Printed on 25 April 2025
4 minutes learn
Changing into the Church of Scotland’s latest minister was not one thing Rev Jeanette Wilson would have even thought doable till comparatively not too long ago.
Whereas finding out for her personal private curiosity at Highland Theological Faculty (HTC), a part of the College of the Highlands and Islands, folks would ask what she deliberate to do along with her diploma and was she finding out for ministry within the Church of Scotland.
In a foretaste of what was to come back with this week’s ordination service at St Andrew’s Church in Deans in Livingston, Miss Wilson was even included in an e mail despatched to all HTC’s Church of Scotland ministry candidates.
“I wasn’t even a part of the Church of Scotland, I used to be a Baptist” she identified.
Introduced up within the harbour city of Eyemouth in Berwickshire she has been actively concerned with the church since her teenagers.
Within the Nineties, after somebody first steered a future in ministry, she joined rural evangelism charity Religion Mission and was concerned in mission work in Eire earlier than deciding it was time to return to Scotland and starting a profession within the care sector.
After being made redundant from her residential residence put up when it closed, Miss Wilson finally utilized to check for a level in theology from HTC, the place she discovered that enquiries about her future plans and misdirected emails weren’t the one issues pointing her to a possible future with the Church of Scotland.
In direction of the tip of her diploma, she was amongst a bunch of Baptist girls visiting St Mary’s Church in Haddington as they’d been finding out the Reformation and the legacy of John Knox, who has lengthy been related to St Mary’s.
Miss Wilson recalled: “I used to be standing in the course of the church and I actually felt God say: ‘What would you say if I made a decision to name you to the Church of Scotland?'”
This was adopted by the same expertise throughout a fiftieth birthday journey to London which, as a self-confessed “political geek”, included a visit to the Homes of Parliament.
“I used to be standing within the Home of Commons and I can hear it nonetheless – God mentioned: ‘I would like you to cross from one aspect to the opposite within the sense of transferring from one get together to a different,'” recalled Miss Wilson.
“So, after I got here residence I made an appointment with my pastor and mentioned ‘I am actually sorry, however I feel that God is looking me to Church of Scotland ministry’ and resigned my membership.
“Principally, I then walked throughout the street and made an appointment with the Church of Scotland minister and advised him: ‘I feel God is looking me to be a Church of Scotland minister, can I turn out to be a member of your church?’
“As soon as he picked his jaw off the ground, he went: ‘Sure.’
“So, I joined and I turned a member.”
A broader view of religion
After a few years, by which era she had turn out to be an elder, Miss Wilson began the discernment course of which culminated on this week’s ordination service.
“Due to my time in Religion Mission, it wasn’t a sudden factor,” she mentioned of her transfer from Baptism to the Church of Scotland.
“There was a sluggish realisation that the Baptist view wasn’t the one view and me actually attempting to determine the place my theological pink traces have been.
“It mainly got here all the way down to if one thing agreed with the Apostles’ Creed, I am all for it and if it would not agree with the Creed, I’ll depart it as much as folks’s interpretations.
“I took a broader view of what being a Christian was about.
“It wasn’t about filling in a theological assertion or having to do a check, it was about believing that Jesus was the son of God, died and rose once more.”
Miss Wilson did placements on the small rural church of Chirnside, between Eyemouth and Duns, North Berwick Abbey Church and Greenlaw Church in Duns with former Moderator of the Basic Meeting, Very Rev Dr Susan Brown.
She went on to finish her probationary interval at Livingston Previous Parish Church, the place she was ordained as assistant minister into the Presbytery of Edinburgh and West Lothian.
Livingston Previous, which is cut up between two buildings, the 18th century Livingston Village Kirk and newer Deans constructing within the former mining village, which is now half ofLivingston New City.
The church is on the coronary heart of the area people, which displays Miss Wilson’s personal method to ministry.
