanding and can be costly but it is a mark of civilised society that every human life should be cherished (regardless of its condition) as of utmost value.

We believe that for the State to sanction the taking of life on the basis of its perceived ‘value’ or ‘quality’ would be to fundamentally change the balance of power between citizens and government. Government, we believe, should hold it as sacrosanct never to countenance any involvement in the killing of any of its citizens on such a basis. We realise that there will inevitably be cases that will test such a principle due to their harrowing nature – nevertheless it is a principle that once overturned will inevitably result in demands for further pragmatic extensions.

Indeed it would be highly naïve to think this legislation would not in time lead to wider applications. The issue of Abortion is a case in point: the legislation for this was introduced with assurances that it would be a measure only for the most desperate cases and would be rigorously monitored and controlled. Last year over 12,000 abortions[ii] were performed in Scotland (over 190,000 in England and Wales in 2012[iii]). Regarding Assisted Suicide it is clear that where provision has been allowed elsewhere the trend is one of increasing and widening use over time – such as the recent extension of such provision in Belgium to include children[iv].

We are also concerned that Assisted Suicide provision would, over time, create cultural pressure on the most vulnerable in our society to end their life rather than be a perceived burden on others. Legislating for people to commit suicide shifts the dynamic, for those suffering, from a situation in which choosing to live would be as much a choice as choosing to die – in such a situation it is not hard to see how people could begin to feel (or be made to feel) they are choosing to be a ‘burden’ and thus being selfish by continuing to live.

A number of other arguments against Assisted Suicide have been cogently made by The Christian Institute and Care Not Killing which we would share and support.

For all these reasons we ask that the Committee reject this Bill, and in doing so uphold the moral foundation of Government (and indeed medicine) in only ever seeking to sustain and protect the lives of its citizens. We appreciate that this will be hard for some, with whom we would want to stand, to support and to pray for, but believe that there is a greater principle at stake concerning the very sanctity of life.

Yours faithfully,

  

Andrew T. Hunter

Scotland Director (FIEC)

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[i] http://bma.org.uk/practical-support-at-work/ethics/bma-policy-assisted-dying

[ii][ii] https://isdscotland.scot.nhs.uk/Health-Topics/Sexual-Health/Publications/2013-05-28/2013-05-28-Abortions-Summary.pdf?72820681334

[iii] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/211790/2012_Abortion_Statistics.pdf

[iv] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26181615

FIEC Scotland - Building Momentum

An article written for the FIEC website. 

Building Momentum

Written by Steve Crosthwaite on 01.04.2014

From 25th to 26th of March, a group of church leaders met with some of the FIEC Directors to discuss the possibilities for our Fellowship in Scotland. Steve Crosthwaite, Associate Pastor of Newcraigs Evangelical Church, shares his reflections on those 24 hours.

Article Tags

• Scotland

There is a growing sense of movement and optimism for FIEC in Scotland. The Fellowship now has a Scotland Director in the form of Andy Hunter, and the group of 18 leaders from Scottish churches at the 2013 Leaders’ Conference was the biggest yet.

In an attempt to keep building momentum, around 20 of us recently met together for a 24 hour Scottish Forum, eager to renew fellowship and to see what God might do in this nation. Whilst not everyone present was from an FIEC church or in the Pastors’ Network, what we did represent was a mixture of churches in Scotland who share the same desire: to see gospel growth in what was once described as the ‘land of the Bible’.

When you share the same convictions it makes fellowship easy. It was good to continue to get to know people we had met before and meet others for the first time and to talk about what they are doing, share experiences and support one another.

Serving here and now

We got off to a good start with Trevor Archer reminding us from the example of David from 1 Chronicles 29 that we are called to Scotland for this time and generation, and how we need to serve and seek the Lord for it. John Stevens painted a picture of the UK which left us in no doubt of the size of the task ahead. The world has changed, the UK has lost its gospel heart and it’s frankly no longer a Christian country.

