A Western Isles congregation torn apart by the ongoing gay clergy row has been given permission to appoint a new minister.
Stornoway High Church on Lewis has been without an official leader since the retirement of the Rev Willie Black in 2010.
The congregation was not in a position to replace him as the row over whether congregations should be able to appoint a minister in a same-sex relationship caused disharmony and uncertainty among members.
The situation came to a climax when about 250 members of the congregation left the Kirk and officially joined the Free Church of Scotland last month.
Stornoway High Church on Matheson Road, which has about 90 worshippers, is now looking to the future after the Presbytery of Lewis granted permission for the recruitment process to start last week.
Session clerk John Cunningham said: “This is an answer to prayer and we are thankful to God and to our friends on presbytery for allowing us this opportunity.
“The search now begins, under God, for a person of his choosing to become minister of the Stornoway High Church congregation.
“Whoever is called to this post will be rewarded by the opportunity to work with a warm, loving and receptive congregation to bring the Gospel to the people of Stornoway.”
The Kirk’s General Assembly decided last month to refer a proposal for a so-called mixed economy to Kirk presbyteries for further consideration.
Under the plans, which will be discussed next year, congregations could opt in to a policy to appoint a minister in a same-sex relationship if they wished under a “conscience clause”.
The proposal is aimed at ensuring both sides of the debate are accommodated within the legal framework of the Kirk.
The issue was sparked by the appointment of the Rev Scott Rennie to Queen’s Cross Church in Aberdeen in 2009.
Kirk officials have tried to play down the row and pointed out that only 13 ministers have left in protest in the last five years.
But evangelical group Forward Together claimed they were “misreading” the situation and claimed many more and their flocks would leave if the mixed economy proposal was approved.