Introduction
The General Assembly of the Church met from 18 to 23 May 2025, again in a ‘blended’ form, based in the Assembly Hall in Edinburgh. The Moderator of the General Assembly this year was Rt Revd Rosie Frew MA BD. Mrs Frew was ordained in 1998, and since March 2017 has served as the Minister of Bowden and Melrose. She was Presbytery Clerk of the former Kirkcaldy Presbytery and, in 2019, became convener of the Ministries Council, then the first convener of the Faith Nurture Forum.
In terms of the Roll of Assembly, Presbytery returns indicate that there were a total of 833 charges, whether vacant or not, and 155 other ministers (excluding retired ones) who were members of Presbyteries. Representation is calculated for each Presbytery in accordance with the Church Courts Act (Act VI 2023), and the total number of Commissioners is currently 208 ministers and 208 elders, with 13 Deacons being eligible for appointment, along with the five most recent past Moderators.
The Lord High Commissioner
The Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly is the British Monarch’s personal representative, reflecting the Church of Scotland’s role as the national church and the Monarch’s role as protector and a member of that Church. In its history, the office holder has been the personal representative of all Scottish monarchs, and later of British monarchs following the Union of the Crowns.
In 2025, the restriction on the Lord High Commissioner being a Roman Catholic was lifted by the passing of the Church of Scotland (Lord High Commissioner) Act 2025, which amended the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829. The amendment was made after it was announced that Lady Elish Angiolini KC was expected to be the first Roman Catholic to be appointed to the position. Lady Angiolini was the Lord Advocate of Scotland from 2006 until 2011, having previously been Solicitor General since 2001.
Acts of Assembly
The following Acts were passed: Act 16: Safeguarding Act; Act 11: Call, Election & Appointment of Ministers of Word & Sacrament Act; Act 10: Admission & Readmission of Ministers Act; Act 04: Communion Rolls & Adherents’ Rolls Act; Act 01: Presbytery Review Act. The Acts largely take into account changes in civil and church law pertaining to data protection and Ministers in same-sex relationships, as well as roles in Team Ministries and other matters in light of the Presbytery Mission Plans.
Legal questions
The Convener of the Legal Questions Committee, Revd Dr Marjory Maclean, had volunteered to write an introductory volume under the working title Church of Scotland Governance: The Underlying Principles, which could be supplied, for example, to new elders to help them understand the polity of the Church. It would set out basic principles of church polity that the reader is to uphold.
Theological Forum
The largest part of the Theological Forum report was a reflection on the contemporary significance of the Council of Nicaea, the 1700th anniversary of which was celebrated in 2025 across the global church, and which resulted in the first version of the Nicene Creed. The report noted that the Creed had taken on additional relevance in Scotland in recent years, particularly in ecumenical dialogue between the Church of Scotland and the Catholic Church in Scotland. The Nicene Creed is included in the Church’s new book of confessions, which has become one of the subordinate standards of the Church. The Forum’s report said that this would ‘help to strengthen the unity of the Church of Scotland’ and ‘would also help our partnerships with other churches’, by reminding members that ‘we have more in common than what separates us, and … we are a single Church with a common faith’.
The Forum also reported on its contributions to work on assisted dying (which was the subject of a separate report), an apology for the Church’s involvement in historic slavery and a reflection on the decline of the Church of Scotland, both of which will result in full reports in 2026.
Safeguarding Committee
The Committee instructed presbyteries and kirk sessions to ensure that they comply with Church law on safeguarding, including the maintenance of accurate electronic safeguarding records.
In early 2025, the Committee participated in a learning session that considered the recommendations of the Makin Review, commissioned by the Church of England to examine its handling of allegations of abuse.
The Committee also reported on the result of a review into the processes and procedures underlying its Covenant of Responsibilities Guidance, which governs how people who may pose a risk can be safely accommodated within a church congregation. Among the decisions was that the duration of a Covenant of Responsibility would now be based on individual circumstances following an assessment, except where an offence had occurred within a church setting. In that case, the Covenant would be lifelong.
