The General Assembly opens on 17 May 2025

Hundreds of church members across Scotland and beyond are preparing to attend the General Assembly next month.

The Church of Scotland's annual gathering will be held at the Assembly Hall on the Mound in Edinburgh from 17-22 May.

The Assembly is the supreme court of the Church of Scotland and was first held in 1560 at the beginning of the Scottish Reformation.

It meets annually to hear and discuss reports, make laws and set the Church's agenda for the coming year.

His Majesty The King has appointed Lady Elish Angiolini, LT DBE PC KC FRSE, as his personal representative to this year's General Assembly. Lady Elish was Scotland's first female Lord Advocate and the first female Lord Clerk Register of Scotland.

More than 400 commissioners, made up of Church of Scotland ministers, elders, deacons and recent Moderators will take part in the Assembly, either in person or online.

Also attending will be delegates from other churches, invited visitors from at home and abroad, committee conveners, department heads and presbytery youth representatives.

Discussions will centre on reports from the Church's committees, and will cover everything from financial management to a new apprenticeship route to ministry.

The Assembly will also look at plans for planting new churches and innovative types of worshipping communities.

Commissioners are encouraged to read all of the reports, which will be published on the website on or before 2 May.

As well as Church matters, the Assembly will debate issues of wider societal importance such as assisted dying, the challenges facing social care, the legacies of slavery in the Church and the conflicts in Israel/Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and South Sudan.

On Monday morning, The Most Reverend Hosam Naoum, Archbishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, will address the Assembly.

Extravagant Love

Rev Rosie Frew has been designated as the 2025-26 Moderator of the General Assembly, succeeding the current Moderator Rt Rev Dr Shaw Paterson.

She will then act as the Church's ambassador for the coming year.

Mrs Frew has chosen ‘Extravagant Love' as her theme for the year.

Her inspiration has roots in the bedtime stories she read her children. Published in 1994, Guess How Much I Love You by Sam M^cBratney with illustrations by Anita Jeram, focuses on ‘how to measure the unmeasurable' – love - with the most extravagant description being ‘to the moon and back'.

"‘Even now my daughter and I will use the shorthand, ‘to the moon – and back," she says,

"‘The assurance that they are loved is so important for children.

"The assurance that we are loved is important to all of us, most especially if we're going through hard times."

A range of online and social media downloads including wallpaper for your mobile phone are available on the Church of Scotland website.

Even earlier roots for the Moderator Designate's inspiration come from one of her favourite Bible passages, Ephesians 3:14-21.

The Apostle Paul tells the Ephesians, "I pray that you may…. grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

"This is the immensity, the extravagance of Christ's love for us," she says.

"Wide and long and high and deep. Love that's full to overflowing. Know that love! Be assured by that love.

"This has been something I've tried to convey throughout my ministry.

"It's not just knowing, it's also showing. Show God's love for you in the way you love and care for others both nearby and far away."

Looking forward to the year ahead, Mrs Frew hopes everyone will challenge themselves to feel and express God's Extravagant Love.

"How do we love extravagantly?" she asks.

"How do we show and share Christ's love extravagantly? Who really needs to know that love? What are we doing and what could we be doing better?"

The 2025 General Assembly will be livestreamed and can be seen on the Church of Scotland website.