Christianity is in decline and our nation is increasingly a secular one where the church has less and less influence in the corridors of power. Evangelical Christians account for perhaps little more than 3% of the UK population and the rapid decline is often matched with an equally rapid compromise on the Bible. Yet we can be optimistic! Churches that are faithful to the Bible are still growing.

We were encouraged to be in it for the long haul, reminded that the UK church has been in decline for 150 years and there is no single answer to the problem. As in the example of David, we are called to serve our generation in the place that we are, sow the seed and develop relationships that may take years to really produce fruit.

Growing together

In smaller focus groups we considered mission, training and pastoral support. Our discussions highlighted a desire to work together in planting new churches, to spend more time together, and with our leadership teams to think how we may restore confidence in the gospel. We want to see more gospel workers trained and placed in Scottish churches. We want to take time to think creatively about how we support one another and grow the sense of fellowship that is building amongst us.

We also recognised that there are many churches and networks in Scotland that share the same convictions as we do, so we need to think hard about how we grow partnership and not walls as we seek to spread the gospel in this nation.

As we closed and went back to our churches, we left in no doubt as to the challenge ahead. Yet we also left with a great reason for optimism, not only because we are in this together, but because of the wonderful grace of God. We may not be where we want to be but we are ready to roll our sleeves up, be committed to one another and above all be found seeking the heart of the Lord for Scotland. So will you pray with us?

Steve Crosthwaite

Steve is the Associate Pastor of Newcraigs Evangelical Church in Kirkcaldy. He is married to Jane and they have two children.

Follow Steve Crosthwaite on Twitter – @s_crosthwaite

One foot in the grave

Bills to bring forward the legalisation of 'Assisted Suicide' are being progressed both at Westminster and Holyrood.

It is yet another example of our society stumbling, without any firm reference points, into the further commodification of human life. That this legislation, if passed, will just be a first step to the eventual widespread practise of euthanasia in our society should not be in doubt.  

When the legalisation of abortion was argued for in the 1960s, we were assured that it would be a last resort reserved for only the most desperate cases, it would have to meet rigorous medical and/or psychological criteria, and it would be scrupulously regulated. Of course, we now know, 40 years on, that abortion is carried out effectively 'on demand', with few (if any) questions asked and on a scale beyond anything its original proponents would have imagined. The government's response to this 'industrialisation' of abortion (6.7 million since 1967). has not been to tighten up the controls or to seek to return to the original narrow criteria but to make it even easier and less regulated.  For those assuring us that 'assisted suicide' would be rare and strictly controlled - the example of Belgium in extending its legalised euthanasia for children is a chilling glimpse into the future.

Once the taking of life, at the point it is perceived to be lacking sufficient quality or that it has become an unfair burden on others, becomes acceptable and legal - the insidious pressure will be that those persisting in similar circumstances are being a little selfish. After all look how much freer, happier and wealthier Family X is now that Granny is no longer 'tying them down' and draining them of their resources. Thus very subtly poor struggling incontinent Grandad in Family Y may start to feel a bit of a 'parasite'.

Almost inevitably legalising assisted suicide will shift the burden of responsibility for the care of the disabled and sick away from 'the well' and onto the sufferer themselves. After all if a sufferer rejects the now available option of ending their life - then why should their family or anyone else feel any responsibility to care for them? After all it's their choice if they choose to carry on living!

The problem with any form of suicide is that is involves the weak and vulnerable valuing their lives against the powerful and secure. The great darkness of legalising 'assisted suicide' is not simply that it allows people to be accessories in the taking of human life - but that it says that human life is 'takable'.

It is telling for all our society's hubris about progress and moral enlightenment that we seem to be regressing into a pre-Christian Dark Age when it comes to human life. Abortion on demand, embryo selection on the basis of gender and other physical characteristics, and now the pro-active termination of adult life on health grounds are all now 'on the table'.

How did we get here? We live in a time when advances in medicine and technology mean the ability to alleviate suffering and provide palliative care have never been greater (in the West anyway - interestingly the 'right to die' does not seem to be a big demand in the developing world). Tragically though we have the tools to help - a century of aggressive materialistic atheism has left us with decreasing reason to use them. If we are just haphazard conglomerations of chemicals with no ultimate purpose or value - then there is no reason to view human life as anything other than disposable and utilitarian. The squeezing out of the 'Life Giver' from public consciousness is leading our culture deeper into an ever deepening amoral 'survival of the fittest' view of ourselves. 