“On Wednesday now we have a soup lunch, now we have a second-hand garments store and I run a quiet house the place folks can come into the church and pray or come and chat to me if they want,” she defined.
“We do plenty of work in the neighborhood.
“Individuals at all times say to me: ‘The place do you need to go?’
“Nevertheless it’s not a lot the place as who.
“I actually really feel referred to as to mission and being concerned in that, so a church that’s open to working in the neighborhood.
“I am very informal and laid again and a folks particular person, so I am in search of a church that appreciates these items.”
Miss Wilson’s ordination and induction ceremony, which was nicely attended by family and friends in addition to members of the congregation at Livingston and the opposite church buildings the place she has served, was led by Edinburgh and West Lothian Presbytery Moderator Rev Sandy Forsyth, together with Presbytery Depute Clerk Rev Daniel Carmichael.
The sermon was given by Rev Alexander McAspurren, who will turn out to be minister at close to neighbour Bathgate Parish Church in Could, whereas Livingston Previous minister Rev Nelu Balaj gave the concluding prayer.
Printed on 25 April 2025
4 minutes learn
Changing into the Church of Scotland’s latest minister was not one thing Rev Jeanette Wilson would have even thought doable till comparatively not too long ago.
Whereas finding out for her personal private curiosity at Highland Theological Faculty (HTC), a part of the College of the Highlands and Islands, folks would ask what she deliberate to do along with her diploma and was she finding out for ministry within the Church of Scotland.
In a foretaste of what was to come back with this week’s ordination service at St Andrew’s Church in Deans in Livingston, Miss Wilson was even included in an e mail despatched to all HTC’s Church of Scotland ministry candidates.
“I wasn’t even a part of the Church of Scotland, I used to be a Baptist” she identified.
Introduced up within the harbour city of Eyemouth in Berwickshire she has been actively concerned with the church since her teenagers.
Within the Nineties, after somebody first steered a future in ministry, she joined rural evangelism charity Religion Mission and was concerned in mission work in Eire earlier than deciding it was time to return to Scotland and starting a profession within the care sector.
After being made redundant from her residential residence put up when it closed, Miss Wilson finally utilized to check for a level in theology from HTC, the place she discovered that enquiries about her future plans and misdirected emails weren’t the one issues pointing her to a possible future with the Church of Scotland.
In direction of the tip of her diploma, she was amongst a bunch of Baptist girls visiting St Mary’s Church in Haddington as they’d been finding out the Reformation and the legacy of John Knox, who has lengthy been related to St Mary’s.
Miss Wilson recalled: “I used to be standing in the course of the church and I actually felt God say: ‘What would you say if I made a decision to name you to the Church of Scotland?'”
This was adopted by the same expertise throughout a fiftieth birthday journey to London which, as a self-confessed “political geek”, included a visit to the Homes of Parliament.
“I used to be standing within the Home of Commons and I can hear it nonetheless – God mentioned: ‘I would like you to cross from one aspect to the opposite within the sense of transferring from one get together to a different,'” recalled Miss Wilson.
“So, after I got here residence I made an appointment with my pastor and mentioned ‘I am actually sorry, however I feel that God is looking me to Church of Scotland ministry’ and resigned my membership.
“Principally, I then walked throughout the street and made an appointment with the Church of Scotland minister and advised him: ‘I feel God is looking me to be a Church of Scotland minister, can I turn out to be a member of your church?’
“As soon as he picked his jaw off the ground, he went: ‘Sure.’
“So, I joined and I turned a member.”
A broader view of religion
After a few years, by which era she had turn out to be an elder, Miss Wilson began the discernment course of which culminated on this week’s ordination service.
“Due to my time in Religion Mission, it wasn’t a sudden factor,” she mentioned of her transfer from Baptism to the Church of Scotland.
“There was a sluggish realisation that the Baptist view wasn’t the one view and me actually attempting to determine the place my theological pink traces have been.
