revealed 23 April 2024
Learn for two minutes
A whole lot of church members are getting ready for the overall meeting that opens subsequent month.
The annual gathering is going down from Saturday 18 Might to Thursday 23 Might on the Meeting Corridor on The Mound in Edinburgh.
The commissioners set the course of the Kirk for the approaching 12 months in addition to assessment the Church’s laws and work.
Greater than 400 commissioners will attend in individual and one other 100 will tune in on-line.
They encompass overseas and world delegates, youth delegates and company, together with ministers, elders and deacons.
The ceremony will probably be broadcast stay and may be considered on the Church of Scotland web site.
HRH Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, will characterize King Charles III as Lord Excessive Commissioner.
The Lord Excessive Commissioner is the Sovereign’s private consultant to the Common Meeting of the Church of Scotland and is appointed by the Sovereign to attend proceedings on her behalf.
The Duke, who was granted the title beforehand held by his father on his 59th birthday final 12 months, will ship the opening and shutting addresses of the Meeting and carry out quite a few official capabilities all through the week.
He was beforehand Lord Excessive Commissioner in 2014, when he assumed the title of Earl of Wessex and represented his mom, the late Queen.
Kingdom of God
The primary act of the Common Meeting will probably be to formally set up the Moderator-designate 2024-25, the Rev. Dr. Shaw Patterson.
He’s taking a 12 months off from his position as minister of Strathaven Trinity Parish Church in South Lanarkshire the place he has labored since 1991.
Dr. Patterson will preside over the Common Meeting after which function the Church’s ambassador at house and overseas till Might 2025.
He succeeds the Rt Rev Sally Foster-Fulton who will current him with the official ring and chain of workplace.
A theme for Dr. Patterson’s 12 months in workplace is “Constructing Collectively” – a nod to his former work as a bricklayer and a name for folks to come back collectively because the Church continues its reform program.
When he was named Moderator for 2024-25, he mentioned: “As a Church we’ve a robust basis and it might not be my constructing or your constructing that stands, however our basis is in Christ.
“We’ve got to construct collectively and we’ve to come back collectively – we’ve to grasp that just about everyone seems to be dropping one thing.
“We’ve got to attempt to overcome the sensation of animosity.
“We’re one Church collectively and we should transfer ahead collectively to construct on the muse of all our ancestors.”
listening
Dr Patterson mentioned he plans to spend the subsequent 12 months “listening to as many individuals as doable”.
“Should you have been to ask me three phrases to explain what’s essential to me as a minister – and certainly a moderator – it might be folks, folks, folks,” he mentioned.
“Folks within the pews, within the parish.
“Folks of all ages from college students to pensioners and each stage in between.
“I really like connecting with folks, listening to their tales and reminding them that I care, the Church cares, God cares.”
The Common Meeting, first held in 1560 within the first 12 months of the Scottish Reformation, is the very best courtroom of the Church of Scotland.
Commissioners are inspired to learn the reviews earlier than the assembly, the primary of which may be considered right here.
All reviews will probably be revealed by Might 3.
