Conference Discussion Topic

One of the exercises you have to do at conference involves group discussion.  From your group of five, you each take a turn at presenting your topic to the group and chairing the discussion before summing up with the conclusion of the group at the end.  So everyone has a turn at presenting to a group and four chances of participating in a group.  You have fifteen minutes per talk, so no more than the first five minutes should be spent presenting your topic, and taking care to leave a short time for collating the groups position at the end, you then have ten minutes or so of discussion.  You want a topic that will generate opinion, but not so controversial that the debate descends into fisticuffs.  And Voldemort is strictly off limits!  

You will be asked to submit your question to 121 before conference.  Believe me, there's nothing worse than going to a public speaking competition to find that, of the six contestants, three are speaking on the same topic (in my year at school it was Women's Rights.) Especially when you have been politely advised that the judges are getting bored hearing the same topics.

My advice:

• Practice delivering your topic beforehand. 
• Discuss it with people from a variety of backgrounds so you are prepared for their responses. 
• Get your timing right.  Rambling on for thirteen minutes about your topic gives no time for discussion.  And on that note, wear a watch.
• Make sure you include everyone. 
• And remember that you are all in this together.  Trying to score points against your comrades just makes you look like an arse.

My question, along with the rough cut of my preamble follows.

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It could be argued that, Church aside, there are four buildings that form the heart of the community. The shop, the Post Office, the bank and the pub.

For those who live in the central belt, where we may have a shop on every corner, and 24 hour supermarkets in nearly every town, it is easy to overlook the pressures that rural communities are under. Closing the village shop means that villagers are forced to drive many miles just to buy the essentials, with the associated transport costs. Close the bank and businesses have to travel further to deposit funds, and residents may not be able to access cash. And if they can get cash, it may only come from fee charging cash machines. Close the Post Office, and you lose the myriad of services the Post Office offers, including cash withdrawals and deposits. And where would Eastenders be without the Queen Vic, or Emmerdale without the Woolpack? All these enterprises form a focal point for interaction within the community. Remove even one of them and the community starts to decline. The only interaction within the community will be a token wave as they pass each other on the way to Tesco. And as the community shrinks, takings at these enterprises reduces, reducing their viability, and causing more businesses to close, continuing the cycle.

And how do we support those who don't have a car?

But a willing community can make a change. Communities groups on the island of Eriskay and the village of Uig on Lewis have set up their own community enterprises, helping to halt the decline of their area. These include shops, Post Offices, laundrettes and even a petrol station. And pubs have even been bought out by their community. There have even been plans for community groups to become internet providers, in the areas where the traditional internet providers will not operate.

Given its position at the centre of the community, should the Church at parish or Presbytery level act as a catalyst for community enterprise? Should the Church help to alleviate the financial burden on those in the local area by ensuring they don't have to drive miles for a pint of milk? Should the Church be permitting use of its premises to provide a Post Office, a shop, a bank, or dare I even say it, a pub?

If the Church does not look after its community, then there will be no community left to serve, so the question I offer to the group is…

“Should the church step in to run essential community services when the traditional suppliers close within that community?”