Kirk in Switzerland sets apart reader and calls for a new minister

The Church of Scotland's International Presbytery in Switzerland has set apart a Reader as it calls for a new minister.

Scots Kirk Lausanne has been in vacancy since June 2023 when Rev Gillean MacLean retired. The church is currently in a deferred linkage with the Church of Scotland in Geneva, expected to occur in late 2025 where a new ministry team will be formed.

Christine Colliar was set apart as a Reader for the Church of Scotland in Geneva on 13 October during the concluding worship service of the International Presbytery's meeting in Lausanne, led by the presbytery's Moderator, Rev Betsi Thane.

Readers, a ministry of the Word, serve under the supervision of a Presbytery and are commissioned locally by the Church to conduct worship, preach and, in some cases, offer pastoral care. In some circumstances they can also act as locums during vacancies, and can work across or beyond a Presbytery boundary.

Mrs Colliar, who hails from Lanarkshire, is studying online at Aberdeen University with other candidates for Ministry in the Church of Scotland working towards a degree in theology.

"I've been in the Church of Scotland, Geneva, for 35 years, involved in the choir, Sunday School and Youth Group, before being called to Readership in 2021," she said.

Mrs Colliar began her professional career as a systems programmer at the Ravenscraig steelworks in Motherwell before going on to work for the World Health Organisation in Geneva and then retraining as a teacher.

She credits the analytical skills of programming together with those required to facilitate learning as having helped her in her formation towards ministry.

"I am now in the probation year towards Ordained Local Ministry, based in the Scots Kirk, Lausanne. Lausanne is in vacancy, so I'm working with different locums each month," she said.

She said the situation gives her ‘the opportunity of tapping the broad experience of several different ministers.'

"The experience of the ministers I am meeting is helping me prepare for working in a ministry team once the linkage is in place.

"There are at least five people across the International Presbytery who are in training for Readership or Ordained Local Ministry, or have recently finished."

Mrs Colliar encouraged and led nine people across the International Presbytery to become Worship Leaders or Local Preachers through Aberdeen University evening courses.

"All 14 of us have been called independently," she said.

"The Spirit is moving through our churches, encouraging people to minister in different ways. I think there are exciting times ahead for the International Presbytery, and indeed for the Church of Scotland as a whole."

Scots Kirk Lausanne is currently looking for a new minister, open to those in the Church of Scotland and those affiliated with a member church of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC).

Applications close 31 October 2024.

If you are interested, find out more and apply.