Moderator in scrutiny call

Moderator in challenge to general assembly

The Church of Scotland should enter a new era of openness, according to its new moderator.

The Right Reverend Andrew McLellan said the kirk should welcome an "independent" assessment of its workings as a means of forging ahead.

He made his comments during his sermon at a service at St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, which was attended by Prince Charles.

The Right Reverend Andrew McLellan

At the start of the General Assembly, the moderator commented on churches in Canada who invited a critical journalist to observe them and write a book on their workings.

He asked if the Church of Scotland could contemplate following the same path.

He said: "Oh Church of Scotland, have you the courage to do the same, to invite some shrewd analyst to put your dreams, your aspirations, your very life to exacting examination?

"However valuable it is to examine ourselves - and this assembly will be doing plenty of that - we might learn a great deal more from listening to the honest assessments of those who look at us with fresh eyes.

"I would be so pleased if such a project could somehow be born in my year of office.

"A church with comfortable pews is no church at all. It is only a church if it learns never to be content where it should be discontented."