Assembly 2025

Thomas Baldwin reports on the key decisions made at this year’s General Assembly, which took place in May.

‘A CRUCIAL MOMENT’

Introducing the report of the Assembly Trustees, convener the Rev David Cameron said that the Assembly was ‘gathered at a crucial moment in the life of the Church of Scotland’, with the urgency of the Church’s financial situation demanding ‘even more difficult decisions’ than the ones that have already been taken in recent years.

He said that the grief caused by changes within the Church must be acknowledged, but that the Trustees ‘are working to enable a Church that is outward-focused and better equipped for tomorrow’.

The convener of the Faith Action Programme Leadership Team (FAPLT), the Rev Tommy MacNeil, acknowledged that many in the Church were ‘exhausted and sorrowful’. However, he said: “I am absolutely convinced there are better and brighter days ahead for our church. But we will only see them if we get up and get going and move forward with what God has called us to do.”

And as the Assembly drew to a close, the Moderator, the Rt Rev Rosie Frew, urged the Church to ‘remember that God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine’. In her closing address, Mrs Frew told the Assembly that the week had been challenging, but also inspiring. She acknowledged how dispiriting it was for most people in the room to have lived their entire Christian lives against a backdrop of decline, but said there were ‘so many’ good news stories and that “So often people have said to me they’ve left this Assembly knowing so much more, being so encouraged by what they’ve heard and seen.”

ASSISTED DYING

In the most emotionally-charged moments of the week, the General Assembly narrowly reaffirmed the Church’s opposition to assisted dying.

A report on assisted dying had recommended a change in the Church’s position on the issue, which would have affirmed the diversity of theological views in the church ‘and the integrity with which they are held’.

However, following a long debate into the evening, the Assembly voted by a majority of just four – 149 to 145 – for a countermotion from the Rev Alistair Cook, which acknowledged the diversity of views but reaffirmed the Church’s historical opposition.

During the debate the Assembly was addressed by John Williams, who has managed the gathering’s AV systems for over 50 years. He has been on dialysis for seven years, and also has terminal cancer. He said: “I find the report absolutely excellent. I agree 100 per cent with the conclusions it comes to.”

However, he criticised the assisted dying legislation going through the Scottish Parliament as ‘a bad bill’ and ‘not the way’; and described palliative care funding in Scotland as ‘a national disgrace’.

He also asked the commissioners whether they would be willing to sit and listen to a terminally ill person who wanted to talk, and called for pastoral care training for everyone.

The working group convener, the Rev Dr John Ferguson, told the Assembly that it had become clear to them that ‘there is no consensus on this matter within the Church’. He added: “We believe that if this deliverance is passed, then the Church will have moved on from a binary position on assisted dying to adopting a realistic honest and loving position, which it can hold with integrity.”

However the Rev Alistair Cook, who moved the countermotion, said: “You cannot allow the principle. Once the door is open it cannot easily be shut, and the safeguards cannot bear the weight put upon them.”

The deliverance also affirms that every human is made in the image of God, calls for investment in palliative care, says that robust safeguards must be in place to protect the disabled and health care workers if assisted dying is legalised, and ‘recognis(es) the value of open discussion around death and dying’.

LIFE AND WORK

Life and Work, the 146-year-old magazine of the Church of Scotland, is to cease publication later this year.

The General Assembly accepted a FAPLT and Assembly Trustees recommendation, made ‘with heavy hearts’, that the church could no longer afford to publish Life and Work in its current form. The magazine, which contributed significant surpluses to the Church prior to 2020, had struggled with falling reader numbers and a growing financial deficit in recent years.

Lynne McNeil, who has edited the magazine for nearly 23 years, told the Assembly that ‘for the sake of the team and the history books’ they disputed some of the figures in the report, and that a significant part of the deficit was due to internal recharges, most imposed for the first time this year.

However, Mrs McNeil said ‘We are living in a market of diminishing returns’, in which print publications are struggling, and in which Life and Work’s core audience, worshippers in the Church of Scotland pews on Sunday, has shrunk to an average of 68,160 each week. She said these were ‘the hardest of times’ for the Church, and that if Life and Work was reprieved this year, ‘the reality is we would be facing the same situation in six to twelve months’.

The Rev Jim Stewart, convener of the Life and Work Advisory Committee, said that it was ‘a seminal moment, a moment of loss’, and a tangible mark of the changes facing the Church.

The convener of the FAPLT Resource and Presence group, Alistair Cumming, said that Life and Work ‘holds a special place in the life of the Church’, but that the Church ‘must also face difficult reality’.

Proposals will be brought to next year’s Assembly for a new publication as part of a full communications strategy.

GAZA STATEMENT

The Assembly agreed a strong statement condemning the resumption of the war in Gaza, and instructing the Assembly Trustees to press the UK government to ‘exert all efforts towards the upholding of international humanitarian law, the establishment of a ceasefire, the lifting of the blockade on food and humanitarian aid, and the release of remaining hostages’ and to stop granting export licences of weapons to Israel.

