Assembly closes with question that will haunt Kirk

Having opened the week debating and agreeing to examine whether it should move towards allowing the ordination of openly gay ministers, a question was raised yesterday that pointed to the potential repercussions of that momentous decision.

During the general trustees' report on the Kirk's properties, the Rev Ivor MacDonald, minister at Kilmuir and Stenscholl in the presbytery of Lochcarron-Skye, asked: "Are there circumstances in which the general trustees would allow the congregation to leave with its buildings?"

The question raises the potential threat that traditionalist Kirk ministers and congregations, unwilling to accept the Kirk's move towards accepting openly gay ministry, will seek not only to leave en masse but attempt to take their churches as well.

Before the General Assembly, Mr MacDonald had publicly voiced his opposition on the issue of the ordination of those who are openly gay, having backed the Fellowship of Confessing Churches, a grouping of traditionalist congregations opposed to the move.

He had also expressed the opinion that the position of the proponents of homosexual ordination was "essentially a schismatic one".

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Lochcarron-Skye presbytery has been at the heart of the debate. A motion brought by them to the 2009 Assembly following the appointment of Scott Rennie to Queen's Cross Church, Aberdeen, triggered the report that led ultimately to Monday's decision over openly gay ministers.

It is also the same presbytery to which the Rev Roddy MacRae belongs, who yesterday became the first minister to say he would quit over Monday's decision.

Responding to Rev MacDonald's question, the Rev James Jack said that congregations approaching on this issue would be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.He said: "The trustees must act within the powers conferred on them in these statutes - otherwise we would be in breach of trust.

"As trustees we require to exercise due skill and care in the administration of the trust estate in our charge and to exercise sound judgment before agreeing to any arrangement which potentially might have an adverse effect on those for whom we hold the trust estate - that is, the Church of Scotland and its congregations."

Speaking outside the Assembly, Rev Jack said that the issue of a congregation being able to take its church if it departed would depend on the nature of its title deed, and whether it lay with the congregation or with the Kirk.

"I'm not anticipating a huge queue at my front door on Monday morning," he said. "There will be the odd congregation who might want to investigate further what their options are. We will look at them individually, because we need to legally."

The Rev Steven Reid, chairman of the traditionalist Forward Together group, said that Rev MacDonald would have asked the question simply because he would face a similar one when he returned to his congregation.

"It does indicate that people are considering that (leaving], it doesn't mean they're going to do that because it depends what they find out," he said.

Though he has encouraged those unhappy with the result to remain with the Kirk, Rev Reid said that ministers north of Inverness faced the possibility of seeing their congregation going to the Free Church of Scotland because of the decision.

"I known some of these people who have lost families following the decision in 2009, so they are looking at the possibility of their church being decimated and because the Free Church is so strong in that part, they have a very viable alternative to go to, because even culturally the style of worship there is not that as much difference than there would be, say, in the Central Belt, so they're in the position where they have to consider these things." He said that the Assembly's decision had left many unanswered questions and people would be looking at how they will react: "There will be a seismic effect on the Church of Scotland. I was asked if I thought that people would just knuckle down and accept it, and I can't see that happening."

Beyond the gay issue, a sense of uncertainty and real concern about the shape of the Kirk's future was a recurring theme throughout the week, resulting in a struggle between a call for radical innovation and the desire to maintain the tradition structures of the church characterised by the expression that there was "a lack of appetite for change".

A root-and-branch plan, three years in the making, to reshape the presbyteries into "super presbyteries" and devolve powers to them was rejected, while proposals passed last year to cut posts were revisited in an attempt to halt their advance, with claims that congregations did not appreciate the implications of the plans.The proposals were allowed to continue.

While the Assembly grasped the nettle on most of those issues, they are not "done deals".