Mission Partners
The Church of Scotland recruits Mission Partners in response to requests that we receive from our partner churches around the world.
These requests are often for highly skilled and experienced people such as ministers, lecturers, doctors and teachers who meet the needs of a specific project that the partner church is involved with.
Our mission partners are the church's overseas personnel. They work in various roles with our partner churches and institutions in Malawi, Zambia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Israel/Palestine and Pakistan.
If you would like to learn more about the recruitment process for Mission Partners, and to find out where there are vacancies abroad, please visit our Working Overseas page.
Current Partners
Israel and Palestine: Stewart Gillan
Stewart’s first ministry was in South Africa, where he served as parish Minster in Alexandra township and as a researcher with the Commission of the Restitution of Land Rights. He completed his PhD at New College, Edinburgh, where he did field work with communities that had been forcibly removed from ancestral land under apartheid.
Upon his return to Toronto, he became the Executive Director of the Churches’ Council on Theological Education in Canada. It was in Toronto that he met Sarah Ormerod, a soprano and music teacher. They married in 2004, relocating to Scotland and taking up residence in Linlithgow, where Stewart served as minister of St Michael’s Parish Church for the next fourteen years. During this time they started their family, with Imogen making her appearance 15 years ago and Alex 13. They moved to Glasgow in 2018 when Stewart took up a call as minister of St John’s Renfield, Kelvindale. For Sarah, Kelvinside Academy, where she was Head of Music, was just around the corner.
Of his call to become a Mission Partner in Jerusalem, Stewart writes: "I have felt called to the ministry of the Church in Israel and Palestine since my first visit in October 2007 with the Middle East Committee of the then World Mission Council. Our visits over the next four years gave me an introduction to the life and work of our churches in Jerusalem and Tiberias, our three institutions (Tabeetha School, Scots Hotel and St Andrew’s Guesthouse), and some of our Church and Human Rights partners in the land of the Holy One.
"Already the learning curve has been a steep one, with a long way to go. I look forward to sharing in ministry with the Rev Muriel Pearson. Together, we ask for your support in prayer and partnership in this deeply spiritual and strategic ministry with people who have been working for peace and justice in God’s name all of their lives. God being our helper."
The minister(s) also have the support of The Friends of St Andrew’s Jerusalem and Tiberias.
Updates
Italy: Fiona Kendall
Fiona works in Rome with Mediterranean Hope, a refugee project of the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy (FCEI). Her background in European law and voluntary work with asylum seekers has helped to equip her for her role as MH’s European & Legal Affairs Advisor.
Fiona has strong links with the Church of Scotland where she grew up, and the Methodist Church, where she played an active part during a decade spent in Yorkshire. Hers is an ecumenical appointment with the Federation, the Waldensian Church, and Global Ministries of the United Church of Christ and Disciples of Christ.
Toast and Marmalade Sunday
This simple resource for Fairtrade Fortnight or beyond is to support Fiona Kendall and her work with Mediterranean Hope’s Migrant Programme in Calabria. It offers material for a Sunday service, discussion groups and after church refreshments based on why we should support the purchase of Fairtrade oranges.
Updates
Malawi: Kenneth Ross
Kenneth Ross works primarily with the Zomba Theological University in southern Malawi. It was created by the CCAP to serve all its Synods. He also engages with the other theological institutes run by the CCAP Synods in Malawi.
He has also recently also started a new role with the Council for World Mission – supporting the development of a distance PhD programme.
Updates
Zambia: Keith and Ida Waddell
Ida Waddell is a Mission Partner with the United Church of Zambia (UCZ). With her husband Keith (who retired at the end of 2025), they have been in Zambia since 1994 and served as Education and Health Secretaries at Synod Headquarters in Lusaka and in education (Keith) and healthcare (Ida). They are in Mwandi Mission in Western Province, where Ida is serving as Mission Partner (Health), working with the local medical and administrative staff to move the Mission Hospital to a more modern and broader spectrum of health services.