Name change for Free Church College would ‘generate interest in wider evangelical church circles’
The Free Church College should be renamed the Edinburgh Theological Seminary to generate interest within wider evangelical church circles and show Gospel-work co-operation, the Church’s General Assembly will hear next week. The College Board report believes its identity is too tied in with the denomination, and the change would make the College “a more national [...]
Street Pastors founder coming to Perth
The man who started the internationally successful Street Pastors movement is to visit the Perth project as part of his first Scottish tour. The Street Pastors have become a welcome addition to the city’s night-time profile, administering assistance and understanding whenever required. Perhaps best known for the number of flip-flops they distribute to barefoot revellers, [...]
Funding to repair unique church in Inveraray
Glenaray and Inveraray Parish Church, an A-listed building in the Inveraray Conservation Area, sits in the Diamond at the top of the town between the Royal Bank of Scotland and Inveraray Jail, with the George Hotel just below it. The church has just been awarded £41,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, with Historic Scotland describing [...]
Lairds criticised for pocketing wind farm subsidies
The leader of the Scottish Government review of landownership yesterday pledged to examine ways of redistributing the cash wealthy lairds make from wind farms to benefit the less-advantaged. Alison Elliot, chair of the Land Reform Review Group (LRRG), said the issue would be investigated amid concerns that aristocrats are benefiting from the renewables revolution while [...]
New Moderator’s brush with the law
Rev Lorna Hood, who is about to become the next Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, is well used to wearing a dog collar. But the Minister found herself envisaging a new type of “collar” when she set about dealing with the loss of the Moderator’s ring. In the hope of [...]
Economist inducted as new URC Moderator
Mr John Ellis was today inducted as lay moderator of the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church (URC). The induction service was held at the end of the May meeting of Mission Council, the URC’s executive body, and Mr Ellis succeeds Mrs Val Morrison, who has served as lay moderator since July 2010. Mr [...]
Clergy employment rights: Supreme Court rules that God is above the law
It has passed judgments affecting multimillionaires, multinational banks and MPs but now Britain’s highest court has made clear that it does not have jurisdiction over God. The Supreme Court ruled that a former Methodist minister could not sue the church for unfair dismissal because, rather than being an employee, she was viewed as a “steward [...]
Disgraced Cardinal Keith O’Brien to leave Scotland for ‘prayer and penance’
Cardinal Keith O’Brien is to leave Scotland for several months after admitting improper sexual conduct, the Vatican has confirmed. He resigned in February after three priests and a former priest alleged improper conduct back in the 1980s. The Vatican said that with the Pope’s approval Cardinal O’Brien would leave Scotland “for the purpose of spiritual [...]
Prayers and liturgical material for 60th anniversary of Queen’s coronation
Prayers and liturgical resources for the nationwide celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Coronation of Her Majesty The Queen are released online today. They include texts adapted from the 1953 Coronation service, including the words used when The Queen received the Bible from the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland: [...]
The Revival Festival Of Music: Legacy Five and many more at Scottish festival
Lins Honeyman writes: It has often been said that there is a surprising number of Southern gospel fans in Scotland given the genre’s obvious American roots and this was certainly something that was borne out as folks turned up at the start of May to Perth’s Revival Festival Of Music – a three day event [...]
Mary Queen of Scots’ death warrant ‘shows clear signs of anti-Catholicism’
The document that ordered the death of Mary, Queen of Scots, is to go on show in Scotland for the first time since it was secured for the nation. The execution warrant signed by Elizabeth I brought to an end the almost two decades of what was effectively house arrest for Mary and brought about [...]
Obituary: Rev Alestair Bennett, the Church of Scotland’s longest serving minister
The Rev Alestair Bennett, who has died at the age of 104, was the Church of Scotland’s longest serving minister, and “the father of the Church”, having been ordained for a remarkable 73 years, during which he ministered in Lanarkshire, Glasgow, Renfrewshire and Fife. He was born into a United Free Church manse in February [...]
Obituary: Archimandrite John Maitland Moir, priest
Born: 18 June, 1924, in Currie. Died: 17 April, 2013, in Edinburgh, aged 88 Father John Maitland Moir, priest of the Orthodox Church of St Andrew in Edinburgh, founder of many smaller Orthodox communities throughout Scotland and Orthodox chaplain to the University of Edinburgh, died peacefully in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on 17 April, 2013. A [...]
Inverness lap dancing club given green light
Lap dancing has controversially been given the go ahead in the Highlands for the first time. The bid by Hush had been opposed by Highland Violence Against Women Strategy Group and religious groups. Maxine Smith, the chairwoman of Highland Council’s licensing board which gave the application the green light, also claimed it was “exploitation against [...]
