A Church of Scotland congregation is led by its minister and elders. Both of these terms are also used in other Christian denominations: see Minister and Elder. This article discusses the specific und
The Ordination of Elders in a Scottish Kirk, painting by John Henry Lorimer, 1891
Alexander Webster, minister of the Tolbooth Kirk in St. Giles, Edinburgh and moderator of the Church of Scotland in 1753, was responsible for providing the first reliable estimate of Scotland's population in modern times. Based on returns from parish ministers, mostly for the year 1755, he calculated Scotland's population at 1,265,380. His census did not, however, include most of the country's small Roman Catholic minority, figures for which relied on ministers reporting the number of "papists" in their parishes. Internal evidence suggests that this was done inconsistently.
Memorial windows commemorating past elders of the Tron Kirk in Edinburgh
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The Church of Scotland is a Reformed denomination of Christianity that holds the status of national church of Scotland. It is one of the country's larger denominations, having 229,000 members in 2025,
John Knox, who in 1559 returned from ministering in Geneva to lead the Reformation in Scotland.
Stained glass showing the burning bush and the motto "nec tamen consumebatur", St. Mungo's Cathedral, Glasgow.
Iona Abbey in Scotland was founded by Saint Columba.
Church of Scotland Offices, George Street, Edinburgh 2013