As Dostoevsky put it, "If God does not exist, everything is permitted." 

Eat Pray Love [and Plant Churches]

An article written for the FIEC website. 

• 20schemes
• Church Planting
• Church Revitalisation
• Scotland

50 people from over 25 churches and Christian organisations gathered in Glasgow at the end of February to hear Andy Paterson (our Mission Director) and Mez McConnell (Pastor of Niddrie Community Church) outline a vision for a new generation of church planting and revitalisations. The lunchtime event organised by FIEC brought together church leaders and Christian workers from across the West of Scotland.

Mez highlighted the desperate need in many of Scotland’s most deprived areas for gospel churches to be planted or revitalised, and spoke of the vision of 20schemes to see this happen. Council housing estates in Scotland are known as ‘Schemes’ – the hope is to see at least 20 healthy gospel churches established or re-established in such areas throughout Scotland over the next ten years.

Niddrie Community Church is leading the way in this, having built a growing church that is making a huge impact a community with high social needs. Currently a training programme, run by the church, is preparing local people and others to be Church Planters and Revitalisers in similar communities elsewhere. Mez’s call was for those in the West of Scotland to get behind this vision - especially as is it the area of Scotland with the highest number of schemes lacking any meaningful gospel witness in them.

Andy Paterson outlined the national picture and vision of FIEC in seeing new churches planted in unreached parts of the country. He shared something of the work being progressed by FIEC in seeking to identify areas of the UK where there is an urgent need for gospel witness. The challenge was for existing churches to come together in order to see healthy and growing churches (re)established in such places.

This lunchtime gathering was a great opportunity for a whole range of church leaders and others to meet up, to chat, pray and be encouraged by each other. It was also a chance to note the wider vision of FIEC to bring churches together – the value and potential of which the lunch itself was a great illustration of.

The feedback from those attending was very positive, and everyone will hopefully have left better informed and challenged about the need for strategic church planting and revitalisation, but also encouraged that there is already a vision for this, and there is help and experience available for those wishing to be partners in this work.

Please pray that this gathering will result in continued and deepening relationships between churches, and will lead in time to the planting and revitalising of much needed gospel churches in Scotland and beyond.

Andy Hunter - FIEC Scotland Director

Before joining FIEC in November 2013, Andy worked for Greenview Church in Glasgow for nine years, prior to which he trained at Oak Hill College in London. He is married to Jessica and they have three children.

Sex, Dating & Relating

Don't leave it to the internet or TV to teach your teenager about this...

Our friends in the north

Some thoughts on a recent visit to the Shetlands Isles.

Garthspool Evangelical Church, situated 100miles north of the Scottish mainland, is the most northerly FIEC Church in the UK. Originally founded in 1914, as an outreach to the fishing community around Lerwick harbour, it will celebrate its centenary this September. Over the years it has been a centre of Gospel witness on the island to locals, workers and holiday-makers alike.

In recent years, along with many other churches on the islands, numbers have declined and it’s been increasingly hard to sustain many of the previous ministries. The church administrator is Margaret Fraser who organises speakers and chairmen from around the Island and further afield. It is a church with good relations with Christians around Shetland and is something of a hub for bringing folks together. Its 8pm Sunday evening meeting means that it can be a gathering point for Christians with an appetite for some extra Bible teaching and to hear speakers often from outside Shetland.

The bigger picture church-wise on Shetland is of a number of small fellowships of various types (Brethren, UF, Baptist, Independent etc). Due the scattered and rural nature of the island population these are often inevitably small and operate on very limited resources. Lerwick with a population of 7000 (the largest town by far) has 13 different churches! It does beg the question though of whether such a large number of small churches relative to the population is sustainable and indeed sensible for longer term Gospel witness.

