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Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland

Official in the Church of Scotland

Summary

Official in the Church of Scotland

Field	Value
post	Moderator of the General Assembly
body	the Church of Scotland
flag	Flag of the Church of Scotland.svg
flagcaption	Flag of the Church of Scotland
image	Rev Rosemary Frew Moderator 2025 (cropped).jpg
incumbent	The Rt Revd Rosemary Frew
incumbentsince
style	The Right Reverend
member_of	Standing Committee of the Church of Scotland
reports_to	Standing Committee of the Church of Scotland
residence	2 Rothesay Terrace, Edinburgh
nominator	Committee of the Church of Scotland
termlength	1 year
formation
first	John Knox

The moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the minister or elder chosen to moderate (chair) the annual General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, which is held for a week in Edinburgh every year. After chairing the Assembly, the Moderator then spends the following year representing the Church of Scotland at civic events, and visiting congregations and projects in Scotland and beyond.

As the Church of Scotland is Scotland's national church, and as a presbyterian church has no bishops, the Moderator is – arguably alongside the Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland – the most prominent figure in the life of Church of Scotland adherents.

Office

Background

The moderator can be any minister, deacon or elder, within the Church of Scotland. Whoever is selected as moderator is often of considerable experience and held in high esteem in the Church of Scotland. The moderator is nominated by the "Committee to Nominate the Moderator", which consists of twelve people elected annually - comprising eleven ministers and elders, and one deacon. The moderator must, however, also be formally elected by the commissioners (i.e. all representatives) at the start of the General Assembly – this is in practice a formality. A new moderator is elected each year, and usually announced in October.

In 2004 Alison Elliot became the first woman (and first elder for approximately 400 years) to be elected Moderator. Three years later Sheilagh M. Kesting became the first woman minister to be elected to the office. In total, there have been five female moderators.

Moderators who also serve as a minister are styled the Right Reverend during the term of office and the Very Reverend thereafter. This gives no further status beyond that of teaching elder.

Official residence

The Moderator has an official residence at Number 2 Rothesay Terrace in Edinburgh's West End.

Role in coronations

The Moderator first took part in the Coronation of the British monarch in 1953. The then-Moderator, James Pitt-Watson, presented a Bible to Queen Elizabeth II, saying: "Here is wisdom; This is the royal law; These are the lively Oracles of God."

During the Coronation of Charles III in 2023, the then-Moderator, Iain Greenshields once again presented a Bible to The King, saying:

"Sir, to keep you ever mindful of the law and the Gospel of God as the Rule for the whole life and government of Christian Princes, receive this Book, the most valuable thing that this world has to offer. Here is Wisdom; this is the royal Law; these are the lively Oracles of God."

Coat of arms

Arms of office shown without crozier of [[St. Fillan]] and with the tassels of a presbyter

The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has an official coat of arms awarded by the Lord Lyon King of Arms. It includes a shield showing the burning bush, plus the Quigrich - the crozier of St Fillan - behind the shield (with the curved head of the Quigrich visible above the shield). The shield is surmounted by a black Geneva bonnet - closely associated with John Knox. Similar to the coat of arms of an archbishop, there are the addition of twenty blue tassels arranged with ten on each side.

Order of precedence

By virtue of an Order of Precedence established by King Edward VII the Moderator ranks immediately after a sheriff principal in the sheriff principal's own sheriffdom.

List of moderators

Main article: List of moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland

Since 2010, the following have been elected to the position of moderator:

2010: John Christie
2011: A. David K. Arnott
2012: Albert Bogle
2013: E. Lorna Hood
2014: Angus Morrison; initially nominated but withdrew on health grounds
2014: John Chalmers
2015: Angus Morrison
2016: Russell Barr
2017: Derek Browning
2018: Susan M. Brown
2019: Colin Sinclair
2020: Martin Fair
2021: Jim Wallace, Baron Wallace of Tankerness
2022: Iain Greenshields
2023: Sally Foster-Fulton
2024: Shaw Paterson
2025: Rosemary Frew
2026: Gordon Kennedy (minister) (Moderator-designate)

References

Scotland, The Church of. (2021-07-16). "Nominate the 2022-23 Moderator of the General Assembly".
(2023). "Regulations of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland".
Scotland, The Church of. (2019-05-20). "The Moderator".
(8 October 1998). "#365,000 townhouse for moderator".
Stewart, Ian. (January 25, 2017). "A past to be proud of in a world which will always need good journalism".
(1953). "The Music with the Form and Order of the Service to be performed at the Coronation of Her Most Excellent Majesty Queen Elizabeth II". [[Novello & Co]].
(12 October 2016). "Kirk announces Dr Derek Browning as next Moderator". [[BBC News]].
(9 October 2017). "Madonna minister appointed as Church of Scotland Moderator". [[BBC News]].
(2019-05-01). "The current Moderator".
(27 October 2020). "Former deputy first minister to be Church of Scotland moderator". BBC News.
(23 May 2021). "Lord Wallace inducted as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland". Grampian Online.
(22 May 2021). "Former deputy first minister Jim Wallace is new Kirk moderator". [[BBC News]].
(28 October 2022). "Charity chief named as Moderator of the 2023-24 General Assembly".
(18 May 2024). "Minister says he owes family everything as he's elected Moderator of Church of Scotland".
(17 May 2025). "Minister says he owes family everything as he's elected Moderator of Church of Scotland".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

church-of-scotland ecclesiastical-titles

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