A primary work of RCRT is the ‘Ecclesiology Project’. Ecclesiology focuses on the doctrine (or teachings) of the church and is the area of Christian theology where there is least agreement and most need of some biblical thinking.
Most recent discussions have been ecumenical in nature, and have focussed on identities and structures, denominational distinctives and orders of clergy. To give consideration to the doctrine of the church biblically and theologically perhaps offers a more constructive way forward.
Those Christians who stand in the Reformed tradition have a particular interest in this subject because the divisions within the Reformed churches have been much more prolific and damaging than in others. One only has to consider the number of Presbyterian denominations in Scotland.
To help people to think biblically and theologically when considering ecclesiology, RCRT has undertaken a number of projects.
Interviews
We have already conducted interviews on the nature of the church with Archbishop Peter Jensen, Professor John Drane, the Rev Dr Fergus Macdonald and the Very Rev Albert Bogle.
Publishing
We have an agreement with a publisher to create ‘The RCRT Ecclesiology Series’. The first six volumes in the series will comprise a symposium (the papers from the June 2021 Edinburgh Dogmatics Conference), several monographs, the WRF Statement of Faith and a revised edition of the Reformed Book of Common Order.
Conferences
The first of these was the Edinburgh Dogmatics Conference which took place in June 2021. A conference for Ministers and Elders had to be postponed because of the pandemic but will take place later in 2022, if the situation allows. We are already planning the next Dogmatics Conference, on the subject of The Holy Spirit and the Church, to take place in 2023.
