FIFTY years ago the General Assembly made two radical decisions. One of these has flourished and will be much celebrated this year. I refer to the admission of women to the ministry of Word and Sacrament.
By contrast another momentous step taken that year has withered on the vine, namely, the decision to review the status of the Westminster Confession of Faith as the Church’s ‘principal subordinate standard’.
The Confession was drafted by an Assembly of parliamentarians and clergy from north and south of the border charged with preparing a uniform system of church government, doctrine and worship across the British Isles. It met against the background of the English civil war and the staunchly presbyterian covenanting movement in Scotland.