Remember who we are

Lynne McNeil learns why the Moderator-Designate to this month’s General Assembly wants to encourage the Church to remember its roots in tackling injustice and change.

THE Moderator-Designate of the 2023 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is no stranger to regular readers of Life and Work.

For the Rev Sally Foster-Fulton has served as Head of Christian Aid in Scotland since 2016 and her words campaigning for the poorest and most disadvantaged around the world regularly feature on the pages of Life and Work in this role. Before this she served for four years in the high-profile role of Convener of the Church and Society Council of the Church between 2012 and 2016.

It will come as no surprise to find that justice – and particularly global and social justice (which is at the heart of the work of Christian Aid) – spark Sally’s passion and she captures this sentiment – and all that inspires her – early in our interview.

“There is a word in South African ubuntu which means ‘I am because you are. For me that underlines what we are.

“We cannot be human beings without one another.”

Magnifying or amplifying the voices of those who face injustice is key.

“Those who have done the least to cause the climate crisis and have not benefitted from what has happened but are now dealing with the outcomes. That is unjust.”

Warm and friendly, Sally’s rich tones also reveal her roots: born in Beaufort, Georgia, the 58-year-old says she has found home in Scotland and has served as a parish minister in Falkirk and at Dunblane Cathedral.

From 2012 she served as Convener of the high profile Church and Society Council of the Church and shortly after the end of her convenership was appointed to be Head of Christian Aid Scotland.

She stepped away on sabbatical from her role with one of Scotland’s biggest charities at the beginning of March to begin the traditional time of preparation for the role of Moderator, which she will take up at the General Assembly in Edinburgh later this month.

Her family – including her mother, sister and (hopefully) her brother – are planning to fly from their US homes to attend the opening ceremony and some of the business of the week. And are ‘beyond excited’. She will also be joined by husband Stuart (who has recently demitted from parish ministry in Glasgow) and daughters Alex and Gracie and her year-old granddaughter Oran.

Born and raised in Beaufort, South Carolina, Sally has early memories of her life within the Presbyterian Church (USA), where families met up together during the summer with a “bring and share and we (the kids) just ran riot.”

“I remember being a kid and we just had a ball. We had that freedom and everyone looked after everyone else – it was a real sense of community.”

Sally was one of three children born in the early 1960s to a primary headmaster and a high school English teacher. The family grew up in the early years of racial integration and witnessing this clearly fuelled Sally’s passion to tackle injustice.

Preaching and ministry was not on her radar, but she remembers being particularly influenced by the ‘wonderful’ Dr Joe Gettys, a retired interim minister at her church, who reshaped her conception of church.

“I had a lot of questions – about the Bible, about the church and about my place in it. And Dr Joe encouraged questions and exploration.

“He said: ‘Questions keep things moving. Doubts and exploration keep faith moving and vibrant.’

“From that moment I can remember thinking that I can ask these questions.”

Her path to ministry (and the Church of Scotland) was not straightforward.

After studying English and religion at Presbyterian College, where she considered education and had been accepted to begin seminary training at Princeton, she was involved in a serious road accident.

She deferred her place in Princeton and secured a role as Director of Christian Education at a church in Newnan, Georgia. The minister encouraged her to consider an application to Columbia Seminary in Atlanta, which had a strong reputation for pastoral counselling – an area she was drawn to.

“Preaching and speaking were not on my radar at that time…. I loved to read and write.”

She secured a scholarship to Columbia and the move proved pivotal to her life in more ways than one – for it resulted in a chance encounter with her husband Stuart, who had come from Scotland to study at Columbia on an exchange visit. Stuart recently demitted from parish ministry and will be able to spend the year with Sally at the Moderator’s residence in Edinburgh.

“He knocked on the wrong door and got me!” she laughs.

The couple’s relationship grew and after they married in 1991, Sally came to Trinity College in Glasgow to study on an exchange scholarship where she completed her divinity training.

Daughters Alex and Gracie quickly followed and Sally remembers her first years in Scotland as a happy time.

After completing a BD, she worked as a chaplain at Falkirk and District Royal Infirmary and the Royal National Scottish Hospital in Larbert before being accepted as a candidate for ministry in the Church of Scotland.

Ordained in 1999, her first charge was Falkirk: Camelon Irving where she spent four years as a parish minister.

It was then that she thought about the future and the family relocated to Seneca, South Carolina for a time in 2003 where Sally and Stuart served as co-pastors before ‘coming home’ to Stirling and a new role on the ministry team at Dunblane Cathedral in 2007.

“I always felt at home in Scotland and welcomed and that has been my lived experience,” she says.

"Iremember being a kid and we just had a ball. We had that freedom and everyone looked after everyone else – it was a real sense of community.

An opportunity arose to become part of the Church and Society Council, which she served as both vice-convener and convener. The Council reflected issues of social justice and engaged with politicians equipping her with some of the skills needed to serve as Head of Christian Aid Scotland, a role she has filled since 2016.

Her work with the charity has taken her across the globe and fuelled her passion and understanding of the big issues facing not just Scotland, but the world today. This background will help to shape her year in office. “These are extraordinary challenges that we face now.

“You look at the cost of living crisis. You can’t underestimate the scale of it. It is always the people who struggle the most who get hit hardest.

“It is the same with the climate crisis: how do you shift that ball and remember those are the folk who have done least to cause it?”

“ Iwant this year for the church for us to remember who we are.

Her aim is to encourage the Church to remember its roots and heart during the year as it continues a radical transformation, reducing presbytery numbers and streamlining congregations and buildings to enable future mission.

“The tradition of the reformed church is change. When you revisit your roots don’t ever rest on your laurels,” she says.

“I want to centre around that - not a memory but a remembering.”

As a minister without congregation, the question of what to wear during the year of office arises. Sally says it must be practical as she likes to be comfortable and with people and hints at a frock coat. But for robes she says she may follow in the footsteps of the Very Rev Dr John Miller (Moderator in 2001/2002) and former minister at Castlemilk: West who rummaged in a cupboard of robes worn by former Moderators and found that the best fit was a robe worn by Lord MacLeod of Fuinary, founder of the Iona Community.

“I want to keep it simple but with a nod to tradition. There will be stuff in that cupboard and that fits with me on how it should be.”

She will be supported during the year by her two chaplains, the Rev Dr Martin Johnstone (our leadership columnist) and the Rev Louise McClements.

“They are both friends and people I can be me with.” She adds: “They can also say: ‘Sally catch yourself on’. Louise is the daughter-in-law of the late Rev Duncan McClements. And Martin is a mentor and a great friend.”

Looking ahead to the year, there are visits pencilled into the presbyteries of Fife and Forth Valley and Clydesdale. She is particularly looking forward to the latter which embraces her ‘home’ presbytery.

An overseas visit has also been pencilled in for Rome.

Sally is particularly keen to create space for the stories and voices of the dispossessed and downtrodden to be heard and articulated.

In looking ahead to her year, she restates the need for the Church to remember its roots: “When I interviewed with the Nominating Committee for the role of Moderator, I was reminded of a phrase my grandmother used with us that sat with me and it was ‘remember who you are’.

“I want this year for the church for us to remember who we are.

“That gives us strength, courage, inspiration and the tradition to be the Church.

“I want to centre around that - not a memory but a re-membering.”