We have been betrayed, says minister as he quits over gay clergy

Published on Monday 3 October 2011 22:49

AN ABERDEEN minister and his assistant are quitting the Church of Scotland in the growing row over the ordination of gay ministers.

A large number of members of the 500-strong congregation of the High Church in Hilton are set to follow their lead and establish a new church, claiming they have been “betrayed” by the Kirk’s stance.

The Rev Peter Dickson, and his assistant, the Rev David Gibson, confirmed yesterday that they were resigning from their posts and from the Kirk.

Mr Gibson said he had taken the decision to “demit” his pastoral charge with a “heavy heart”. But he continued: “The Church of Scotland wants, sadly, to move on from the Bible, and it has walked away from the teaching of Christ.

“This tragic drift away from the gospel makes a ministry like mine increasingly untenable.”

Simon Barker, the Session Clerk, is also understood to be leaving the Church, together with a number of elders and an undisclosed number of members of the congregation.

The Kirk Session said in statement last night: “The decision of the Church of Scotland to move away from the authority of scripture has left many in our church with a very real sense of betrayal. The decisions of the Church of Scotland will inevitably mean that many in our fellowship will be unable to remain at High Church, Hilton, or indeed within the Church of Scotland.”

Two other ministers – the Rev Andrew Coghill, of Leurbost Church in Lewis, and the Rev Roddy MacRae, of Glenelg and Kintail in the Highlands, announced they were leaving their posts earlier this year.

And the congregation of another Aberdeen church, Gilcomston South, are expected to vote formally to secede from the Church of Scotland within the next two months.

Both churches are within two miles of Queen’s Cross Church, which sparked the threatened schism with the congregation’s decision two years ago to induct the Rev Scott Rennie as the Kirk’s first openly gay minister.

Mr Dickson announced his decision at Sunday morning service. He said in a statement, posted on his church’s website yesterday: “It is with a heavy heart and genuine sorrow that I announce my decision to demit the pastoral charge of High Church, Hilton, on 30 November and cease to be a minister of the Church of Scotland.”

A spokesman for the Church of Scotland said: “The Church has set up a theological commission to examine whether persons in a civil partnership are eligible for admission, ordination and induction as ministers of Word and Sacrament, or deacons, among other issues.

“It is disappointing that any minister or members feel the need to leave the Church before the commission reports. We stress that no final decisions have been taken.”