General Assembly of the Church of Scotland opens next month
Published on 23 April 2024 2 minutes read
Hundreds of Church members are preparing for the General Assembly which opens next month.
The annual gathering at the Assembly Hall on The Mound in Edinburgh is being held from Saturday 18 May to Thursday 23 May.
Commissioners determine the direction of the Kirk for the coming year as well as making Church law and reviewing its work.
More than 400 commissioners will attend in person while another 100 will tune in online.
They are comprised of ministers, elders and deacons along with overseas and ecumenical delegates, youth representatives and guests.
The event will be streamed live and can be viewed on the Church of Scotland website.
HRH Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh, will represent King Charles III as Lord High Commissioner.
The Lord High Commissioner is the Sovereign's personal representative to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and is appointed by the sovereign to attend proceedings on his behalf.
The Duke, who was granted the title previously held by his father on his 59th birthday last year, will make the opening and closing addresses to the Assembly and carry out a number of official functions throughout the week.
He was previously Lord High Commissioner in 2014, when he held the title of Earl of Wessex, and represented his mother, the late Queen.
God's Kingdom
The General Assembly's first act will be to officially install the Moderator Designate 2024-25, Rev Dr Shaw Paterson.
He is taking a year out from his role as the minister of Strathaven Trinity Parish Church in South Lanarkshire where he has served since 1991.
Dr Paterson will chair the General Assembly and thereafter serve as the Church's ambassador at home and abroad until May 2025.
He succeeds Rt Rev Sally Foster-Fulton who will present him with the official ring and chain of office.
One of the themes of Dr Paterson's year in office is "building together" – a nod to his former job as a bricklayer and a call for people to come together as the Church continues its reform programme.
Speaking when he was named Moderator Designate for 2024-25, he said: "As a Church we have strong foundations and it might not be my building or your building that's kept, but our foundations are in Christ.
"We need to build together and we need to come together – we need to realise almost everyone is losing something.
"We have to try and get over any sense of animosity.
"We're a Church together and we need to go forward together to build on the foundations of all our forebears."
Listening
Dr Paterson said he plans to spend next year "listening to as many people as possible".
"If you asked me for three words to describe what's important to me as a minister – and indeed as a Moderator – it would be people, people, people," he said.
"People in the pews, in the parish.
"People of all ages from pupils to pensioners and every stage in between.
"I love connecting with people, hearing their stories and reminding them that I care, the Church cares, God cares."
The General Assembly, which was first held in 1560 in the first year of the Scottish Reformation, is the supreme court of the Church of Scotland.
Commissioners are encouraged to read reports ahead of the gathering, the first of which can be viewed here.
All reports will be published by 3 May.