Organisation
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THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
On this page you can read an overview to the annual
business event in the Church's calendar - the General
Assembly, including:
Assembly courts and authority
The Blue Book
The Moderator
Commissioners
Lord High Commissioner
Visitors
The 2008 General Assembly opened on Thursday 15 May
and closed on Wednesday 21 May. Click
here to visit our dedicated General Assembly pages
for reports, speeches and day by day audio and text
updates. The General Assembly for 2009 will open on
Thursday 21 May 2009.
Assembly courts and authority
The General Assembly is the supreme court of the Church
of Scotland.
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Comprising around 850 commissioners
- ministers, elders and members of the diaconate
- the Assembly meets for a week in late Spring every
year, usually in the Assembly Hall on the Mound
in central Edinburgh. The General Assembly has the
authority to make laws determining how the Church
of Scotland operates. |
It also is the highest court of the Church (the other
courts being the kirk session and the presbytery) in which
cases can be heard in matters of litigation.
The first General Assembly was held in December 1560.
That was the year of the Scottish Reformation which
marks the beginning of the Church of Scotland as we
now know it. That said, the Reformation was not about
creating a new Church but reforming an old one. Today's
Church of Scotland, therefore, traces its origins to
the beginnings of Scottish Christianity and 395AD when
St Ninian established a church at Whithorn.
Click here to visit our history page for more information.
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The Blue Book
Another aspect of the Assembly is its administrative role,
through which its councils, committees and departments
carry out activities which are run at national level.
The councils and committees present
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their reports annually, collected together in a blue-covered
book known as The Blue
Book. With each report is a series of resolutions
(known as deliverances) for commissioners to accept,
reject, add to or amend.
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The Blue Book 2006
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The
Moderator
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Chairing the daily business of
the Assembly is the Moderator of the General Assembly.
At times when the Moderator has to be absent from
the debating chamber, a former Moderator will
take the chair. The Moderator for 2008 - 2009
is the Right Rev David Lunan.
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For more information about the Moderator of the General
Assembly, click here.
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Commissioners
Commissioners are sent from the Church's parishes and
presbyteries, and, because different commissioners are
usually sent each year, one Assembly can assume a different
character from another. Debates on matters contained in
reports presented by the Assembly's various councils and
committee can be lengthy and complex, sometimes resulting
in many votes having to be taken in respect of a particular
motion or amendment.
The Assembly Hall, where commissioners
take part in proceedings
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Lord High Commissioner
The Lord High Commissioner, or Queen's Commissioner, is
appointed by the Queen as her representative at the General
Assembly, taking up residence for the week in the Palace
of Holyroodhouse at the eastern end of the Royal Mile.
By custom, he or she addresses the Assembly at its opening
and closing sessions, and attends much of the daily business,
but is strictly not able to influence the debates. A round
of official visits in Scotland and several evening engagements
at Holyroodhouse form part of the itinerary, and a garden
party for Assembly commissioners and guests is held on the Saturday.
The Right Honourable George Reid with the Moderator
and Moderator-Designate at the 2008 General Assembly
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The Queen approved the Right Honourable
George Reid to be appointed Lord High Commissioner
to the 2008 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
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His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, the Duke of York,
was appointed Lord High Commissioner for 2007 and the
Right Honourable the Lord Mackay of Clashfern KT was
appointed for 2006 and 2005.
During the period of the Assembly, the Lord High Commissioner
ranks next to the sovereign, the Duke of Edinburgh and
the Duke of Rothesay, and before the rest of the Royal
family. The Queen attended the opening ceremony and
closing session in 2002, as part of her Golden Jubilee
celebrations.
For a fuller explanation of the relationship between
the sovereign and the national Church in Scotland, click
here to read about Queen, State and Kirk.
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Visitors
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Also attending the Assembly are delegates invited
from other Christian denominations in Great Britain,
Ireland and overseas, together with guests of
the Lord High Commissioner. Civic dignitaries
and politicians can been seen, too, in the throne
gallery where these guests are seated. Sometimes
a distinguished visitor will be invited to address
the Assembly.
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The historic black and white corridor
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In recent times, the most publicised occasion of that
sort came in 1988, when the then Prime Minister, now
Baroness Thatcher, delivered what has since been referred
to as 'the sermon on the Mound'. In 1999 the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown MP, used a General Assembly
speech to outline his philosophy of international debt
reduction, and he addressed the Assembly again in 2008, this time as Prime Minister.
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