Encouragingly it was great to meet Christians from different churches and hear of ongoing School’s Work around the islands, the annual Shetland Youth Camp that brings together over 200 young people and an initiative to host some ‘9 Marks’ training later in the year.

The challenges are many but chief among them is reaching the population afresh with the Gospel – this includes the many temporary workers brought to the islands by the oil and gas industry (Lerwick Harbour is dominated by huge floating accommodation blocks brought in to house them). It is here especially that a church like Garthspool has real potential – it is strategically placed on the main road along the harbour front, it is committed to the Gospel and, as noted, has been able to be something of a ‘rallying point’ for evangelicals over the years. It’s involvement with FIEC and its links with a number of Missionary Workers demonstrate a vision bigger than just ‘maintenance’.

The long flat topped buildings are
floating accommodation blocks. 

The prayer of the Garthspool congregation is for new and committed members to take the work forward. There is also a real opportunity for the right leader, able to draw Christians together under the Word, to help revitalise the church to again be a thriving centre for reaching the community around it – the reason it was founded in the first place.  

Clydebuilt for the Gospel

An article written for the FIEC website.

Article Tags

• Scotland

In 1914 almost a fifth of the world’s shipping fleet had been built on the River Clyde. The term ‘Clydebuilt’ was synonymous with quality and the mark of the preeminent shipbuilders of the time. In Glasgow the banks of the river were lined with dockyards employing tens of thousands – it was here the Lusitania, The Queen Mary, The Queen Elizabeth, the QE2 and 30,000 other ships were built in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Yoker in the west of Glasgow was one of the communities that grew to accommodate the vast army of workers drawn to the Clyde, creating a great new mission field for the gospel. Seeing this need was James Crawford, a local man with a burden for the factory workers and their families. Thus in February 1914, along with James Wood, another man with the same concern, ‘Yoker Mission Hall’ was opened (becoming Yoker Evangelical Church in 1979).

Throughout the following century, through two World Wars (the hall surviving a direct hit during the Clydebank Blitz), economic depressions and upturns, three buildings, and the many social changes, the fellowship at Yoker has been a constant witness for Christ in the area. From the very start the church committed itself to a strong programme of outreach activities including Open Airs, Tea Meetings, visits from evangelists and community events.

In 2011 Robbie Brown became its current pastor and continues to share the vision and burden of reaching the community of Yoker with the gospel. Today the shipyards are few and the workers along the Clyde number just a few thousand in total. The loss of these industries has left Yoker with high unemployment and social needs (albeit with pockets of affluence). It’s an area where one local school reported that 75% of its children were in lone-parent families. Robbie’s heart is for YEC to be as mission focused in 2014 as it was in 1914 – holding out the unchangeable truths of the gospel in words and actions that can connect with the Yoker of the 21st century.

One hundred years on outreach now includes a community café, involvement in local schools, carer and toddlers groups, children’s and youth activities, and regular leafleting of the area. Among recent encouragements is the story of one local family whose son attended the church’s ‘Good News Club’. The son started asking his mum questions about the Bible at home and in response she came to the church to find out more. At that point in her life she was struggling with various issues, but through contact with the church she came to faith. In time her partner found himself in a Christian Rehab centre where he also put his trust in Jesus. Robbie has since had the great joy of marrying the couple and seeing them now serving in church. It’s just one example of the many lives and families transformed by the gospel in Yoker over the past century.

YEC has changed hugely since its beginning and doubtless the next hundred years, if the Lord doesn’t return, will bring its own upheavals and transformations. However the church can be certain of two things: Firstly the unchanging need of the inhabitants of Yoker to find peace with God. Secondly, the need of mission-focused gospel churches like YEC to point them to Christ, who alone can make that peace possible.

Humanly, Yoker’s fame is for its great ships and liners, but eternally its fame will surely be the gospel vision and faithfulness of churches like YEC; God’s own ‘lifeboats’ on the Clyde.

Andy Hunter - FIEC Scotland Director

Before joining FIEC in November 2013, Andy worked for Greenview Church in Glasgow for nine years, prior to which he trained at Oak Hill College in London. He is married to Jessica and they have three children.