0141 332 6606 glasgow@churchofscotland.org.uk
M: 07743 779929
About UsPioneering and PlantingPresbytery PlanningChildren, Youth & Families Login

Mission, Pioneering and Planting & Priority Areas

HomeCommitteesMission, Pioneering and Planting & Priority Areas

What We Do

  • Enables and supports congregations in their calling to be the people of God in their own location; witnessing, caring and growing in the love and service of Christ, proclaiming the forgiveness of sins and acceptance with God through faith in Christ, and the gift of Eternal life; and labouring for the advancement of the Kingdom of God.   
  • Encourages congregations within Glasgow Presbytery to engage with existing mission initiatives and examples of good missional practice.  
  • Relates new church initiatives to Glasgow Presbytery, such as Pioneer Ministry, Fresh Expressions and other mission initiatives.   
  • Promotes and recommends the allocation of financial resources from sources such as the Evangelism Fund and other fund providers.   
  • Provides and supports training in mission and evangelism.  
  • Promotes and supports church planting, replanting and mission innovators (eg: Forge, Time to Grow) and make known the mission opportunities these organisations offer congregations in Presbytery.   
  • Holds regular events to promote good missional practice through sharing of ideas and expertise.  
  • Oversees Presbytery’s Pioneering and Planting partnerships, reporting annually on each to Presbytery.  
  • Liaises with and supports the work of the Presbyteries Pioneering and Planting Co-ordinator. 
  • Informs Presbytery on the celebrations and challenges of those living in poverty. 
  • Provides expertise on how Priority Area policy has developed and to be able to speak with authority, intentionality, and legitimacy on behalf of Glasgow’s PA parishes and most multiply deprived areas. 
  • Provides on behalf of Presbytery a single Glasgow Priority Areas point of contact to engage with and formulate responses to the National Mission Support Programme Group on Priority Area matters, the Presbytery, the wider Church, and civic society looking to engage with the mission of Glasgow Presbytery in its Priority Areas. 
  • Explores how work in the poorest areas can be effectively resourced. 
  • Develops and prepares a job description for the 0.6 PA post created under the Glasgow Presbytery Mission Plan.  

Useful Information

Cultivating a Mission and Discipleship Ecosystem
Cultivating a Mission and Discipleship Ecosystem

“…the whole body, supported and held together… grows as God causes it to grow.” (Colossians 2:19)

If new creation is unfolding among us, our task is not to manufacture programmes, but to cultivate the conditions in which it can flourish. This calls for attention to relationships, rhythms and shared learning—recognising that mission and discipleship are not separate activities, but one living reality.

Too often, mission and discipleship are held apart: one outward-facing, the other inward-forming. Yet, they were never meant to be divided. Becoming like Jesus and participating in his mission belong together. As we follow Christ, we are drawn into both transformation and participation as one movement of grace.

Over time, this shared life takes on an organic shape—not a strategy to implement, but an ecosystem to nurture. Rather than relying on linear models or fixed pathways, we are learning to see the Church as a living, interconnected whole: a mixed ecology in which churches, networks and partnerships collaborate to cultivate faith, deepen community and contribute to the flourishing of their local contexts. 

Like a forest made up of many forms of life, the Church is most fruitful when it embraces diverse expressions. In a healthy ecosystem, diversity strengthens resilience. Across our presbytery, larger congregations, smaller fellowships, fresh expressions and networks all have a part to play—distinct in form, yet connected and centred in Christ. Together, they enrich, challenge and sustain one another. Each contributes. Each receives. Each learns.

At the centre of this ecosystem is a person: Jesus Christ. We are shaped around him rather than defined by closed systems. This creates space for people to belong, explore and grow at different stages of faith. Discipleship becomes a journey towards Christ, and mission a natural outflow of that shared life in him.

This way of life is deeply relational and grounded in context. Mission begins with listening—to our neighbourhoods, to one another and to the Spirit. It responds to real needs and attends to the whole of life: spiritual, relational, social and practical. Faith is not compartmentalised; it is embodied and lived.

Shared rhythms sustain this life together: worship, prayer, learning, service, hospitality, care and the sharing of faith. Discipleship is formed not only through programmes, but through everyday life—learning, serving and growing together. Resources are shared. Leaders collaborate. Communities discern and respond together to what God is doing.

The aim is not doing but being new creation—formed through transformation and participation in the renewal of people, communities and the wider world in the light of the Kingdom of God.

An ecosystem is not engineered; it is cultivated. It requires patience, trust and generosity. This ecosystem of mission and discipleship grows as God gives the growth.

New Creation invites us to tend what God is already growing among us.

Isaac Um

Mission, Pioneering and Planting Co-Ordinator

Presbytery of Glasgow

Conveners

Mark McKeown

Rev Mark McKeown
Convener

Christopher Rowe

Rev Christopher Rowe
Vice-Convener

Resources