Has the Church of Scotland Turned Around?

I have long wanted the Church of Scotland to prosper. I pray for it. I will rejoice the day that it is renewed. Has that day arrived?

There are some at the recent General Assembly who think that there are at least the green shoots of recovery and renewal. The motto of the Assembly was Deuteronomy 10:12 – ‘walk in all his ways’. The moderator was an evangelical. The language used was increasingly evangelical. There was a renewed emphasis on Jesus.

The Church seemed to be coming to grips with the reality of decline and really seeking to turn it around. And the secular press even carried encouraging reports on how the number of professions of faith had more than doubled in the past year.

As one speaker put it put it “We need to find our identity again…not buildings or titles or our place in the community but in being followers of Jesus. Our identity is to walk in all his ways. To speak about Jesus more than we speak about church.”

And yet….

Of all the Assemblies I have attended or watched this was at least as depressing if not worse than any of the previous. Why? So many reasons. I write these so much to knock the C of S or awaken the good people who are still in the C of S. They have long ago ceased to listen to me. Nor do I write this as some kind of schadenfreude. ‘See I told you so’. The situation is too sad and serious for such silly games. No, I write this as a warning to other churches throughout the world as an example of the road you do not walk down. I think the Church of Scotland General Assembly of 2026 demonstrated all the symptoms of a church in terminal decline.

(Please note that all the quotes in italics are either from the reports or commissioners).

1) A Church in decline refuses to see the real causes of that decline –

The reasons given for the decline of the church were largely simplistic and superficial. There was a great deal of talk about how governance had been reshaped, but all the great plans from the past had not worked. Why? The answer was given ‘It’s not the churches fault…it is the society that has changed’. The report on decline basically accepted hook, line and sinker, secularisation theory – the view that the more urbanised a society becomes the more secular it becomes. The theory is highly debatable – not least because it has not applied in nations such as the US. The idea that it is the parish system that is to blame is also without substance. In fact, I would argue that in many areas it is the parish system that has preserved the church from total collapse. It seems to me that there is a lot of straw clutching going on.

One minister even argued that there was nothing that would have made any difference – yet there are churches that are growing in post-Christian Scotland.

The early church flourished and grew in a largely urban, anti-Christian society – so the question is why hasn’t the Church of Scotland? Furthermore, the real question was not even asked. What if rather than the changes in society that have caused the decline in the Church, it is the changes in the Church that have caused, or contributed to, the decline in the society?

2) A Church in decline refuses to follow the Lord in all his ways –

The Church of Scotland refuses to walk in all his ways – despite the motto. We were treated once again with the absurdity of a church that says that the teaching of Jesus is that marriage is between a man and a woman, but then goes on to say that its members, elders and ministers are free to go against the teaching of Christ.

“The doctrine of the Church is that marriage is between one man and one woman. This doctrine applies to ministers (s 2(1)). So, in practice, ministers should not be in same sex marriages/civil partnerships. • Liberty of opinion is permitted, so dissent from this doctrine is permissible (s 2(2)). • Reflecting this difference of view, appointment of ministers in same sex relationships is permitted to congregations which follow the process set out in the Act (s 2(3))”

A great emphasis was made on discipleship – but how do you have disciples if you refuse to follow Christ? Whose disciples are you?

3) What matters in a church in decline is what it does not say just as much as what it does say –

The General Assembly was determined to say nothing meaningful. Because to say anything meaningful would cause division.

In the outgoing moderator’s opening sermon, she argued that we should talk about Jesus and not talk about the church and then spent much of the rest of the sermon talking about the church – or at least what the church was doing. She spoke about the privilege of being at the ‘kirking’ of the parliament in St Giles, but nothing about the involvement of the pagans. She was certainly no Jenny Geddes! She argued that a commitment to service was the key, ‘whatever our faith or creed’, without telling us what that service should be based on. In so doing she reduced Jesus to a cultural tribal icon. The important thing – whatever your religion or creed, is to be nice.

But what struck me was just how similar the new moderator’s sermon was. The new moderator is an evangelical – but his sermon could just as easily have been preached by a liberal. There was little to disagree with in it. I still haven’t worked out if this was parody or serious but at one point, he asked the Assembly to chant the mantra “wholistic sustainable development – God’s plan for everyone”. Initially I thought he was taking the mickey – but then I realised he could have been serious.

A Church does not stop declining when evangelicals rise to positions of power. It all depends on what the evangelicals do with that power. If they argue that at least they have a seat at the table – it doesn’t matter if you don’t get any say in the menu – or when you do you just serve up the same bland inoffensive mush as the liberal/progressives.

