| Wider Horizons
“God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7)
The Wider Horizons group on the Kirk Session exists to promote awareness of and raise funds for important issues and causes, and to highlight specific campaigns and issues of justice throughout the world.
Download the latest copy of the Church of Scotland Church and Society newsletter. (Requires Adobe Reader).
Christian Aid at St Andrew's and St George's: Review
Between June and November 2009 the Wider Horizons group undertook a review of the sale on behalf of the Kirk Session as part of the Interim Ministry process and as a prelude to the forthcoming union with St George's West. The Review Group would like to thank everyone who took the time and trouble to complete the questionnaire which was sent out and are very grateful for their responses.
Please be assured that as well as being crucial to this Review they will remain a very useful resource for some time to come.
The completed 19 page report, with only minor amendments, was approved by the Kirk Session at its meeting on 2nd November.
A separate summary of agreed recommendations is also available.
(Both files require Adobe Reader).
The Copenhagen climate conference in December 2009 is where the successor to the Kyoto protocol – which expires in 2012 – is set to be agreed and will set the agenda for the next stage of the fight against climate change. Please join the campaign to ensure world leaders deliver a fair and effective deal for the poor.
As the most important gathering of world leaders since 1997 it should set the international framework to combat climate change into the next decade and beyond.
We must take this opportunity to ensure a fair and effective deal for the world's poorest. It’s the last chance the world has to keep global temperature rises below 2°C.
All pledges will be handed to the leaders in Copenhagen. The more pledges we have, the more chance of winning a fair climate deal.
Join The Wave in Glasgow on 5 December calling for climate justice ahead of the UN's Copenhagen summit - a fun, family-friendly march ending at Kelvingrove Park where there will be speakers, stalls and entertainment.
The Wave is organised by Stop Climate Chaos Scotland and is expected to be the largest demonstration in support of action on climate change in Scotland. It is absolutely crucial that Copenhagen delivers a deal that is fair and just, that keeps global warming below 2°C – and that protects the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.
The camaign seeks to ensure that the UK government and other developed nations commit to at least the same ambition as Scotland, whose world-leading Climate Change Act set an interm target of 42% reductions in greenhouse gas emmissions by 2020.
Scottish Churches House
Scottish Churches House, the Ecumenical Conference Centre in Dunblane has published its programme for 2009.
Click here for a list of their upcoming events.
Further details are available here or you can download the most recent copy of their magazine Inscape, which has news and details of SCH. (Requires Adobe Reader).
Christian Aid
Christian
Aid is an agency of the churches in UK and Ireland, which
works throughout the world and with local partner organisations. It provides development support
and disaster aid wherever the need is greatest, irrespective
of religion.
The Book Sale
Wider Horizons helps organise St Andrew's and St George's annual Book
Sale, the largest single fundraising event for
Christian Aid in the UK. You can read more about our work with the sale here...
Trade Justice 
Through Christian Aid we are committed to
the campaign for Trade Justice. Fairly-traded products from Traidcraft
are on sale in the church, and FairTrade and organic products are served in the Café
in the Undercroft.
Eco-Congregation 
We recognise the importance of using the world’s resources wisely, and in December 2008 were successful in our campaign to become an Eco-congregation.
This involves a commitment to minimising waste, recycling wherever possible and conserving energy and we strive to live up to our status and take steps in our church and individual lives to do something about climate change and sustainable living.
Our 2007 service ‘Days of Creation, Days of Destruction’ offered a powerful reflection on our stewardship of the earth and we hope that the combination of our fundraising work and our location give us an opportunity to become a powerful and prophetic voice about the excesses of consumerism which is one of the forces creating environmental and human damage.
Our charity initiatives such as the Christian Aid book sale and the ‘Charity Chic’ fashion shows, are not only a practical contribution to recycling, but we hope also act as a symbolic act of leadership. Given the location of our church in the commercial centre of Edinburgh and the current financial crisis, we believe that our commitment to an alternative method of trading shows both spiritual leadership and is quietly subversive of the consumerist ethic and show that there is an alternative.
For more details see the Eco-Congregation website.
Members of the Scottish Parliament are considering a bill to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050 and need public support to ensure that this bill goes through. You can find out about this bill at the Scottish Parliament website.
The Environment Agency recently asked a panel of experts 'What are the top 50 things that will save the planet?' At number 2: ‘It is time the world’s faith groups
reminded us that we have a duty to
restore and maintain the ecological
balance of the planet’
Click here to download the booklet.
ARK Campaign and the Copenhagen Summit 
The UN climate summit in Copenhagen next December is often talked of as the "last chance for the planet". The ARK campaign have launched a petition and on 24th January Cardiff's Lightship became Noah's Ark as part of an event organised by Operation Noah to highlight the Copenhagen climate talks in December, which represent "a last chance to create a framework to tackle global warming". For details of this and how to make and send an Origami Ark to Gordon Brown, go to http://www.operationnoah.org
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