The Church of Scotland will have to close hundreds of churches in the coming years, the Kirk’s trustees have warned as it stages its annual General Assembly.
image for illustration only – Fiona Newton
The BBC writes:
The gathering of Kirk leaders – including new moderator Rt Rev Sally Foster-Fulton – begins on Saturday in Edinburgh against a continuing backdrop of falling membership and dwindling income.
A report going before the Assembly this week states that about 60,000 people worship in person on a Sunday, compared to 88,000 pre-pandemic, with a growing number of people choosing to worship online or in “other ways”.
The Kirk said having more than 1,000 churches to cater for the number of people attending was “simply untenable and unsustainable”.
Reverend David Cameron, a parish minister and the convener of the Assembly Trustees, will present the report.
He said closing churches was a painful but necessary exercise.
“We feel first-hand what it means to people when they’ve gone to their local church, they’ve got married there, they’ve had their children baptised there, and they’ve buried their loved ones from there,” he said.
“We recognise the real sorrow but we do have to rationalise our buildings in an appropriate way.”
