Report from Scotland 20schemes Trip
Pastor Joel Harris of South Canyon Baptist Church recently traveled to Scotland with his wife, Kimi, and two other church members, Mike and Ruth Clevinger, for a vision trip with the ministry 20schemes. 20schemes is an organization that seeks to bring the light of the gospel to Scotland’s schemes (the equivalent of our projects in the US) through church planting and revitalization.
The team from South Canyon got to meet and spend time with many of the Scottish 20schemes staff and church planters, visiting 3 different church plant/revitalization locations and touring Govan, one of the impoverished schemes in Glasgow where 20schemes soon hopes to launch a new plant. Pastor Joel and the rest of the South Canyon team were struck by the incredible needs in the schemes of Scotland, where drug addiction is rampant, life expectancy is low, and the culture is very post-Christian. It was common to see beautiful historic church buildings, constructed nearly 1000 years ago, which have either drifted into theological liberalism or been converted into museums or pubs. But the team was also deeply encouraged by the many opportunities 20schemes has to enter those hard communities with the gospel message, and a firm commitment to the slow, hard work of cultivating gospel discipleship and community.
20schemes has a robust network for training and supporting their church planters, and they invest financially, theologically, and relationally into their teams. They also make women’s ministry a high priority, not only training and equipping women to be “women’s workers”, as they call them, but commissioning and often hiring them as full-time staff members to serve and minister in the schemes. They seek true partnership with their supporters, meaning they don’t just want your money. They want their partners to come help with different endeavors and build relationships during short-term trips. They also are very willing to come to speak at American churches. You can learn more about the organization at 20schemes.com
Joel and Kimi Harris on Victoria Street in Edinburgh
A walking tour of Govan, a scheme of Glasgow