IT IS unlikely to come as news to anyone reading this that the Church of Scotland has a problem with an ageing and shrinking membership, and fewer people in the pews on Sunday mornings.
This has been the trend for more than 60 years, with the Church both nationally and locally (with a few notable exceptions) seemingly powerless to resist a rising tide of secularism. The ever-growing list of church unions, linkages and closures, and the measures to deal with the looming shortage of ministers, both bear witness to a pattern of managed decline.
Photo: iStock