A former computing teacher has been ordained as the Church of Scotland’s first Asian female minister.

Aquila Singh was ordained and inducted into Fernhill and Cathkin Parish Church in Rutherglen in January.

She said: “I am delighted that Fernhill and Cathkin Parish Church has called me to be their minister and excited to be working with them and the local community.

“I don’t feel like a trailblazer but I like to think that maybe I can break down some misconceptions about who can be a minister.”

Miss Singh was born in Pakistan but moved to Scotland when she was two, and was raised in Glasgow.

Her paternal grandfather was a minister for the American Mission Presbyterian Church in India and instrumental in building a place of worship in Moga in the Punjab region in 1934. She also had an uncle on her mother’s side who was a Christian minister in Lahore.

She said: “I feel very blessed to have been called by God to serve Him.

“When I was first discerning my call I would wonder why God called me, although I grew up in the church, because I was just an ordinary person.

“But someone told me that God takes you as you are and tweaks you and I definitely believe this is true.

“I am still me, but God has changed me in subtle ways and has been equipping me with the tools that I will need to serve Him.”