Church closures on agenda as Kirk Assembly opens in Edinburgh and Moderator explains why she's wearing green

Head of Christian Aid Scotland takes over as Moderator at start of Church of Scotland’s General Assembly

The head of a charity has been installed as the new Moderator of the Church of Scotland’s General Assembly.

The Rev Sally Foster-Fulton is taking a 12-month sabbatical from her role at Christian Aid to serve as the Kirk’s ambassador at home and abroad for the next year. She said she was looking forward to meeting and encouraging people involved in church work at local, national and international levels at a time of unprecedented challenge and opportunity.

Church closures are high on the Kirk’s agenda as it faces a shortage of ministers as well as falling attendances and lower income. Across the country, congregations are being merged and ministers are set to work in teams covering a number of churches.

New Moderator the Rt Rev Sally Foster-Fulton said she had gone "a bit rogue" in choosing a green jacket for her formal outfit. Picture: Andrew O'Brien.

Born and raised in South Carolina in the USA, Mrs Foster-Fulton is married to a fellow Church of Scotland minister, the Rev Stuart Fulton, who serves a parish in Glasgow. The couple have two adult daugters and have recently become grandparents. Mrs Foster-Fulton has worked in parishes, as a hospital chaplain and was convener of the Church of Scotland’s former church and society council, which looked at social, political and economic issues, from 2012-16.

She told the Assembly, which opened on Saturday: “There are hefty challenges facing the Church of Scotland, there are monumental challenges facing the world and the church is not exempt. Across our global neighbourhood, we face a triple threat, ones that feed on each other – climate change, conflict and Covid. Together, they add pressure on well-being, a sense of home and culture, on finances and resources – and sadly unsurprising, it is the most vulnerable who suffer most.”

She also said she had gone a “bit rogue” with her choice of official Moderator clothing. There was a time when Moderators wore full court dress, including lace and ruffles, knee-breeches and silver-buckled shoes. More recent holders of the office have kept the costume simpler – the retiring Moderator, the Very Rev Dr Iain Greenshields, wore a floor-length blue cassock during his year of office.

Mrs Foster-Futon has chosen a “piper green” jacket, based on the traditional moderatorial jacket but developed with a female cut. And she said there was a reason for the green. “It has felt like an extraordinary time in the life of the planet, the life of the country and the life of the Church of Scotland. Green is the liturgical colour for ‘ordinary time’ and it reminds us, throughout history, the world, the country, the Church, have experienced extraordinary challenges. And it has been the grit, the determination and the hopeful imagination of individuals and communities who have risen together to those challenges. Ordinary time is extraordinary and we know what is at stake – all we need to do is look around us.”