Fogo Parish Church in Presbytery Guardianship
Fogo Parish Church entered Presbytery Guardianship on the retiral of the Parish minister after forty years of service on 31st. August, 2016.
Whenever a Guardianship is agreed, the aims of that Guardianship are set out and agreed by Presbytery. In terms of Fogo Parish Church the aims were identified as follows:
Aims set for the period of Guardianship of Fogo Parish Church — 1st. September, 2016 to 31st. August, 2019
Establish a congregation.
- Ensure congregation is self-sustaining in terms both of finance and personnel and identify a realistic future for the congregation and for the care of the parish.
- Restore the building of Fogo Parish Church and make it suitable for a twenty-first century congregation.
- Set up and establish a Fogo Parish Church Community Trust as a Charitable Trust under the regulation of the Office of the Scottish Charities Regulator appropriate to take ownership of the Fogo Parish Church building on behalf of the community of Fogo.
Lunchtime — there’s no shortage of folk!
It may seem strange that the aims of Guardianship included establishing a congregation and probably a word should be said about this at this stage.
Fogo was probably fortunate in that Presbytery had been trying so hard to safeguard the future of what was seen as being a very important building and had ‘guaranteed’ it a future of one service a month with Duns for a three-year period. Once the interim moderator took over Fogo it was discovered that the communion roll had only the names of seven occasional worshippers on it and that the regular attendance was usually as low as four.
Those days are now long gone. The congregation in 2023 now numbers eighty-nine and there are usually over thirty people attending Sunday worship. (37 on Sunday).
By the time of the three-year review of Presbytery Guardianship the congregation had grown significantly, the congregation had become self-sustaining in terms both of finance and personnel and a realistic future for the congregation and for the care of the parish had been identified.
The building of Fogo Parish Church had been restored, redecorated, an air-to-air heating system installed and the building was now reckoned to be fully appropriate for a twenty-first century congregation.
The one aim of Presbytery Guardianship that the General Trustees were unable to action was to transfer the building to the local trust which had been set up on the instructions of Presbytery to take on ownership of the building.
Presbytery decided to review the Guardianship of Fogo Parish Church after a two-year period. The Business Convener of Presbytery, Susan Patterson, reported in the following terms:
“Fogo Parish Church has now completed two years under Presbytery Guardianship; a team from Presbytery met with Rev. Dane Sherrard, interim moderator, the Kirk Session, Congregational Board and members of the congregation on 22nd. November.
They had produced a report charting the background, what had been achieved over the last two years and their vision for the future.
Out of a parish of approximately 135, Fogo has a membership of 47, all of whom are active and of varying ages. This is a growing congregation. They have moved from one service a month to weekly services with additional services throughout the year. Services are well attended. Worship is mainly led by the interim moderator, but within the congregation is a Lay Reader and two other members who have experience of leading worship who also take services; members read and lead prayers and children present Bible stories. A number of social events have been arranged which have attracted new people to the church.
Mission and education are of great importance to the congregation, every home is visited monthly with a parish newsletter, and a “History of the Bible” course is run by Fogo as part of the university of the third age set up in Duns. They have set up a resource library in the church, and are planning a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 2020; they work with the High School, and support B.C.Y.T. among other organisations; they have a full and varied programme planned for next year.
Financially the church is in a sound position, and is able to meet all obligations. The church is no longer damp, is water tight, has new heating and lighting, and a toilet and kitchen have been created; the building is now fit for purpose.
Fogo Kirk Session wish to ask Presbytery to offer the congregation the opportunity to call the interim moderator as a non-stipendiary minister of Fogo Parish Church for a period of five years, he would not conduct all services, but would ensure an ordained minister was there when required. In the future they plan to invite retired ministers and exchange ministers from across Scotland and abroad to come and stay and take services at Fogo.
With regard to the building, separate from the church, a charitable trust is being set up as instructed by presbytery to take over the ownership of the church building as a community asset, which if the congregation failed in future years would continue to look after the building for the community. However the Church of Scotland General trustees do not want to hand over the building to a charitable trust, but would rather the trust leased it from the General Trustees, for a peppercorn amount, for 10 years, with a break clause after 5 or 6 years — when the situation could be reassessed. The arrangement could continue or the Trust could buy the building from the General Trustees.
This is a very different way of proceeding, but could become a template in other areas; we are encouraged to think radically and look at different types of ministry. Both the Church of Scotland and Presbytery commend Fogo for what has been achieved so far, and wish it to continue to grow and flourish. If the issue with the building can be agreed, we would support Fogo’s wishes.”
Nothing came of the proposal to lease the building and things have now moved on to the situation where neither Presbytery, General Trustees nor Congregation sees the value in such a lease.
As a result of the Presbytery review of Guardianship the former interim moderator was inducted as non-stipendiary minister of Fogo Parish Church on 28th. April, 2019.