The starter-discussion paper which introduced the subtheme to the group was presented by Professor George S Yule, Australia, and is summarized as follows:

God's glory is the revealing of himself and this glory is his grace, which He has displayed to us in the giving of Himself in Jesus Christ - in the gracious condescension of the Incarnation. (John 1:14). The glory in the church is always reflected glory.

Its glory is the proclamation of the gospel, for as Luther said the gospel is Christ.

When filled by the Spirit the church is awakened to witness to this glory and so is enabled to praise God by pointing to and reflecting his glory given in Jesus Christ.

The temptation for the church is to see this glory as coming from within itself and to indulge in triumphalism or in equating this glory with good advice - particularly in the ethical sphere. But this is, more often than not, worldly wisdom whereas, as St Paul points out, the wisdom (and glory) of God is Christ crucified.

The glory of God is grace, so sola gratia must be at the centre of the church's existence and not merely one of a number of doctrines. This grace is revealed in the humanity of Christ and it is this the church must reflect.

This should come out in a variety of ways

Proclamation. In "declaring the mighty acts of Him who called us out of darkness into his marvellous light" we of necessity reflect his glory. Similarly, as the church offers spiritual sacrifices as the Royal Priesthood (I. Pet 2, 4-10) it can only do so as a representing of that "one sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction" offered in his obedient human nature by Christ and so recall that upon the cross the glory of God is seen most clearly.
Unity. Sola gratia is the centre of the gospel and therefore the basis of the unity of the church. As Christ reconciled all mankind, this glory is reflected in the church when it exhibits a reconciled and reconciling community in a world rent by division.
God's glory is grace and truth - ie faithfulness which is peculiarly exhibited to the weak and oppressed. Hence the church must have these as its special concern.

Issues for discussion

God's glory in His grace. In what aspects of its life does the church reflect sola gratia and in what ways does it not?
An exploration of John 1:14.
How should the glory of God be related to the worship of the church?
How is sola gratia related to the question of Christian unity?
In the Bible, God's grace and truth are especially present on behalf of the helpless and oppressed. How should the church reflect this aspect of God's glory?

II

The work-product of the group was received in the plenary session of the centennial consultation as follows:

God's whole glory focuses in Jesus Christ, so that we might respond to Him in joy, not just at one point in the story, as with the Christmas story or the triumph of the resurrection, but also (and however strangely to the world) at the atoning cross and at His promised coming. This joy is not something which can be kept simply within one's heart, or within one's church, but it has no limit. It is extended to all mankind and all creation. It lives in freedom and in fellowship, in liberation both within ourselves and without from all that oppresses and divides us as people in the world. It lives by faith in the unceasing graciousness of God, which the gospel proclaims within a world which is full of human fears and sorrows, of struggles and conflicts, but which is also gripped and driven by forces and situations far beyond ourselves.

It is precisely to such people, such a world that the gospel was given and in which the church was set to manifest another principle, as God's eternal truth (Eph 3,9). God's people are summoned to arise and shine with its light and power (Is 60, I). God's people (1 Pet 2, 9-10) must proclaim the deeds of Him who has called them out of darkness, remembering always how action may speak more effectively than mere words and that it is as much or more by those living in the world as by those speaking from the pulpit that proclamation must be made. God's people must also serve as a priesthood, interceding for the whole realm of human life and human need, holding together in this both those who would wait on the Lord in worship and those who would do the works of the Lord, even in ignorance.

At all times we must guard against equating God's glory simply either with the humbling or the exaltation of Christ Jesus. In Phil. 2, 5-11 Paul joins the two together, and in Phil. 3, 7-14 he explains how he had sought in his own life to identify himself. There is danger in our day, not least among us, in yearning for a new kind of works-righteousness achieved through a life-style of mere renunciation or flight from the developed technological and productive world. In face of God's glory, we should be brought rather to acknowledge how, with our great human differences, we are all fundamentally in utter poverty and need, so that we may live together and share one with another as the poor for whom God abundantly provides. This life-style is characterised by Paul in Phil. 2, 1-4; and it is thus that we should live in the real life of the world, without seeking escape for ourselves even if it means a sharing of the cross.

The church then, as the company or community of those who know the "mystery", which is the living sense of God with us, must seek to celebrate this Presence still more openly in our worship, in prayer and preaching, baptism and eucharist and the partnership of all believers, not just of a sacred hierarchy of traditional office-bearers (even Reformed ones!).

It is not enough to call people to services in church or to take part in the enclosed activities of a gathered congregation, we must take the "church" to where the people are, whether by choice or by necessity, whether on our own doorsteps or in distant lands.

We must manifest a concern for people as persons, not beings defined by class or culture, race, sex or ideology. This is evangelism, in the broadest sense, and it must be our priority. It is not the success of men or women or their institutions, whether ecclesiastical or ecumenical, but of God's love for us, in us and through us, grappling with our personal and social shortcomings and offences, however grave, that gives God the glory.

The foregoing is not to be taken as a comprehensive or completed outline, but as requiring further development, not least in relating it to the role of God's glory in His people for the future of mankind.