The Church of Scotland is a parish based church. Every parish in Scotland has a church which serves it (though some parishes are geographically very large). This is something I am quite passionate about and hope it continues for many, many more years.

I do wonder, though, how many people actually know that is the case and that the church is there to serve them no matter whether or not they are members or have a connection to their parish church. Where I live, it is pretty obvious the parish I live in. Where I was born and brought up, I had no idea which church was the parish church - they never seemed to have anything to do with the area (could that have been it was a 'bit rough', though that's a label I hate, funnily enough!). As far as I am aware at no point did the parish church take the time to let the people in that area know they were being served by that church.

I know the parish church for that area was not alone in this. I find that really sad and wonder if that's part of the reason there has been a decline in people having church funerals It's not just they may not have a connection with a faith, but think that they need to be members or connected in some way to the church to use that service. I also wonder if this lack of connection with the parish and the church may be, in part, a contributing factor to the decline in people feeling the church is relevant to their lives? If people don't know the church serves them, merely as a result of them living in Scotland and, as such, living in a Church of Scotland parish, they may feel they church does not care about them, does not feel their lives are relevant to the life of the church and the work of ministry a parish church could undertake.

I don't know exactly how to make this connection. I also know it's easier in smaller communities where there is maybe only one church and I have seen the community rally around those churches even thought they may not attend. Could that be simply because the people in that parish see that the church serves and cares for them and the community? In larger towns, with many churches (and that's just the Church of Scotland ones), the church should try to make the link with its community again and let its parish know it serves them. I know of one church near my placement church which distributes Christmas and Easter cards to the whole parish. I know of another church which puts posters of forthcoming events in almost every shop and public building in the parish it can. All to show the church is there for them and they are served by those churches.

At the end of the day, the church is the representative of Jesus Christ in the world. It has to reach out in the areas no one else would. It has to serve everyone, as Jesus taught. Then the people in the parishes might just see Jesus in the way the church serves them and their communities.