The theme for this year, 2025 to 2026, which was set this week by the new Moderator of the General Assembly, the Rt Rev Rosie Frew, is God’s Extravagant Love based on Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians (Ephesians 3:14-19).
Each year the new Moderator sets a Moderator’s Challenge to the Church.
This year the challenge is to join her in supporting the work of Christian Aid to reflect God’s extravagant love for us to our neighbours.
For 80 years, Christian Aid has existed to create a world where people can live a full life, free from poverty. Together with the Church of Scotland and 40 other sponsoring denominations, they seek to love our global neighbours by tackling the root causes of extreme poverty and injustice.
Through local partners in over 25 countries, they fund emergency responses to humanitarian disasters, and long term development work that empowers local communities.
Through the coming year there will be many times when emergencies will arise, when we hear of places where communities are working to improve their lives in places of poverty and extreme hardship all across the world.
It seems endless and overwhelming but the passage from Ephesians gives us these words of Paul,” I pray that out of God’s glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”