Malcolm Maclean attended the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland last week and offers some observations about his experience on his blog ‘Something To Say‘.
His comments are constructive and encouraging.
One comment, in particular, resonated.
I usually get the impression (very subjective, I know) that General Assemblies are the closure of an ecclesiastical year rather than the catalyst for the year ahead. Maybe it is because we get several reports looking back to what has happened. This Assembly was different in that some future plans for church revitalisation in Scotland were presented and hopefully they will exceed even the largest expectations of their most enthusiastic supporters.
Annual meetings and Assemblies frustrate me in that they can be backward looking. There is a need to recognise what has been done, but it should be expressed in such a way as to orientate us forward. Reports and decisions from these meetings should primarily focus on plans for the future.
I trust that as we meet in General Assembly in South Australia today and tomorrow that our perspective will be forward looking. The decision starts with us.
mgpcpastor's blog 
Surely it is just as UNHELPFUL to see Assembly open a year as it is to close a year, because if we follow either of these philosophies, we will either put too much hope in the legislature [open the year] or get frustrated by what has not been achieved[close the year]. To think of Assembly in either of these ways is to betray that we have adopted too much of the world’s business modelling into our CHurch thinking.
G’day Basil ~
I appreciate what you’ve said.
The static looking forward /looking back thing is a problem.
So is getting frustrated about a lack of progress in what can be completely arbitrary time-frames for certain goals.
I think remembering God’s goodness toward us in the past can be helpful in encouraging us on and setting goals is useful in terms of balancing our own thoughts and efforts with our dependence upon God’s empowering presence for any fruit that becomes manifest.