“It mainly got here all the way down to if one thing agreed with the Apostles’ Creed, I am all for it and if it would not agree with the Creed, I’ll depart it as much as folks’s interpretations.
“I took a broader view of what being a Christian was about.
“It wasn’t about filling in a theological assertion or having to do a check, it was about believing that Jesus was the son of God, died and rose once more.”
Miss Wilson did placements on the small rural church of Chirnside, between Eyemouth and Duns, North Berwick Abbey Church and Greenlaw Church in Duns with former Moderator of the Basic Meeting, Very Rev Dr Susan Brown.
She went on to finish her probationary interval at Livingston Previous Parish Church, the place she was ordained as assistant minister into the Presbytery of Edinburgh and West Lothian.
Livingston Previous, which is cut up between two buildings, the 18th century Livingston Village Kirk and newer Deans constructing within the former mining village, which is now half ofLivingston New City.
The church is on the coronary heart of the area people, which displays Miss Wilson’s personal method to ministry.
“On Wednesday now we have a soup lunch, now we have a second-hand garments store and I run a quiet house the place folks can come into the church and pray or come and chat to me if they want,” she defined.
“We do plenty of work in the neighborhood.
“Individuals at all times say to me: ‘The place do you need to go?’
“Nevertheless it’s not a lot the place as who.
“I actually really feel referred to as to mission and being concerned in that, so a church that’s open to working in the neighborhood.
“I am very informal and laid again and a folks particular person, so I am in search of a church that appreciates these items.”
Miss Wilson’s ordination and induction ceremony, which was nicely attended by family and friends in addition to members of the congregation at Livingston and the opposite church buildings the place she has served, was led by Edinburgh and West Lothian Presbytery Moderator Rev Sandy Forsyth, together with Presbytery Depute Clerk Rev Daniel Carmichael.
The sermon was given by Rev Alexander McAspurren, who will turn out to be minister at close to neighbour Bathgate Parish Church in Could, whereas Livingston Previous minister Rev Nelu Balaj gave the concluding prayer.
Printed on 25 April 2025
4 minutes learn
Changing into the Church of Scotland’s latest minister was not one thing Rev Jeanette Wilson would have even thought doable till comparatively not too long ago.
Whereas finding out for her personal private curiosity at Highland Theological Faculty (HTC), a part of the College of the Highlands and Islands, folks would ask what she deliberate to do along with her diploma and was she finding out for ministry within the Church of Scotland.
In a foretaste of what was to come back with this week’s ordination service at St Andrew’s Church in Deans in Livingston, Miss Wilson was even included in an e mail despatched to all HTC’s Church of Scotland ministry candidates.
“I wasn’t even a part of the Church of Scotland, I used to be a Baptist” she identified.
Introduced up within the harbour city of Eyemouth in Berwickshire she has been actively concerned with the church since her teenagers.
Within the Nineties, after somebody first steered a future in ministry, she joined rural evangelism charity Religion Mission and was concerned in mission work in Eire earlier than deciding it was time to return to Scotland and starting a profession within the care sector.
After being made redundant from her residential residence put up when it closed, Miss Wilson finally utilized to check for a level in theology from HTC, the place she discovered that enquiries about her future plans and misdirected emails weren’t the one issues pointing her to a possible future with the Church of Scotland.
In direction of the tip of her diploma, she was amongst a bunch of Baptist girls visiting St Mary’s Church in Haddington as they’d been finding out the Reformation and the legacy of John Knox, who has lengthy been related to St Mary’s.
Miss Wilson recalled: “I used to be standing in the course of the church and I actually felt God say: ‘What would you say if I made a decision to name you to the Church of Scotland?'”
This was adopted by the same expertise throughout a fiftieth birthday journey to London which, as a self-confessed “political geek”, included a visit to the Homes of Parliament.
“I used to be standing within the Home of Commons and I can hear it nonetheless – God mentioned: ‘I would like you to cross from one aspect to the opposite within the sense of transferring from one get together to a different,'” recalled Miss Wilson.
