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The Church of Scotland Guild or simply The Guild (formerly known as the Woman's Guild), is a movement within the Church of Scotland. Historically it was, and often in practice it is, an exclusively woman's movement. It has groups, organised at a congregational level, in most of the parishes of Scotland. The aim of the movement is "to invite and encourage both woman and men to commit their lives to Jesus Christ and to enable them to express their faith in worship, prayer, and action". The associated motto is "Whose I am, and Whom I serve'.〔 The motto is taken from Acts 27 verse 23 〕 ==History== The 'Woman's Guild' was founded in 1887 by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland on the initiative of A. H. Charteris. Charteris acknowledged woman were already involved in Christian service but that there "was a need to develop and organize them as an official working unity within the church."〔"Woman's Guild" in ''Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology'' Wright D.F. ''et al.'' (eds) Edinburgh 1993〕 Within then years, there was 29,000 members in 400 branches. This reached a peak in the 1950s of over 160,000 members. By the centenary of 1987, this had halved to 80,000.〔 Also from the 1950s, Young Mothers' groups were formed, which eventual evolved into the Young Woman's Groups section of the Guild. This section shared the same basic aims. Today the guild has about 35,000 members and is one of Scotland's largest voluntary organisations〔(Church of Scotland website, accessed 5 Dec 2006 )〕 In 1997, following a major review, the Guild adopted its current constitution. The new constitution changed the name 'Woman's Guild' to 'Church of Scotland Guild' - and opened up groups to men as well as women.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Church of Scotland Guild」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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