Healthy Relationships

1. Help combat stigma by raising awareness surrounding mental health problems in local congregations and encourage them to form informal support networks (eg. Group, visiting, link to other churches etc.)

2 Ensuring key figures in congregations are aware of the resources available to people with mental health difficulties.

3. Encourage the church to provide training and information on mental health issues for those who provide pastoral support.

4. Encourage the church to work at being an inclusive community that celebrates the diversity of the gifts of its people and allows them to grow up in themselves.

5. Encourage the church to develop the role of Street Pastors in their work with the homeless and other disadvantaged groups.

6. Recognising the quality of the national church's work with the marginalised of society, encourage the extension of that work into the everyday life of congregations.

The Media

1. Recommends that the Kirk explore and utilise appropriate technology to further the Gospel.

2. Explore how technology can foster fellowship, locally, nationally and internationally.

3. Investigate the new avenues technology opens to engage with people we may not have previously had contact with.

4. Endeavour to relate with others on line in an authentic way, mindful that Christ calls us to love one another as we are loved.

5.Encourage communities to use social media to continue and expand conversations; and to connect to the collective wisdom of the community.

6.Recognise the work needed to create resources, to acknowledge and value the ownership of work made available on line.

7.Will try to implement a weekly Sabbath from technology to ensure that personal relationships continue to have their proper place at the heart of the Kirk's ministry and witness.

Sustainable Living

1. The National Youth Assembly would like to consider how to develop ideas of eco-consciousness within the running of the NYA. For example, reducing mailings, enhancing transport links, encouraging car sharing and providing buses.

2. The National Youth Assembly would encourage

• the Kirk to promote responsible use of the the earth's resources and support those who are vulnerable as a result of climate change

• congregations to work with the Climate Change Officer and other Eco-Congregations to consider ways of becoming more ecologically sound such as using sustainable energy sources where possible and ensuring that future developments are “green”

• members to be more eco- friendly in their day to day lives specifically using greener transport methods, reducing wasted energy, and using greener energy sources.

3. Encourages legislation that promotes more efficient use of national grid and renewable technologies. Recognise that nuclear power has a role to play in the current energy climate, but instead of investing in a nuclear programme, the money should instead be invested in developing greener sources of energy.

4. Encourage the development of greener transport initiatives such as hydrogen buses, urban tolls, free public transport, a tax on “food air miles” and excess packaging.

5. The Youth Assembly affirms that action needs to be multi-faceted, even though there is no conclusive proof of anthropogenic climate change, we would regard the responsible attitude to be to continue current measures and use revenue raised by taxation in humanitarian aid.

6. The NYA encourages the UK government to address the issues of fuel poverty as a matter of urgency.

7. The NYA believe that we should learn from the examples of other countries’ complementary energy policies and that these schemes should be encouraged worldwide. We emphasise the need for our own country to be as energy efficient as possible before criticising other countries on their energy policies. As such, the NYA would encourage the UK government to advise other countries on their energy policies learning from our mistakes during the industrial revolution.

8. The NYA would like to see both local authorities and central government lobbied to increase both the availability and convenience of public transport, especially out with inner city areas. The Kirk should actively encourage congregations to lead by example and make more use of these services.

9. The NYA calls upon the Kirk as a whole to make all reasonable effort to reduce the consumption of paper and look to possible alternatives including. electronic distribution and recycled paper.

10. The NYA believe the church’s future is inextricably linked to the ideal of sustainable living (SL) not simply in forming centres for SL on a local level but also to use its influence in government to bring about change.

11. The NYA encourage the Kirk to use community buildings for church meetings and vice-versa.

12. The NYA suggest using the mission team model to send teams to join in sustainable church building projects.

13. The NYA encourage the Kirk to educate church members about sustainability projects like those in Bankfoot and Milton.

14. The NYA would like the Kirk to educate churches about grants that are offered by the government and other organisations for green energy.

15. The NYA encourage the Kirk to consider employing further personnel to advise on issues of sustainable living, in recognition of its importance to the future of the church.

Future Church

1. The future church should be a 24/7 church, modelling itself on the wider world which is increasingly operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

2. The church should be identified as a community that discusses and studies, rather than a community that listens. This should involve shorter sermons, times of reflection and discussion within worship.

3. Urges the church to work towards bridging gaps between social groups, especially young and old, both within and out with the church. We believe that we should celebrate the differences of each group as each has an equal role to play while recognising that different groups have different needs.

4. Believes that congregations are responsible for caring for each other and the community. All in the church should be encouraged and empowered to practically show Jesus to the community, without expectation of anything in return.

5. Recognises the value of small congregations working in the best interests of congregations, and urges the church to support such congregations by the pooling of resources to avoid marginalisation and closure of these valuable communities.

6. In the future all churches who can afford it should employ a ministry team.

7. The church of the future should be community focused adopting an attitude of acceptance to those who are on the fringes of society. The concept of acceptance must be recognised to be far more than disabled access, but also include the use of car pooling and the provision of worship times, styles and spaces that are best suited to the local condition.

8. That money should be shared between rich and poor churches.

9. We the Youth Assembly call on the General Assembly to endorse the gifting to Scottish people of the celebration of births, weddings and funerals as opportunities to start meaningful relationships and conversations. We ask that resources and training as how you do this be given to all ministers and elders.

10. Territorial ministries as outlined in Article 3 are an unnecessary burden to the mission of the church, it could be perceived as the focal point in relation to the calling and training of ministers without appropriate attention to the possibility of using lay ministers and particular callings.