“So, after I got here residence I made an appointment with my pastor and mentioned ‘I am actually sorry, however I feel that God is looking me to Church of Scotland ministry’ and resigned my membership.
“Principally, I then walked throughout the street and made an appointment with the Church of Scotland minister and advised him: ‘I feel God is looking me to be a Church of Scotland minister, can I turn out to be a member of your church?’
“As soon as he picked his jaw off the ground, he went: ‘Sure.’
“So, I joined and I turned a member.”
A broader view of religion
After a few years, by which era she had turn out to be an elder, Miss Wilson began the discernment course of which culminated on this week’s ordination service.
“Due to my time in Religion Mission, it wasn’t a sudden factor,” she mentioned of her transfer from Baptism to the Church of Scotland.
“There was a sluggish realisation that the Baptist view wasn’t the one view and me actually attempting to determine the place my theological pink traces have been.
“It mainly got here all the way down to if one thing agreed with the Apostles’ Creed, I am all for it and if it would not agree with the Creed, I’ll depart it as much as folks’s interpretations.
“I took a broader view of what being a Christian was about.
“It wasn’t about filling in a theological assertion or having to do a check, it was about believing that Jesus was the son of God, died and rose once more.”
Miss Wilson did placements on the small rural church of Chirnside, between Eyemouth and Duns, North Berwick Abbey Church and Greenlaw Church in Duns with former Moderator of the Basic Meeting, Very Rev Dr Susan Brown.
She went on to finish her probationary interval at Livingston Previous Parish Church, the place she was ordained as assistant minister into the Presbytery of Edinburgh and West Lothian.
Livingston Previous, which is cut up between two buildings, the 18th century Livingston Village Kirk and newer Deans constructing within the former mining village, which is now half ofLivingston New City.
The church is on the coronary heart of the area people, which displays Miss Wilson’s personal method to ministry.
“On Wednesday now we have a soup lunch, now we have a second-hand garments store and I run a quiet house the place folks can come into the church and pray or come and chat to me if they want,” she defined.
“We do plenty of work in the neighborhood.
“Individuals at all times say to me: ‘The place do you need to go?’
“Nevertheless it’s not a lot the place as who.
“I actually really feel referred to as to mission and being concerned in that, so a church that’s open to working in the neighborhood.
“I am very informal and laid again and a folks particular person, so I am in search of a church that appreciates these items.”
Miss Wilson’s ordination and induction ceremony, which was nicely attended by family and friends in addition to members of the congregation at Livingston and the opposite church buildings the place she has served, was led by Edinburgh and West Lothian Presbytery Moderator Rev Sandy Forsyth, together with Presbytery Depute Clerk Rev Daniel Carmichael.
The sermon was given by Rev Alexander McAspurren, who will turn out to be minister at close to neighbour Bathgate Parish Church in Could, whereas Livingston Previous minister Rev Nelu Balaj gave the concluding prayer.
Printed on 25 April 2025
4 minutes learn
Changing into the Church of Scotland’s latest minister was not one thing Rev Jeanette Wilson would have even thought doable till comparatively not too long ago.
Whereas finding out for her personal private curiosity at Highland Theological Faculty (HTC), a part of the College of the Highlands and Islands, folks would ask what she deliberate to do along with her diploma and was she finding out for ministry within the Church of Scotland.
In a foretaste of what was to come back with this week’s ordination service at St Andrew’s Church in Deans in Livingston, Miss Wilson was even included in an e mail despatched to all HTC’s Church of Scotland ministry candidates.
“I wasn’t even a part of the Church of Scotland, I used to be a Baptist” she identified.
Introduced up within the harbour city of Eyemouth in Berwickshire she has been actively concerned with the church since her teenagers.
Within the Nineties, after somebody first steered a future in ministry, she joined rural evangelism charity Religion Mission and was concerned in mission work in Eire earlier than deciding it was time to return to Scotland and starting a profession within the care sector.
