Charities demand that Glasgow rent rise is scrapped
Charities today demanded council bosses scrap crippling rent rises. Their umbrella body said it had serious concerns about plans by City Property to charge full market rents for offices and warehouses occupied by voluntary organisations. Glasgow Council for the Voluntary Sector (GCVS) and the Third Sector Forum – which represent hundreds of groups – said [...]
Outrage as Kirk erases old Scots word from archives
It’s a five-letter word which dates back centuries and has survived countless changes in cultural and linguistic fashion. But now the Church of Scotland has outraged Scots language experts by banishing “anent” – meaning about or concerning – from its legal documents and deciding to go back through hundreds of pieces of old church legislation [...]
Scottish independence: Kirk critical of debate
The debate on Scottish independence is focused on “political point-scoring” that is “turning people off”, the Church of Scotland’s Church and Society Council said today. The Church of Scotland plans to hold meetings around the country to discuss issues relating to the constitutional debate ahead of next year’s referendum. The General Assembly today overwhelmingly backed [...]
Church of Scotland approves revised report on Israeli occupation
A revised version of a Church of Scotland report criticising Israel’s treatment of Palestinians has been approved. The original version of the paper, titled The Inheritance of Abraham, was condemned as “hurtful” by Israel’s ambassador to the UK, Daniel Taub, for the way it questioned the Biblical justification for the Jewish claim to the Holy [...]
Kirk tackles digital divide: ‘Church of Scotland is totally switched on’
The Church of Scotland is totally switched on [sic] and committed to tackling the digital divide [sic]. The digital divide is the gap between those in society who have access to and the resources to regularly use new technology including the internet, social media such as Twitter and Facebook, and those who are unable to. [...]
Almost no couples with children who stay unmarried stay together, study claims
A study by the Marriage Foundation calculates that cohabiting couples who have children are more than twice as likely to split up as those who had tied the knot beforehand. But of those who do not then go on to get married after having children, only a handful will still be together by the time [...]
Gay clergy struggle blamed for crisis in Kirk recruitment
One of Scotland’s leading theologians has blamed a drop in evangelical students training for the ministry on the Church of Scotland’s battle over gay clergy. The Reverend Professor David Fergusson, principal of the New College, Edinburgh University’s divinity school, said the Kirk must stop squabbling over sexuality or risk alienating more young people. He appealed [...]
Church of Scotland: Only 16 new ministers taken on
The Church of Scotland needs to take “real risks” and create “radical models” of training if it is to persuade more young people to become ministers, the General Assembly heard yesterday. The call for change came as ministers were told that only 25 people had applied for full-time ministry in 2012, and of the 16 [...]
Youth Moderator makes plea against domestic violence
Speaking to the General Assembly this afternoon, the Moderator of the National Youth Assembly, Euan Patterson, urged all male delegates to support the White Ribbon Campaign against domestic violence. The National Youth Assembly brings together a diverse group of young people and aims to give them a voice within the church. In August 2012, they [...]
HM Forces report to Kirk’s Assembly is dedicated to General Sir Michael Gow
Church of Scotland chaplains have continued to provide pastoral care and support for the servicemen and women in Afghanistan and other parts of the world as well as their families back home. Their work is recognised tomorrow in a Report of the Committee on Chaplains to Her Majesty’s Forces at the General Assembly of the [...]
Kirk seeks to implement wider review and development of its ministry and ministers
The Church of Scotland is to introduce a plan to ensure the continued professional development of its Ministers. The aim is to ensure it has the right people in the right places delivering the right kind of worship to congregations. Reporting to the General Assembly today, Wednesday May 22, Convener of the Special Commission on [...]
Free Church (Continuing) has message of hope for the gay community
In his moderatorial address to the General Assembly of the Free Church Continuing, the new Moderator, Rev Warren Gardner stated: “The gay community needs to hear a message of hope, a message of hope for ‘all’ sinners. “They must hear that ‘some of us’ in Christ’s Church, in the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing), were [...]
Nuns cleared of child assault as lead cop with ‘no surrender’ sticker and RFC carplate is charged with racist attack
Two nuns have been cleared of assaulting girls in their care at an approved school in Renfrewshire. Anne Kenny, 79, known as Mother Rosaria, and Agnes Reville, 77, known as Mother Martin, had been accused of hitting pupils at Dalbeth Approved School in Bishopton from 1969 to 1971. Their trial at Paisley Sheriff Court heard [...]
Glasgow Churches Together
- Get on your marks with More Than Gold at the Velodrome on June 6
- French Churches from Lutheran and Reformed traditions unite
- Iona celebrates 1450th anniversary of Columba’s arrival
- Spreading God’s Word starts with getting God’s Word into our own lives
- Conference to explore situation of Christians living in the Middle East