By
the end of the 16th century, the Protestant Church of Scotland had developed
into a Presbyterian Church, with a system of courts (today General Assembly,
presbytery and kirk session), and a strong tradition of preaching and Scriptural
emphasis.
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Covenanters
Anyone
reading Scottish history comes to realise
what a key player the Church of Scotland has been since it was reformed in the
16th century. It was not all plain sailing from then on, however, especially
after the crowns of
Scotland
and
England
were united in
1603.
Many
years of bloody struggle continued amongst factions with different views. Known
as the Covenanters they continued to proclaim their faith, even resorting
to holding open-air services.
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National
Church
The
succession of William and Mary to the throne in 1688 changed the situation, and
the Revolution Settlement of 1690 finally established the reformed, presbyterian
Church as the national Church of Scotland. The monarch even today has a special
relationship with the Church of Scotland and renews that every year with a
representative of the monarch attending the General Assembly.
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Disruption
and reunion
Controversy
and division were common in the Church between 1750 and 1850, when there was
considerable concern about the Church's relations with the State, particularly
over intervention in the appointment of ministers. The largest division was the Disruption
of 1843 - a major split which saw about one third of the Kirk break away to form
what came to be the Free Kirk.
The
next 90 years were spent removing the causes of division, and reuniting several
churches, all of them presbyterian, so that today the Church of Scotland is the
largest Protestant church in the country, with a number of very small churches
alongside it, representing those who chose not to find their way into the union
process.
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The
Church of Scotland today
That
process of re-union gave the Church of Scotland an opportunity to resolve once
and for all how it wanted to govern itself and how it wanted to relate to the
state. Little remains of the Church's previous establishment, but she retains a
strong sense of a national responsibility to bring Christ's Gospel to the whole
of
Scotland
. She is free,
therefore, from civil interference in spiritual matters. In a millennium and a
half, the Church has been at different times a tiny, radical outside force, a
revolutionary movement, a strand of government and a partner in civil society.
It has been supportive and critical, protective and destructive, peacemaker and
warrior.
