Kirk leader aims to act as membership slumps
New man plans to reignite ‘passion and excitement’
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Kirk membership has slumped to a record low in Scotland, it emerged yesterday.
Figures released by the Church of Scotland show no slowdown in the year-on-year decline in membership.
It plunged to 489,188 last year, down from 504,363 in 2006 and 520,940 in 2005.
The number of new members joining each year has dropped by nearly 80% since 1981.
In contrast, 2.1million people described themselves as being affiliated with the Kirk in the last census.
The Rev David Lunan, who will be become the new moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland next week, admitted the trend was a concern and said the Kirk must come up with innovative ways to help reignite “passion and excitement” for the faith.
The 63-year-old said he would like to see churchgoers invite strangers into their homes and share the joy of faith with them.
Mr Lunan, who was the minister at St Andrews-Lhanbryde Church in Moray for 12 years until 1989, added that the Kirk had “wonderful things” to say but it was clear it needed to improve the way it communicated.
The revelations follow claims from the Conservatives that the number of regular worshippers may be falling behind those of the Catholic Church.
Deputy leader Murdo Fraser suggested that the problem could be addressed if the Kirk established publicly-funded faith schools, where lessons were taught from a Protestant standpoint.
The Kirk has not ruled out the concept.
Mr Lunan said he was concerned that the number of young children attending churches across Scotland had declined in recent years and the reality was that most people who went to church “no longer have their hair colour”.
He added that part of the problem was that many people chose to spent their time doing other things on Sundays and in some cases were “cocooned” to the extent that they were not asking the big questions until later in life.
Mr Lunan, who is now a minister at a church in Glasgow and clerk to the local presbytery, was the moderator of the Presbytery of Moray from 1985-86 and a part-time chaplain at Dr Gray’s Hospital in Elgin.
The General Assembly starts on Thursday in Edinburgh and runs for six days.
This year’s lord high commissioner – the Queen’s representative – is former SNP MSP George Reid, the Scottish Parliament’s former presiding officer.
Topics to be discussed include same-sex relationships, the involvement of sex offenders in Kirk activities and euthanasia.
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Readers' Comments
When members of the General Assembly come and watch me working during the week,I'll come and watch them working on a Sunday.As they use to say "Turn all churchs into soup kitchens and soup kitchens into churchs.We would have a far better place". I don't need anyone to read me the Bible and tell me what to think about it.I can do that myself. As for faith schools, I think that is the last thing we need.To bring a ideologically devided genaration into a modern dynamic,and inclusive World would be Wrong.
grame tran
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