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From East End to head of Kirk

A minister who served in the East End of Glasgow has been named the next Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

The Rev David Lunan, clerk to the Presbytery of Glasgow, was selected from a list of six candidates by a special committee. He will take up the role in May.

Mr Lunan, 63, has served as a minister in Elgin and assistant minister in Glasgow's East End. Speaking after the result was announced, he said: "It's thrilling. It's also an honour and very humbling and exciting. It's another way of being of service to the Church."

He said that while he would take an interest in wider national social issues, he would also focus on the Kirk's work in areas of social responsibility such as child care.

Describing his past career as like that of a "parish priest", rather than as somebody involved in the central running of the Kirk, Mr Lunan said he believed falling attendances were not about to abate.

"We haven't bottomed out," he said. "I believe there may be further decline, but there are some very exciting projects bubbling under - the Nexus event and Church Without Walls project. People are finding different ways to be part of the Church.

"The Church should always be adapting to circumstances and I'm sufficiently encouraged that it is doing that."

Mr Lunan said he had "no fears" for Scotland's future as a nation. "We have within us great gifts, both practical and spiritual, and so I have no fears as to how we will work things out both politically and ecclesiastically," he said.

Full story at The Scotsman.