The convener of the Assembly Trustees, the Rev David Cameron, said: “The all-out war waged by the government of Israel on the people of Gaza continues… deaths now totalling more than 52,000 with repeated targeting of hospitals and aid workers. The few hospitals still functioning are overwhelmed.

“Moreover 10 weeks into the enforced blockade of food, the levels of malnutrition have reached famine proportions. For months we have seen the weaponising of hunger in the war, resulting now in deliberate starvation…

“The churches of the world cannot remain silent in the face of such appalling inhumanity… together with our partners… we have asserted the sanctity of human life the dignity of all people and the equal right of all to live in peace.”

The Assembly was addressed by the Most Rev Hosam Elias Naoum, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, who gave thanks for the partnerships between the Protestant churches in Jerusalem. “Since 1841 we have worked together through ecumenical partners very diligently in order to keep the Christian presence in that very important part of the world,” he said. “Jerusalem is the birthplace of our faith.”

ASSISTANT MINISTERS

The assistant minister scheme, which had originally been planned to end in September, was extended to the end of the year at the behest of FAPLT, and an amendment was added to extend support to the end of 2026 ‘where such opportunities may be helpful in supporting congregations and clusters of congregations working towards fulfilment of the Presbytery Mission Plan’.

The scheme was a temporary measure, brought in to provide roles for newly-qualified ministers while congregations were not allowed to call during the recent Presbytery Planning process. It was reported that all presbytery plans have now been approved, which should mean more churches being given permission to call.

CATHOLIC FRIENDSHIP

The appointment of the first Roman Catholic to hold the role of Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland was welcomed as a ‘living out’ of the growing friendship between the two churches.

Legislation had to be rushed through the Houses of Parliament earlier this year to enable Lady Elish Angiolini to take up the role of the King’s representative at the Assembly.

In her speech to the Assembly, Lady Elish said that ‘those born and brought up in Scotland are well aware of the profound significance of the appointment of a Catholic to this role’, and spoke of the ‘tribal enmity’ which used to exist between the Catholic and Protestant communities. She said that everyone in the room had ‘an obligation or, at least, a wonderful opportunity in life, to… put into practice that essential love of humanity, irrespective of creed, race or disposition’

The Moderator of the General Assembly, the Rt Rev Rosie Frew, told Lady Elish that her appointment had been ‘a real living out of the 2022 St Margaret Declaration of friendship and respect between the Church of Scotland and the Catholic Church in Scotland, brothers and sisters in Christ, citizens and partners in announcing the kingdom of God in our land’.

Later in the week the Roman Catholic Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, the Most Rev Leo Cushley, said he had attended a Church of Scotland Holy Communion service for the first time, at the Assembly on Monday morning. He said it had been ‘very moving, and lovely for me to be there… and also to see how much we have in common’.

Speaking on behalf of the ecumenical guests, the Most Rev Mark Strange, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, said it was ‘wonderful’ to see a Scottish Catholic in the Lord High Commissioner’s seat, and praised the ‘growing fellowship among Scotland’s churches seen in all corners of this land’.

KEY MOMENTS AND SPEECHES

The General Assembly will be reduced from six days to four from next year. The proposals presented by the Assembly Business Committee will mean the Assembly meets from Friday to Monday. The ceremonial element will be reduced, and uncontroversial business will be taken as read unless commissioners request otherwise under new ‘consent agenda’ arrangements.

The Church of Scotland’s new Book of Confessions was agreed after a process lasting seven years, since the Theological Forum was asked to review the place of the Westminster Confession of Faith as the Church’s subordinate standard. The convener of the Theological Forum, the Rev Dr Liam Fraser, said: “These reforms not only resolve a centuries-long disagreement within the Church of Scotland but more importantly meet the present needs. At times of debate and disagreement and change, what is unchanging and held in common becomes crucial.”

The Assembly Trustees agreed to the establishment of a working group which would review the relationships and dynamics between the Trustees and the other committees, presbyteries and congregations of the Church; and to ‘consider how the policies, priorities and strategic objectives of the General Assembly should be resourced in accordance with the financial strategy of the Assembly Trustees’. The group is to be made up of four Trustees and four representatives from the wider church, who were later named as the Very Rev Dr Derek Browning, the Very Rev Sally Foster-Fulton, the Rev Jim Stewart and Professor Nancy Loucks.

A new study into ministerial wellbeing was welcomed, and kirk sessions strongly encouraged to ‘meet, discuss and consider’ it. The Rev Alistair May spoke of his own experience of suffering anxiety, and of the support from both central and local church. He said: “A deliverance that encourages the congregation to take note isn’t enough… ask local folk to speak to their minister, open the subject up, have a look at the hours they’re working and the pressures they’re under.”