After being made redundant from her residential residence put up when it closed, Miss Wilson finally utilized to check for a level in theology from HTC, the place she discovered that enquiries about her future plans and misdirected emails weren’t the one issues pointing her to a possible future with the Church of Scotland.
In direction of the tip of her diploma, she was amongst a bunch of Baptist girls visiting St Mary’s Church in Haddington as they’d been finding out the Reformation and the legacy of John Knox, who has lengthy been related to St Mary’s.
Miss Wilson recalled: “I used to be standing in the course of the church and I actually felt God say: ‘What would you say if I made a decision to name you to the Church of Scotland?'”
This was adopted by the same expertise throughout a fiftieth birthday journey to London which, as a self-confessed “political geek”, included a visit to the Homes of Parliament.
“I used to be standing within the Home of Commons and I can hear it nonetheless – God mentioned: ‘I would like you to cross from one aspect to the opposite within the sense of transferring from one get together to a different,'” recalled Miss Wilson.
“So, after I got here residence I made an appointment with my pastor and mentioned ‘I am actually sorry, however I feel that God is looking me to Church of Scotland ministry’ and resigned my membership.
“Principally, I then walked throughout the street and made an appointment with the Church of Scotland minister and advised him: ‘I feel God is looking me to be a Church of Scotland minister, can I turn out to be a member of your church?’
“As soon as he picked his jaw off the ground, he went: ‘Sure.’
“So, I joined and I turned a member.”
A broader view of religion
After a few years, by which era she had turn out to be an elder, Miss Wilson began the discernment course of which culminated on this week’s ordination service.
“Due to my time in Religion Mission, it wasn’t a sudden factor,” she mentioned of her transfer from Baptism to the Church of Scotland.
“There was a sluggish realisation that the Baptist view wasn’t the one view and me actually attempting to determine the place my theological pink traces have been.
“It mainly got here all the way down to if one thing agreed with the Apostles’ Creed, I am all for it and if it would not agree with the Creed, I’ll depart it as much as folks’s interpretations.
“I took a broader view of what being a Christian was about.
“It wasn’t about filling in a theological assertion or having to do a check, it was about believing that Jesus was the son of God, died and rose once more.”
Miss Wilson did placements on the small rural church of Chirnside, between Eyemouth and Duns, North Berwick Abbey Church and Greenlaw Church in Duns with former Moderator of the Basic Meeting, Very Rev Dr Susan Brown.
She went on to finish her probationary interval at Livingston Previous Parish Church, the place she was ordained as assistant minister into the Presbytery of Edinburgh and West Lothian.
Livingston Previous, which is cut up between two buildings, the 18th century Livingston Village Kirk and newer Deans constructing within the former mining village, which is now half ofLivingston New City.
The church is on the coronary heart of the area people, which displays Miss Wilson’s personal method to ministry.
“On Wednesday now we have a soup lunch, now we have a second-hand garments store and I run a quiet house the place folks can come into the church and pray or come and chat to me if they want,” she defined.
“We do plenty of work in the neighborhood.
“Individuals at all times say to me: ‘The place do you need to go?’
“Nevertheless it’s not a lot the place as who.
“I actually really feel referred to as to mission and being concerned in that, so a church that’s open to working in the neighborhood.
“I am very informal and laid again and a folks particular person, so I am in search of a church that appreciates these items.”
Miss Wilson’s ordination and induction ceremony, which was nicely attended by family and friends in addition to members of the congregation at Livingston and the opposite church buildings the place she has served, was led by Edinburgh and West Lothian Presbytery Moderator Rev Sandy Forsyth, together with Presbytery Depute Clerk Rev Daniel Carmichael.
The sermon was given by Rev Alexander McAspurren, who will turn out to be minister at close to neighbour Bathgate Parish Church in Could, whereas Livingston Previous minister Rev Nelu Balaj gave the concluding prayer.
