Historic church welcomes kirk’s newest minister

A former IT expert who gave up a jet-setting career to train as a minister has been ordained at the historic Church of the Holy Rude in Stirling.

Rev Simon Hessett will stay on as an assistant minister at the 15th century kirk in the immediate term, allowing him to continue working towards a PhD in church history at the University of Edinburgh's School of Divinity, New College.

Simon, who lives in Larbert, just a seven-minute train commute from Stirling, came to join the Church of Scotland as an adult, having been brought up in the Roman Catholic Church.

"Like most teenagers, I probably went off church a bit, but it didn't stop me from reading the Bible," he admitted.

"I probably had a realisation in my late teens that at some point I would end up in some form of ministry, but I didn't know how, because I didn't see myself becoming a priest."

His introduction to the Church of Scotland came after he met his future wife Gillian and visited her home church.

"It was very different from my early experiences of church," he said.

"I eventually joined the Church of Scotland and we joined a church near to our home after we got married."

As he became more involved with the church, Simon began to experience a growing sense of call.

Although he had a very successful career, latterly as a cyber-security expert for PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the "Big Four" international accountancy firms, he opted to give it up and enrol as a divinity student at New College.

"I really enjoyed my time at New College and in fact, I have returned. I am only a part-time minister because I am now working on a PhD. When I was researching my undergraduate dissertation, I was frustrated by the word limit of 10,000 words, and realised I could easily write 100,000 on that subject, the relationship with Catholicism, because I was just scratching the surface of a much bigger and more exciting story."

Completing his PhD is likely to take around six years, but Simon will be able to work on it while working as a part-time or locum minister.

In the shorter term, that means staying on with the congregation of Holy Rude Viewfield, which suits him well.

He explained: "I did a placement there during my undergraduate degree, so I know the congregation reasonably well. At the moment, we are sharing with the Methodist church, so the congregation is a bit bigger than it would normally be because of that."

The church was even busier for his ordination service, where friends and others joined Simon's wife, and their sons for the special occasion.

The congregation included ministers and office-bearers from the Presbytery of Perth, including Alva minister Rev Jim McNeil, who preached the sermon on "The Joys of Leadership", and Presbytery Moderator Rev Alan Reid.

Simon said: "People had travelled from far and wide and it was lovely to see so many people who had taken the time to come on a very wet Tuesday night. I really had expected it to be quite quiet, but it was anything but.

"It was very special."