Fears that crisis-hit Kirk ‘might not exist in two generations’
By Mike Merrit, for the Scottish Daily Mail.
The Church of Scotland is ‘facing oblivion’ amid plummeting membership numbers, church closures and financial pressures, it has been claimed.
The Rev Dr Richard Frazer, the minister of Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, says the ‘sense of loss is running deep’. He said some members fear the decline means there may be no Church of Scotland left within ‘a generation or two’.
Dr Frazer, who is also a chaplain to the University of Edinburgh, said a group of candidates for the ministry recently told him that ‘it feels like we are being formed to administer palliative care’.
Writing in the Kirk’s magazine, Life and Work, he said: ‘Over the years, I have known a few ministers who have worked as chaplains in hospices. Those who have engaged in ministry to people approaching the end of their lives will testify that it is hugely rewarding work.
‘These students were not, however, talking about offering end of life care to their parishioners. They were talking about ministering at a time of the demise of many congregations.
‘All across Scotland, churches are closing and the sense of loss is running deep. It is not just individual congregations; there is a sense amongst some that the entire institution of the church is facing oblivion. I have even heard fellow church members suggesting that, at current rates of decline, there will be no Church of Scotland left in a generation or two.
‘Ministering to a congregation through the ending of generations of continuous worship and service can be painful.
‘It also requires sensitivity when one reflects on the story of a congregation and the people it has formed in faith and the ways in which it has promoted justice and caring in the community it serves.’
A report before the Kirk’s General Assembly last year revealed around 60,000 people worship in person on a Sunday, compared with 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 ‘untenable and unsustainable’.
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