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 Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

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. Because the Church of Scotland is Scotland's national church, and a

presbyterian church Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

has no

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

s, 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

The moderator is normally a minister or elder 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 fifteen people elected annually by the General Assembly. 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. The office is held for one year only. Following the week of the General Assembly, the moderator effectively acts as an ambassador for the Church of Scotland, frequently being invited to represent the Church at official events or at special services for congregations. In 2004

Alison Elliot Alison Elliot CBE FRSE (born 27 November 1948) is an honorary fellow at New College, Edinburgh. She was the former Associate Director of the Centre for Theology and Public Issues at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. In 2004 she became the ...

became the first woman (and first elder for approximately 400 years) to be elected Moderator. Three years later

Sheilagh M. Kesting Sheilagh Kesting (born 10 June 1953) is a Scottish minister of the Church of Scotland. She served as Moderator of the General Assembly from May 2007 to May 2008. She was the first female minister to be elected Moderator; she was the second woma ...

became the first woman minister to be elected to the office. If the moderator is a minister, he or she is 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 The coronation of the monarch of the United Kingdom is a ceremony (specifically, initiation rite) in which they are formally invested with regalia and crowned at Westminster Abbey. It corresponds to the coronations that formerly took place in ...

in 1953. The then-Moderator, James Pitt-Watson, presented a Bible to

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

, saying:

"Here is wisdom; This is the royal law; These are the lively Oracles of God."

Coat of arms

Arms of the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland

The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has an official

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

awarded by the

Lord Lyon King of Arms The Right Honourable the Lord Lyon King of Arms, the head of Lyon Court, is the most junior of the Great Officers of State in Scotland and is the Scottish official with responsibility for regulating heraldry in that country, issuing new grants ...

. 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 An order of precedence is a sequential hierarchy of nominal importance and can be applied to individuals, groups, or organizations. Most often it is used in the context of people by many organizations and governments, for very formal and state o ...

established by King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second chil ...

the Moderator ranks immediately after a sheriff principal in the sheriff principal's own sheriffdom.

List of Moderators

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 Russell Barr (born 15 October 1953) is a minister of the Church of Scotland, who was nominated in late 2015 to be the next Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Early life and education Barr was born on 15 October 1953 in ...

* 2017: Dr

Derek Browning Derek Browning (born 24 May 1962) is a minister of the Church of Scotland, who was the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland from May 2017 to May 2018 Early life and education Derek Browning was born on 24 May 1962 in Ed ...

* 2018: Susan M. Brown * 2019: Colin Sinclair * 2020: Martin Fair * 2021: The Lord Wallace of Tankerness{{cite news, url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-57212592, title=Former deputy first minister Jim Wallace is new Kirk moderator , date=22 May 2021 , publisher=

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...

, access-date=27 September 2021 * 2022: Dr

Iain Greenshields Iain MacLeod Greenshields is a Kirk minister, serving as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland since 2022. He was ordained in 1984, and previously served as minister of St Margaret's Parish Church in Dunfermline, Fife. His wi ...

References

External links

Church of Scotland official website
Church of Scotland Ecclesiastical titles