by Bill Heaney
The First Minister attended the second day of the Church’s annual gathering in Edinburgh and met the new Moderator of the General Assembly, the Rt Rev Gordon Kennedy, and Lord High Commissioner Lady Elish Angiolini, the King’s representative to the General Assembly.
Mr Kennedy, who was elected Moderator on Friday, welcomed the First Minister, saying: “We thank you for your presence and we are glad to renew our promise to pray and support all our MSPs
“We are grateful we live in a nation where we can have elections which we can all take part in, and we want to thank you and all the candidates for the debates we had, which informed us and helped shape our participation in the election process.
“It’s good that this is the kind of community we live in, that we can share in the political process.”
“Be assured of our good wishes as you seek to serve all the people of Scotland.”
Mr Swinney praised the historic and important role of the Church in shaping modern Scotland and said it continued to make an important contribution to the nation.
The First Minister said: “I was honoured to attend this year’s General Assembly, and to meet the new Moderator and the Lord High Commissioner. The Scottish Government’s relationship with the Church of Scotland is very important to me – it is an historic institution that has profoundly shaped our country and the values that guide us.
“By building cohesion between our diverse faith and belief communities, promoting social justice and helping many of our most vulnerable people, the Church continues to make important and valued contributions to the civic life of our nation.”
The General Assembly opened on Friday at the Assembly Hall on the Mound, Edinburgh, and continues until Monday.
The Assembly is considering a range of matters affecting the life and work of the Church, with outcomes helping to shape priorities for its mission and ministry in the year ahead.
The Church of Scotland cannot cut its way to sustainability, the General Assembly was warned, and instead must look towards a vision of growth.
In his final report as convener of the Assembly Trustees, Rev David Cameron said: “We have been at risk of entering a cycle of ever-deepening cuts. We have taken difficult decisions and those have bought us time, but we cannot continue to cut our way to sustainability.
“Our report sets before us a vision of growth. Growth meaning growing in faith, growing in service, growing in impact.”
The Assembly Trustees’ report revealed an operating surplus of £1.207 million for 2025 against a budgeted operating deficit of £6.06 million.
Despite the welcome improvement in finances, the report pointed out that much of this derived from one-off or unpredictable income, such as legacies and higher-than-expected investment returns.
Mr Cameron said the long-term situation remained challenging, but there were positives with new people joining the Church, people being nurtured in faith, and services being offered.
“The question is not whether God is at work,” he continued.
“The question is whether we will align our structures, our finances, and our imagination with that work and that requires change.”
The priorities contained in the Assembly Trustees Report – simplification, financial sustainability, and a renewed focus on mission – were designed to encourage an outward-looking Church which created new disciples.
The move towards simplification was a response to the frequent message that the Church was weighed down with too many forms, processes and layers of complexity.
“Simplification is not a luxury. It is essential,” Mr Cameron stated.
“Not careless simplification, but intentional simplification, so that time, energy, and people are released back into worship, witness, and service.”
He also stressed the need for financial sustainability.
“For too long, the pattern has been predictable: when things get tight, we cut, and then cut again, until we are no longer shaping the future; we are simply reacting to decline. That is not a vision. That is survival,” he said.
A new model of giving
One of the solutions contained in the report is a proposal to look at the way in which the ministry is financed.
In a progression from the current Giving for Growth scheme, the new Financing Ministry model would see a broad shift in how ministry is funded and supported, offering congregations more flexibility in models of ministry, fuller cost transparency and encouraging them to be more creative and proactive in their own fundraising.
Mr Cameron said that this model recognised and understood the true cost of ministry and gave congregations greater agency, including encouraging new expressions of ministry. While congregations would aim to be self-financing, those finding it difficult to do so will be able to draw on a central Solidarity Fund for additional support.
This would ensure that the Kirk remains a national church, caring for one another across every context.
“Covenant means no congregation or presbytery stands alone and we all bear one another’s burdens together,” Mr Cameron added.
This important work is not complete, and further modelling, testing and consultation will follow ahead of more detailed proposals coming back to the General Assembly in 2027.
Reforming the Church would continue the move towards a less centralised Church, where important decisions were made more locally in congregations and presbyteries.
“We are no longer a church of inherited privilege. We are a church in a secular and pluralist society,” Mr Cameron pointed out.
“That is not only a loss. It is also a gift because it frees us to rediscover who we truly are.
“Not a chaplain to the nation’s past but a servant of God’s mission in the present.
“Let us be clear, this will require courage. Courage to name what is no longer sustainable. Courage to let go of what does not serve the gospel. Courage to think differently. We cannot solve today’s challenges with yesterday’s assumptions.”
This was Mr Cameron’s final General Assembly as convenor of the Assembly Trustees, and the Moderator, Rt Rev Gordon Kennedy, took the opportunity to thank him for the work he had done since taking up the role in 2023, when the Church was still reeling from the impact of Covid
“We are proud of your work and the Assembly Trustees’ work in finding a financially sustainable model for the Church,” Mr Kennedy said.
“We are grateful you have shouldered this burden, and at this time, let me say: thank you for your service.”