The Committee had been asked to reflect on its processes for individuals who had been found not guilty in criminal proceedings. It decided that no change should be made in this area, and that ‘Where authorities continue to have concerns and believe the subject is responsible for harm or abuse “on the balance of probabilities”, appropriate and proportionate Safeguarding Measures will be put in place’.
General Trustees
The General Trustees warned that the variation to the Listed Places of Worship Scheme announced by the United Kingdom Government limiting the amount of VAT that could be reclaimed ‘will have a negative impact on any project over £125,000 in value’. The Deliverance encouraged them to work with other areas of the Church and ecumenically to lobby the Government to reverse the change.
Presbyteries were instructed ‘once again and urgently’ to comply with their obligations on attestation of property inspection records, five-yearly surveys and any works required to buildings. Presbytery Building Officers had now been appointed to all Presbyteries apart from the Presbytery of Lewis. Guidelines were issued on the disposal of Communion ware.
A new manse handbook was approved by the Manse Working Group and Fabric Committee, and commissioners were asked to note it and the amended manse specification.
Ethical Oversight Committee
The Committee looked at three broad areas: climate justice, economic justice, and peace and justice. The number of specific issues that came up under all of these broad areas was enormous, and the task was to distil this to something that was robust enough to make it clear what the Church believes about using its assets, but to avoid being so specific that investment managers would be overly restricted.
This relatively new Committee brought out new Church of Scotland Ethical Investment Guidelines.
Committee on Overtures and Cases
Following approval at the General Assembly of 2023, the requisite two-thirds proportion of the Presbyteries of the Church approved the text of the proposed amendments to Articles II and V of the Articles Declaratory in Matters Spiritual (1921) enacted by the General Assembly of 1926 and to the Preamble, Questions and Formula authorised by the General Assembly of 1929, all of which were contained in the Confessions of Faith Overture sent down for the consideration of Presbyteries by the General Assembly of 2024, this being in a second successive year.
A Standing Law of the Church was approved under the provisions of Article VIII of the Articles Declaratory in Matters Spiritual, the Confessions of Faith Overture in the form set forth in Appendix B, with effect from 1 January 2026.
The text of the Book of Confessions, along with the text of the updated vows and subscription of office holders, would be made available on the Church’s website and would be published in hard copy by 1 January 2026. The Ordinal and Service Book would be updated to reflect the proposed changes to the vows and subscription of office holders.
The companion volume to the Book of Confessions, which the Theological Forum had been asked to produce at the 2024 General Assembly (containing the additional documents mentioned in the Second Article Declaratory, namely: ‘The Directory for the Public Worship of God’, ‘The Form of Presbyterial Church Government’ and ‘The Form of Process’ and the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms), would follow on from the production of the Book of Confessions.
Life and Work
Publication of the editorially independent magazine of the Kirk came to an end, under the Supplementary Report of the Faith Action Programme Leadership Team. For over 140 years, Life and Work was the voice of the Church of Scotland. It covered a broad range of subjects from international affairs and British political and social issues to science, ethics, and the arts, offering a forum for views on current social and moral issues, a monthly meditation, articles on the spiritual side of life, reviews of Christian resources and features on the Church.
The circulation as recorded by the Stewardship and Finance Department in December 2024 was 4011 – set against the Church of Scotland membership of 245,000. In recent years, the emphasis had been on digital copies, but uptake had been low. Digital sales income was £890 in 2017 and £8391 in 2024, but that increase had to be set against a decrease in print sales from £427,319 in 2017 to £209,414 in 2024. Other revenue streams had been investigated, including branding, sponsorship and grant funding, and costs such as printing and distribution had been driven down over the last few years and were continually reviewed. Advertising revenue had also fallen, from £220,000 in 2017 to £97,000 in 2024. Prior to 2021, Life and Work had produced a steady surplus of around £50,000 per annum on average; since then, however, there had been a yearly loss, with a projected deficit of £237,000 for 2025.