The evangelicals in the Church of Scotland have completely sold the pass. What we were told is that what we all have in common is that we all love Jesus whatever part of the church you belong to (the vice convenor). “He is not a theological preference, he is our existential identity, he does not belong to one of us or any one part of us. He is our king; he is the head of this kingdom. It is not about theological camps – it is simply to point to Jesus.” It’s so sweet and kum ba ya…. We all love Jesus. But which Jesus? Our own personal Jesus or the one who really exists and who calls us to make people his disciples teaching them to obey everything he has commanded us? (Matthew 28)

4) A Church in decline struggles to communicate the Gospel – There is an inability to communicate the Gospel in any meaningful sense –

At one particularly cringe worthy moment (I think the old style liberals must have been embarrassed at this point) the delegates were all told to turn to one another and tell each other how Jesus was good news for them. Just imagine if the 240,000 members of the Church of Scotland were all to do the same. That would take some imagination…! 200,000 of whom are so grateful to Jesus…that they don’t even bother to worship him on his day.

5) A Church in decline reflects the values of the prevailing culture rather than the Word of God.

The rewriting of the Gospel so that the good news becomes about the transformation of society, rather than the glory of God in the salvation of sinners and the renewal of all things. Again, there was little at the Assembly that the Humanist society could not have agreed with – or all the mainstream middle-class parties. The church is against poverty, slavery and especially against Tommy Robinson and ‘the far right’. We heard a lot about the Palestinians and the evil of Zionism but precious little about the suffering Christians in Nigeria (as one brave Indian delegate pointed out – and was then just ignored). And, unless I missed it, there was nothing about the rise in antisemitism in Scotland. There was little said to challenge the societal idols of materialism, progressive doctrines or the killing of young and old.

We heard concern about the gender balance of the Trustees. In a classic case of ideology hitting the reality barrier, it asked why a church with a majority membership of women could not find three women (out of the six) to become General Trustees?

6) A Church in decline clutches at straws –

There is an inability to face up to reality, and as a result some creative use of statistics to provide false hope. I remember some time ago a football commentator remarking as Scotland were being hammered 3:0 ‘Scotland wisely allowing their opponents possession of the ball”! I also remember my complete incredulity from the Church of Scotland spokesperson in Shetland reflecting to the BBC that that they had reduced from around 22 parishes to about 2 – which was good news – a new way of doing ministry. I was reminded of this listening to this years Assembly.

The Trustees declared “Growth is already in our Church, and the Trustees are asking the Assembly to agree that for the next five years the locus and focus of the Church and in particular the Trustees should be to foster, nurture and increase growth across every facet of Church.”

In a moment of surreality that would have pleased even Salvador Dali one man even said that every death in the church was growth because it was adding to the number of believers in heaven! I have seen some pretty strange use of statistics (like the parish minister claiming that she had 1,000 children connected to her church just because she was chaplain in a local school) but claiming that everyone who dies is part of your church growth was a new one on me!

Another example of the banality gripping the Assembly was the commissioner who argued that “this church is not in decline – if we have one person becoming a Christian that is growth. We should focus on, embrace and focus on growth – hands up if your church is in decline or growing.”. And this is how we end up with a church declining at 15,000 members per year declaring that it is growing!

But what about the oft cited figure of over 800 new professions of faith in 2025 – double that of the previous year? It seems almost churlish to question that. But truth must.

I was so intrigued by this I did some digging. The 800 professions of faith is about one per congregation. There were in addition 1, 150 members added by transfer from another church. But this was offset by 1,781 moving to another church. Overall, the membership fell by 5% from 241,000 to 229,000. There were 7,130 deaths which leaves about 6,000 leaving for other reasons.

But what was even more shocking for me was that the figure I have been using for attendances at the Church of Scotland is well out of date. Pre-Covid the Church of Scotland had 88,000 attending. Post covid it was reckoned to be around 60,000. Last year it was 43,000. In other words, less than one Scot in a hundred attends a Church of Scotland.

There were 1300 baptisms – 330 were adults. Only 2.9% of Scottish births in 2025. They did 860 weddings (3.2% of the total in Scotland) and 9,565 funerals (about 15%). It seems that the justification for the Church of Scotland as ‘hatches, matches and dispatches’ no longer applies. That’s now the business of the Humanists..

7) A Church in decline finds that finances become a determining factor –

One of the most contentions parts of the Assembly was the claim that the cost of a minister for each congregation was to be £63,000. Given that the stipend is only 40K this seems an extraordinary amount – but it does include housing, insurance, training, admin etc.  The effect is that many smaller congregations won’t be able to call a minister even if they could find one who wanted to come.  The Church says it has about £50 million in reserves – but that is only around six months of operating costs – which puts it close to insolvency. Unless there is a massive turnaround finances will increasingly dictate policy.

8) A Church in decline will often claim that it is the Spirit who is guiding them –

Beware of those who keep saying that it is the Spirit who guides them. For example, in the report on minister in SSM it says – “Also, the sub-group did not want to assume that it would not be possible for ministers of different theological persuasion to work together in a Team Ministry. In addition, such an approach risks giving undue weight to a minister’s sexuality, above other aspects of their Call and ministry…..Rather, the sub-group felt that the Church should trust in the Holy Spirit, that such a situation could instead be resolved and that the parties involved might work together for the peace and unity of the Church. “

The Church of Scotland now believes that the Holy Spirit will guide some congregations to approve of same sex relationships, and others to disapprove.

