Official Report 256KB pdf
Good afternoon, colleagues. The first item of business is time for reflection, which will be led by the Rev Gavin Niven from John Knox parish church.
Presiding Officer and members of the Scottish Parliament, thank you for the opportunity to address you this afternoon.
In the Scottish Government’s household survey of 2024, 20 per cent of adults living in Scotland said that they had experienced feelings of loneliness in the previous week. The church, like the Scottish Parliament, is about building a better Scotland, not a Scotland of isolation and loneliness.
The New Testament has a huge amount to say about how we treat one another. In its teaching, there is an assumption that we are a community, not isolated individuals. Across its pages, we hear the call to love one another; to honour one another above ourselves; to accept one another, just as Christ accepted us; to serve one another in love; to encourage one another; to offer hospitality to one another without grumbling; and to be kind, compassionate and forgiving to one another, just as God forgave us through Christ. It provides a vision of a vibrant, thriving community. Is it just a dream? Where do we even start? Well, Jesus started with just 12, and they often did not really get it.
My congregation in Stewarton, in East Ayrshire, is part of the Church of Scotland. When we did a community audit, we identified a significant problem of isolation and loneliness among those in their 20s to 40s. Our audit highlighted that 51 per cent of local people were experiencing emotional health problems that affected their daily lives and that 71 per cent rated their mental health as either fair or poor.
We set up an initiative called thrive to provide opportunities to support the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health of people in our community. This is some of the feedback that we have received from those who have come to our different groups:
“People actually care for you. It’s really helping my wellbeing.”
“My family has found community. We just love it here.”
“The sessions were a godsend during my pregnancy, getting me out of my shell and meeting new people.”
“I play a game of dominoes or 3 and enjoy a coffee. This is the only time I meet other people.”
I thank you all for your personal sacrifices to build a better Scotland. I am sure that it is not easy. Those one anothers of the Bible—to love one another, to accept one another, to serve one another, to be kind to one another and to forgive one another—are very difficult, too, but please keep your vision that big. The church believes that that is Jesus’s vision, too, and he started small, with just 12. Please let us all work together until the one anothers that I have mentioned from the Bible become what Scotland is known for.
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