Pastoral Letter
Dear friends,
 I am writing this on 24th May the day after the decision by the General Assembly to allow the appointment to proceed of an openly gay minister to a church in Aberdeen.
Andrew and Sheena kindly agreed to delay the printing of the newsletter to allow me to comment on this. I am sure everyone reading this will know about the issue and the decision taken. Such is the degree of concern on the part of a large number of ministers and elders in the Church of Scotland that we can expect major repercussions inside and outside the church to this decision. There has been much talk of a split, with the possibility of members and ministers leaving the Church of Scotland. I have been compelled personally to give some consideration to this matter and while I am deeply disappointed at this decision, ashamed of the Church of Scotland in making it and apprehensive regarding its future on account of it, I would counsel no one to take such action at present for several reasons.
Firstly, the General Assembly is a fickle body. There have been occasions when a decision by the Assembly has been reversed by the following Assembly because it involves a very different set of commissioners. Not that the decision regarding the appointment itself would or should be reversed which would not be right or fair. Shocking as the decision is however, the effect of it may not be as permanently damaging to the church as it may seem at present depending on what decisions are taken by the next few General Assemblies. Secondly, for committed members to leave the Church of Scotland would be to weaken it and leave it even more open to morally and ethically questionable decisions. The day may come when it would be right to leave a Church which has departed irreversibly from faithful adherence to the scriptures but it seems to me that point is far enough away at present to make it worthwhile remaining to exert a purifying if quiet influence.
I make this response without knowing anything about how the debate was conducted, what factors were presented to influence the way commissioners voted or what further decisions might be made at this Assembly regarding the wider issue of the lifestyle of those appointed to ministerial and other positions within the Church of Scotland.
Some may feel that Christian charity demands that we “live and let live” and should be tolerant regarding peoples lifestyles. Even if that were a valid policy with regard to “ordinary” members of the church (not that it ever has been or could be as long as our supreme standard is the Word of God) when it comes to ministers or elders an important part of their role is to set an example. If that example is one which is considered to be morally and spiritually dangerous it behoves us to take a stand against it for the sake of the future of society and of the church. The thing which would be most alarming would be if no one cared any more about standards and principles because behind Christian standards and principles is the deepest concern for peoples physical, moral and spiritual welfare. To shrug our shoulders or look the other way with regard to a situation such as this would make us guilty of gross lack of Christian charity because it is not kind to avoid confrontation of wrongdoing especially when as in this case it involves a whole denomination and in terms of the historic Christian faith the lifestyle of the individuals in question amounts to plain immorality. It is important also to realise that the minister in question being gay is not the problem, the church ought to be inclusive in this respect. The problem is one of a morally unacceptable lifestyle being endorsed by the church.
I would urge you to pray that this challenge to the spiritual, moral and ethical foundations of our denomination will be handled in a sensitive yet robust way with the truth spoken in love prevailing and God glorified ultimately.
Yours sincerely,
D. Cameron McPherson
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