At the Disruption (1843), under the leadership of Dr. Thomas Chalmers, the Evangelical party in the Church of Scotland as By Law Established withdrew to form the Church of Scotland, Free. In 1900, when the great majority in the Free Church combined with the United Presbyterian Church to form the United Free Church of Scotland, a small minority elected to continue as the Free Church of Scotland. The adherents of this “constitutionalist” party were to be found mainly, although not exclusively, in the Highlands and islands of Scotland. Union was possible only on the basis of com promise:the minority took the view that doctrines which were being treated as open questions were so vital to the faith that the duty of Christian unity had to yield to the higher duty of fidelity to the truth. Today the Free Church of Scotland, although much reduced in size, maintains in continuity with the church of 1843 the system of doctrine and the form of worship adopted by the Church of Scotland at the Reformation. The singing of the Scottish metrical psalms, unaccompanied by instrumental music, is, perhaps, the most distinctive feature of its liturgy; but the chief emphasis of its worship is still to be found in the centrality of the pulpit and the proclamation of a free and sovereign salvation.
Die Kirche verfügt über mehrere hundert Diakone. Sie unterhält Missionsstationen in Peru, Kolumbien und Südafrika.
Publikationen: Monthly Record, The Instructor, Free
Statistic data of church
Members
total: 20000
Parishes
(conventionally): 115
house fellowships
(Number of growing parishes): 25
Ordained clergy
total: 95
no women´s ordination
Elders/Presbyters
total: 0
Deacons
total: 0
deacons available
Missionaries
total: 10
missionaries working abroad
Baptismal practise
infant and believer´s baptism
Godparents
No information about godparents
Lord's Supper
Frequency per annum: 3
Newspapers/ Periodicals
Publication of magazines
Theological training facilities
Number: 1
Schools providing general education
no information about other schools
Founded in
1900
Organizational structures
9 prebyteries, 3 Synods, 1 overseas Synod in Canada
At the Disruption (1843), under the leadership of Dr. Thomas Chalmers, the Evangelical party in the Church of Scotland as By Law Established withdrew to form the Church of Scotland, Free. In 1900, when the great majority in the Free Church combined with the United Presbyterian Church to form the United Free Church of Scotland, a small minority elected to continue as the Free Church of Scotland. The adherents of this “constitutionalist” party were to be found mainly, although not exclusively, in the Highlands and islands of Scotland. Union was possible only on the basis of com promise:the minority took the view that doctrines which were being treated as open questions were so vital to the faith that the duty of Christian unity had to yield to the higher duty of fidelity to the truth. Today the Free Church of Scotland, although much reduced in size, maintains in continuity with the church of 1843 the system of doctrine and the form of worship adopted by the Church of Scotland at the Reformation. The singing of the Scottish metrical psalms, unaccompanied by instrumental music, is, perhaps, the most distinctive feature of its liturgy; but the chief emphasis of its worship is still to be found in the centrality of the pulpit and the proclamation of a free and sovereign salvation. 