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Moderator hopes post will inspire women worldwide

The first female minister to become Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland yesterday said she hoped her appointment would be an inspiration to women in churches worldwide.

The Rev Sheilagh Kesting said she wanted it to give strength to women in countries where they are banned from being ministers.

Miss Kesting, 53, becomes the second female moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland after Dr Alison Elliot, an elder who took up the post three years ago.

The minister, from Stornoway, will succeed incumbent, the Rev Alan McDonald, this weekend.

Speaking at a news conference in Edinburgh, Miss Kesting said: "I think it will be tremendously inspirational for women in many churches around the world, who are longing to be able to be ministers in the church, but it is not yet possible."

But the moderator designate insisted her appointment was about more than the fact she was a woman. She said: "The ceiling was broken by Alison Elliot, an elder in the church, when she became moderator in 2004.

"My understanding is that my gender came low in the list of attributes people identified in me when they asked me to be the moderator, and I am happy this should be so."

Full story at The Herald.