Letter to The Herald on St George's Tron Church

A number of letters over recent days have urged the Church of Scotland to allow the former minister and congregation of St George's Tron Church in Glasgow to take the city centre building and the manse with them. I write as an evangelical within the Church of Scotland and as someone who has benefited from the preaching at the Tron.

Much has been made of the need for Christian charity to be shown by the Kirk to the Tron in this situation. However, many congregations in Glasgow are in great need of the contributions that the Tron chose to withhold from central church funds for some time now as well as the loan given by the Church of Scotland to the Tron for their building project. No one forced the Tron to leave the Kirk at the time they did, and although their stance is understandable, other congregations who have left did so in a principled manner without attempting to take their buildings with them. It needs to be pointed out that by seeking to protect its assets, the Presbytery is only acting in the interests of its remaining congregations, a significant number of which also have evangelical ministries serving other parts of the city.

I am shocked by the tone and content of the public statement and prayer currently on the Tron's website where the minister appears, in his sweeping condemnations, to regard every minister and congregation which remains in the Church of Scotland to be enemies of the gospel and himself and his congregation to be "persecuted" by the Kirk. Not only is this insulting to the millions of Christians in the world facing genuine persecution, it is deeply offensive to every evangelical who remains in the Kirk and is equally committed to serving Christ.

Some letters have talked about "amicable divorce". I agree this should be the aim, yet it appears to me that the Tron has done little to bring this about. To be amicable, a settlement has to be just and both parties have to be reasonable. If the Tron thought it would be able to walk away from the marriage with all the assets while leaving a huge unpaid debt behind, this was not so much an act of faith as fantasy.