Moderator of the General Assembly

The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is an honorary role, held for 12 months.

Meetings of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, held in May each year, are chaired by the Moderator. He or she leads daily worship, keeps order, rules on points of order, and signs documents on behalf of the Assembly.

It should be noted that the Moderator is not the head of the Church, nor the leader of the Church of Scotland, or its spokesperson. When asked for an opinion on important issues, the Moderator is expected to have in mind the views of the General Assembly or the relevant Church board or committee.

After the Assembly, the Moderator spends much of the rest of his or her time in office travelling as a Church representative in Scotland, other parts of the UK, Ireland and overseas in an ambassadorial capacity. Every Moderator carries out a series of visits to several Church of Scotland presbyteries, as well as undertaking a number of international tours. Regular features on his/her itinerary are visits to one of the armed forces and a stay in London around St Andrew's Day (30 November), which includes a meeting in Downing Street with the Prime Minister. The Moderator also visits the Scottish Parliament.

The Moderator has two chaplains who assist him or her in preparing for the General Assembly and provide support throughout Assembly week.

Selecting a Moderator

Every year in October, a committee of the Assembly meets in Edinburgh to nominate the person who will be presented as Moderator Designate to the General Assembly the following May. The Moderator Designate for 2005 is the Rev David W. Lacy.

Dr Alison Elliot is the Church of Scotland's first woman Moderator. For the first time in the Kirk's history, both nominees for the role were female. There is no bar to the election of a female minister, or to a male or female elder or deacon. The last elder appointed to the role was around 500 years ago.

Once the nomination has been accepted on the opening day of the Assembly, the person concerned is elected Moderator of the General Assembly. If he or she is a minister, they are addressed as the Right Rev until his or her moderatorial year ends with the election of a successor. A former Moderator, who is a minister, is referred to as the Very Rev.

See also

• History of Scotland
• Religion in the United Kingdom

External link

• Official Church of Scotland website