John Chalmers (moderator)
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John Chalmers, KHC is a minister of the
Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...
. From 2010 to 2017, he served as the Principal Clerk to the
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the sovereign and highest court of the Church of Scotland, and is thus the Church's governing body.''An Introduction to Practice and Procedure in the Church of Scotland'' by A. Gordon McGillivray, ...
. In 2014, following the withdrawal of Angus Morrison on health grounds, he was nominated to be
Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland 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 Ass ...
for 2014–15; he was duly formally elected as Moderator on the first day of the General Assembly's week-long annual session. He succeeded
Lorna Hood Elizabeth Lorna Hood, (born 21 April 1953) is a minister of the Church of Scotland. From 1979 to 2016, she was the minister of North Parish Church, Renfrew. From 2013 to 2014, she also served as Moderator of its General Assembly. She is an Ex ...
as Moderator. After serving his one-year term, he was succeeded by Angus Morrison. He is a Chaplain in Ordinary to the King - a member of the Ecclesiastical Household in Scotland.


Background

Born in
Bothwell Bothwell () is a Protected area, conservation village in the South Lanarkshire council area of Scotland and part of the Greater Glasgow area. It lies on the north bank of the River Clyde, adjacent to Uddingston and Hamilton, Scotland, Hamilton, ...
,
Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark (; ), is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and registration county in the Central Lowlands and Southern Uplands of Scotland. The county is no l ...
, John Chalmers studied chemical engineering at the
University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde () is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal charter in 1964 as the first techn ...
before transferring to the
University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...
to study divinity. He is married to Liz; they have three children. In 2011, during the General Assembly, his youngest son John-James was severely injured whilst serving with the
Royal Marines The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...
in Afghanistan. In November 2016 he was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Divinity by the University of Aberdeen.


Career

His first charge as a parish minister was at Renton Parish Church, Dunbartonshire, followed by Palmerston Place Church in Edinburgh (1986–1995). Since 1995 he has worked full-time in the Church of Scotland Offices, including as Principal Clerk since 2010. As Moderator, during the Scottish independence referendum campaign, he called for respectful dialogue between the proponents and post-referendum he encouraged the church to be an instrument of healing and reconciliation. In February 2015 he met with
Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...
in Rome.BBC News, 16 February 2015
/ref> More recently he has continued his interest in mediation and peacemaking and has worked with the Church leaders of South Sudan helping to equip them to participate in local and community peace building.


See also

*
List of moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland List of moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is a complete list of moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland from the Reformation to the present day. The location of the parish or other post during the m ...


References


External links


The Church of Scotland - official websiteModerator’s page on the Church of Scotland website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chalmers, John Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland 20th-century ministers of the Church of Scotland 20th-century Scottish Presbyterian ministers Living people Alumni of the University of Glasgow Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century ministers of the Church of Scotland 21st-century Scottish Presbyterian ministers Alumni of the University of Strathclyde