Summer in Scotland – By Rev. Caleb Shocklie

“Take a look at the church in Scotland it’s… a disaster, I mean that’s the word for it.” If you were at the 2024 ECO National Gathering, this quote from Alan Hirsch might sound familiar. My wife, Summer, and I have been ministering in Edinburgh, Scotland for four years now, two as ECO ordained church planters. We have been called by God to serve and sent by Midtown Presbyterian Church in our hometown of Phoenix, Arizona to plant churches here in Scotland. We are grateful Midtown did a tremendous job preparing and equipping us for mission in this context. Our journey to Scotland started over a decade ago, when I heard about the dramatic decline of Christianity in the U.K. From then, God had set me on a path to share the gospel in this place that has forgotten about Jesus. To add some meaning and context to the Alan Hirsch quote, you should know that in the 1950’s 50% of Scots were in church on Sunday, as of 2011 only 7% of Scots are in church on Sunday. Three generations is all it takes for a nation to forget the gospel. The church failed to contextualize the gospel for the next generation and from then on, it has been in freefall. This is the world we have entered into, a post-Christian nation where the average person knows very little about Jesus or the church. 

In this context, we are working to plant a network of micro-churches here in Edinburgh. We are hoping to reach those that would never darken the door of a church but would come to our home for church because they’ve come for 100 other things such as a meal, a coffee, a chat, or a game night. Our labor here is made possible by the generosity of many individuals and ECO churches. This past summer we’ve had the honor and privilege of working with 2 teams: one from Christ Presbyterian Church in Edina, MN, another from Bethel Presbyterian Church in Columbus, OH. We also hosted an intern for two months from the ECO Summer Missions Mentorship (SMM) program. The large majority of our work relies on our ability to make and sustain authentic relationships in our community. We are not looking for “projects” to convert to Christianity, we are looking for friends to share our lives and our hope in Jesus with. Our intern and these teams had the opportunity to support and join us in our work, and I’d like to share a story or two from their time spent with us. 

One member from the CPC Edina team was struck by the pace of life. In Edinburgh we do a lot of walking, it is often much easier to walk or take the bus to get places than it is to drive. With this walking lifestyle, it takes a little longer to get from A to B, and it forces you to slow down. In the midst of all this walking, she realized she was living life in the fast lane back in Edina, and perhaps missing what God had for her. Throughout their time with us she mentioned several times “I think God may be wanting me to quit my job, I think I’m doing too much and need a change”. The more she walked the more time she had to ponder this, and after she returned home, she did in fact quit her job as she discerned that is what the Lord was leading her into. (Disclaimer: not everyone who comes on these trips quits their job). Walking was not high on my list of probable impactful events, yet this is what the Lord used to move in this team member’s life. 

We had the privilege of hosting Gabby in our home for two months, and she jumped into the work with both feet. We regularly went to the local park to hand out popsicles and dog treats to connect with our community and build new relationships. How many people we saw depended greatly on the amount of sunlight we were given each day, some days it was a lot, many days it was not. Yet, the one thing that was constant was Gabby’s unrelenting positivity and willingness to compliment and make a connection with those who came across our path. One of our objectives in the park outreach is to let people know there is a God who loves them, and it is much easier to do that when you help communicate that love. It is one thing to say, “Hey do you know there is a God who loves you?” Hard words to swallow if you don’t have any experience of it, but it is much easier to believe when you hear “Hey! I really like your shirt!” Or “Those are some really cool shoes” or “I really like your bag where did you get it?” Each one of those are real and genuine compliments given by Gabby to complete strangers and each one elicited a response of joy and curiosity as they entered into a conversation with us. From there it was much easier for them to hear and believe the words, “There is a God who loves you.” Scottish culture is not big on encouragement or positivity, Gabby’s compliments were counter-cultural and real, which often resulted in breaking through people’s walls. This is not a groundbreaking bleeding edge evangelistic strategy, it is just authentic relational ministry. We firmly believe that the way forward in Scotland is real relationships inviting people into real community and real life in Jesus Christ, in fact that is our church plant’s mission statement. It is slow and hard to quantify the impact we are having here, but we believe God is moving and working even if we don’t always see it. 

I’ll share one last story from this past summer. I was sitting with a neighbor discussing what it would look like to start a community garden. The discussion shifted to God and our need (or lack of need) for Him. My neighbor, and friend, is pretty confident that we can live our lives without God, and that God isn’t really necessary. However, I told him that we live in a time where all our needs are provided for, most people can purchase their food from the grocery store, sleep in their homes, work for 40 hours a week, enjoy two days off and 30 days of paid vacation. We do not work up sunup to sundown constantly busy with the task of sourcing our next meal from the fields or the hunt, for the most part life is pretty good, but the kicker here is that the leading cause of death for men in the UK is suicide, people are more anxious and depressed than ever. I told my neighbor these things and said, “There is something afflicting us, we are desperately searching for satisfaction and not finding it, and for me I believe that we find satisfaction in Jesus Christ.” The conversation came to a fairly abrupt end there, but as I was leaving he gave me a long hug, and said these words, “I haven’t found it yet, I’m still searching.” We hope and believe our friend will find Jesus, or rather that Jesus will find Him. We believe that God is working in Edinburgh, Scotland, and we believe ECO partnering to send us for this call is immensely impactful.  If you would like to follow along with our journey and hear about what the Lord is doing in Edinburgh you can subscribe to our newsletter here:http://eepurl.com/dzoMuf

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