One leading (former?) evangelical actually declared. “I trust the Spirit of God that whatever…. theological position we are from let’s trust the Spirit of God to find the appropriate platform through which people can learn about Jesus.”. Theology doesn’t matter. The Spirit will guide us into mutually contradictory positions so that we can share the Good news which we cannot agree on, about a Jesus who we all think of differently. That’s a message the people of Scotland will surely flock to! It reminded me of the time we visited a Church of Scotland minister in Inverness to plan a joint mission. It didn’t happen because we could not agree on what the Gospel was.

9) A Church in decline relies on individual experiences rather than collective reality –

We heard several moving and wonderful stories of individuals who have been rescued from addiction, depression or other problems. It is surely right to celebrate those – the Lord is still at work, despite our failures. But such stories should not be used to cover up the big picture. I have seen this done in several ways. For example, in the Free Church when we were faced with declining numbers you would always get a couple of ‘success’ stories being spoken about at the Assembly. That created an overall impression which encouraged complacency.

Another example is watching well known tele-evangelists start up mercy ministries. They can then present the story of ‘Alice’ who was rescued from starvation by child sponsorship. Who would dare decry that – or bother to find out that 80% of the child sponsorship went for ‘administrative’ expenses?

10) A Church in decline uses language in post-modern meaningless way.

Its more meme than mission. For example, when you get phrases such as ‘we love without an agenda’ being spoken in order to justify the agenda. “What does it matter what size we are as long as we are bearing fruit?” said by an Assembly which was pre-eminently concerned about size. My fear is that a lot of religious language is used in a meaningless way. I sometime wonder if the continual use of the name of Jesus as an invocation to bless our plans and politics, is not a breach of the third commandment. Are we not taking His Name in vain?

11) A Church in decline creates false hope by offering unrealistic visions –

As Bonhoeffer warned – beware the tyranny of the visionary. The Assembly keeps putting forward plans that never work out. They are a bit like generals in the First World War who sent troops over the trenches with the promise that ‘this time it will be different’. Last year the Assembly had decided that its aim would be to have 600 full time ministers plus 60. This year the Trustees report admitted ““Currently numbers of Ministers and MDS across the church are running significantly below projections with no realistic likelihood of reaching the full 600 plus 60.” Mike Goss, a fine evangelical minister, tried to bring some reality to the proceedings. He pointed out that there were 762 charges but only 480 parish ministers. Over 280 vacancies. And only one probationer coming out this year. The Assembly did not want to hear.

The latest example of this is the Good News Collective. I won’t bore you with the details (suffice it to say that you will get the same in any church growth, feel good manual) but it was summed up by the mantra ‘Naming Jesus, Knowing Jesus, Trusting Jesus, Serving Jesus’ along with ‘You Matter; Hope has a Name; and Your Future is out there.’

Nobody questions such cliches. One minister even professed to be really excited by the report into the decline of the church and how it could grow. Despite the fact that it said nothing new and offered nothing new.

12) A Church in decline refuses to repent –

Except of slavery. There was a great deal of hand wringing and humiliation about the sins of our forefathers. Of course we know so much better now! But this was not real repentance. The Church needs to repent of what it has done now…not what some of our ancestors did 200 years ago.

One elder spoke of his son being refused to be a church of Scotland minister because of his views on marriage…. he is now an elder in the Free Church plant which has just bought a Church of Scotland building. The elder pointed out that we need to return to the teaching of the Bible if the Church wants to stop losing its young people. He too was ignored.

The establishment don’t listen to this kind of plea. Instead, the self-congratulations flowed. The Assembly congratulated itself on its ‘vulnerability and wisdom’. It’s ‘courage’….and so on….

Conclusion:

Is this a church in terminal decline? I suspect so. Unless God intervenes and works an astounding miracle….

The Trustees report actually, perhaps inadvertently, offered an answer.

“What does it mean to be the Church of Scotland today? We are no longer the church of an inherited privilege. We are a church in a secular and pluralist society. 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. A church not for itself, but for others. A church sent. 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 and move beyond patterns that no longer bear fruit. We cannot solve today’s challenges with yesterday’s assumptions.”

These are fine words…. let us see if they will be put into practice. Will the Church repent of its compromise of the Gospel? Will the Church have the courage to say that we got it wrong on the SSM debate and the question of the authority of Scripture? Will the Church be able to say it is no longer sustainable to allow heresy in our midst? Will the Church have the courage to say that liberalism no longer serves the gospel and to think differently from the patterns of this world? Will the Church listen to the Word of God – or the many words of its committees and church growth gurus? Will the Church of Scotland dare to dream and move towards a reunion of the various Presbyterian denominations in Scotland, based on the biblical doctrine, worship and discipline of our Presbyterian forefathers? Or will it continue to deny the reality and causes of decline as it descends into a tiny historical irrelevance?

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2)

Reflections on a Sunny Sad Historic Afternoon at The Church of Scotland General Assembly