FAPLT’s public life and social justice team is to look into how churches can uphold truth and uprightness in the public square, and challenge misinformation and lies. Moving the motion, elder Marjorie Clark said “We are living in increasingly challenging times, when truth is hard to find… many of our right wing political leaders are taking advantage of these trends.” Andy Morton, a retired science teacher, said that he had been disturbed by the number of his students who believed that climate change is a hoax. He said: “There are very powerful forces out in the world with major vested interests in pretending this isn’t happening and it’s making its way into the minds of our young people. It is essential that churches have resources and information based on thorough scientific backing to ensure that they can carry the message out into the world.”

In Christian Aid’s 80th anniversary year, the Assembly was addressed by Nick Georgiadis, the charity’s Director of Fundraising and Supporter Engagement. He said: “Christian Aid is part of your DNA. You’ve continuously stressed that we are your agency… this is what true partnership looks like. We are so grateful for the privileged access and unwavering support you give us. We don’t take it for granted.”

The outgoing Moderator, the Very Rev Dr Shaw Patterson, said that during his year he had seen much to be positive about, from the work of the local churches to that of the Church of Scotland social care arm, CrossReach, and the response to his appeal for solar powered lights for students in Malawi. He said: “We hear so much negativity about the church – and these are challenging times – but there are so many good news stories out there. There is mourning and grief over well-loved buildings, and that needs to be acknowledged, but I have seen so much to encourage and enthuse me from congregations who are worshipping, serving Christ and reaching out into their communities. This we must celebrate and shout from the rooftops.”

The Church was warned not to be complacent on issues of safeguarding. The Rev Dr Sonia Blakesley, convener of the Safeguarding Committee, told the General Assembly that while the Kirk’s Presbyterian structure meant that it was less vulnerable to the failures that contributed to the John Smyth abuse scandal in the Church of England, ‘we can get better at this’. And she warned that people must be aware of their duty to report concerns: “Too often priests and ministers and others are allowed to continue in abusive relationships because people do not want to believe that a church leader, a colleague, even a friend, would do the unthinkable.”

During the report of the Social Care Council (CrossReach), disappointment was expressed that the Scottish Government had not approved continued funding for the CrossReach-run Prison Visitor Centres at Perth Prison and Polmont Young Offenders Institution. Convener, Dr Mike Cantlay, said that the Government had acknowledged the ‘very high quality’ of the service provided, but had invited other parties to submit bids to run the centres.

A motion calling for conversations with the tax authorities about allowing ministers to own their own homes was defeated, after it was pointed out that this had been explored in a report to last year’s assembly. The Rev Robert Allan said that he was not seeking to get rid of manses, but asking for a mixed economy. He said that no-one in the church had had the conversations that might enable this to happen, and that the Baptist and URC churches had been allowed to offer such a system (an assertion disputed by the conveners of both Assembly Trustees and General Trustees). The Rev Mike Goss, while not backing the motion, said: “We know there are a lot of ministers living in manses that are quite shamefully kept. There is a new manse handbook out. Make sure you make your manses work well.”

The national convener of the Guild, Christina Paterson, told the Assembly that £553,000 had been raised for the six partnership projects in the three-year cycle that has just finished. She said that her year had been one ‘of challenge and transition, but also a year of many unforgettable experiences’.

Speaking following the report of the Committee on Chaplains to HM Forces, Major General Robin Lindsay, General Officer, Scotland, described the chaplains as ‘faithful centurions who both serve and lead’. He said that, at a time of growing uncertainty and instability worldwide, the spiritual and pastoral support offered by chaplains ‘afford us certainty and constancy… the certainty, solace, and permanency offered by that which is bigger than ourselves and in daily rites that are meaningful’.

Speaking for the chaplains’ committee, convener Andrew Tait said that there had been a positive response to last year’s urgent appeal for more ministers to offer themselves as chaplains, with six new chaplains approved this year, and discussions ongoing with another five. However, he warned that there were retirements to come in the near future: ‘I would not like the Assembly to think we are out of the woods yet’.

In his letter to the Assembly, King Charles praised the work of local Church of Scotland parishes, describing them as “a beacon of light and hope”. He added: “we are so very conscious of the vital work that the Church of Scotland does day in day out in the heart of the communities across the country. Despite the present challenges facing the Church, of which We are deeply aware, the Church continues to follow faithfully Christ’s command to love our neighbour”.

Elaine Duncan, chief executive of the Scottish Bible Society, told the Assembly of reasons for hope, in research showing an increase in church attendance and scripture reading among young people in England and Wales. She said: “Amongst the younger generation people are exploring the Bible, people are checking out church online, people are turning up at church in unexpected ways. Don’t take your eyes off the fact that God is at work in Scotland. Is the tide turning?... People are turning to scripture; they are turning to the church.”