The Guild
With around 30,000 members, the Church of Scotland Guild is one of Scotland's largest voluntary organisation. Although women make up the bulk of our membership, increasingly, men are becoming members and taking active roles at local and national levels.
Members meet in local groups at congregational level, in regional groups known as presbyterial councils, and once a year at our national meeting, to which each group can send a representative. Read more about our structure.
The current constitution of the Guild was adopted in 1997, after a major review of the present organisation's predecessor, the Woman's Guild. In 2003, and again in 2010, the Guild reviewed its constitution to ensure more inclusive language was used and to take account of the need for flexibility in local groups.
Find out more about the history of the Guild, including important dates and events in the long life of this movement, in our timeline. This also includes details of previous office bearers, editors and executive staff.
Read the latest issue of the newsletter, with news from local Guilds around the country.
The Guild today
The Guild is about invitation, encouragement, commitment, and fellowship which leads to providing opportunities for continuing growth in Christian faith through worship, prayer and action.
Worship is an essential ingredient in all meetings and activities. Prayer underpins everything - and is a means of involving those members who cannot be active in other ways.
Action means living out the faith through project work, exploration of the discussion topics and local involvement of groups and individual members in various aspects of Christian service. Read our FAQ for more information on the Guild and its work.
Aims and ethos
Women and men of all walks of life meet together under our common aim:
"The Church of Scotland Guild is a movement within the Church of Scotland which invites and encourages both women and men to commit their lives to Jesus Christ and enables them to express their faith in worship, prayer and action."
The aim has been underlined in our motto which is taken from Acts 27, verse 23: "Whose we are and Whom we serve."
You can read more about the Guild's themes and topics, and the projects it supports.
Contact for more information
To find out more, or if you have any questions or suggestions about what we do, or want to know about getting involved, contact:
- Fiona Punton, information officer, email fpunton@cofscotland.org.uk
or contact us at the Church's offices in Edinburgh.