Revealed on 17 July 2025
4 minutes learn
When Very Rev Dr Susan Brown was the minister of Dornoch Cathedral – the primary girl in Britain to have the cost of a cathedral – the church’s mission assertion was: “Within the coronary heart of the neighborhood with the neighborhood at its coronary heart”.
It’s a assertion that sums up Dr Brown’s personal perspective in the direction of ministry, which formally concluded when she retired from her remaining rural cost at Greenlaw within the Borders.
Interviewed for our common Speaking Ministry function, Dr Brown stated: “That’s actually what the church is about. There’s a power in rural communities that doesn’t exist to the identical extent in additional city areas.”
Dr Brown felt the decision to ministry as a teen within the Lothian city of Penicuik, earlier than she had even met a feminine minister, feeling {that a} profession as a minister was “proper and good and what God was asking” permitting her to work and discuss with folks and share her religion.
Learning theology straight from faculty was so uncommon that the Church of Scotland and New Faculty in Edinburgh needed to create a brand new course for the younger Dr Brown and fellow scholar Jim Cowan, simply a few weeks aside in age, to make sure they’d accomplished the necessary six years of examine required by ministry candidates at the moment.
Following an prolonged probationary interval at St Giles’, the Excessive Kirk of Edinburgh within the coronary heart of the town, in 1985 she moved to her first cost, Killearnan, a rural church with a historical past courting again to the Center Ages on the sting of the Black Isle peninsula simply north of Inverness.
A pioneering ministry
It was a time when feminine ministers had been nonetheless a relative novelty, particularly within the Highlands.
“I suppose I did really feel a little bit of a pioneer,” Dr Brown acknowledged.
“The Highlands had by no means had a feminine minister and there have been some who did not approve, however folks got here round. As soon as you’re a part of a neighborhood, folks do not care in case you are male or feminine. They only need to know you could be there to assist and befriend them. They had been improbable congregation.”
Nonetheless, conscious of the hazard of feeling remoted in a rural parish, Dr Brown additionally started to be concerned within the wider work of the Church, starting with ecumenical relations, which allowed her to satisfy and study from Christians in different denominations, earlier than turning into concerned with the ground-breaking Church With out Partitions venture, after which broadening her connections out internationally as a part of the World Mission staff.
“You might have to take the time to do issues, however for me the advantages far outweighed the 5am begins and getting residence at 9.30pm,” Dr Brown defined.
“I might say to any new minister to contemplate widening your horizons or have them widened for you and have interaction with folks from different components of the nation, from different church buildings or different nationalities, as a result of it’s so enriching.”
After 13 years in Killearnan, Dr Brown, husband Derek and their two youngsters moved north to Dornoch.
Though classed as a cathedral, the main focus in Dornoch just isn’t on pomp or pageantry, however neighborhood.
“Like Killearnan, it goes again a good distance, nevertheless it’s in regards to the current in addition to the previous and the way you change into a pressure to be reckoned with in right this moment’s society in a optimistic approach. When folks really feel remoted and apprehensive about worldwide occasions, the Church is completely positioned to speak about hope and peace and justice and love above all else,” she stated.
Nonetheless, as a world vacationer vacation spot, Dornoch Cathedral welcomes guests from world wide, most famously pop star Madonna and movie director Man Ritchie, who selected it because the venue for his or her marriage ceremony in 2000. Because the minister who performed the ceremony, that introduced some unwelcome media consideration on Dr Brown.
A royal appointment
However in addition to overseeing the wedding of “the Queen of Pop”, Dr Brown additionally has a connection to authentic royalty. In 2010 she was appointed Chaplain-in-Abnormal to Queen Elizabeth and is now a Royal Chaplain to King Charles.
Following Her Majesty’s loss of life at Balmoral in 2022, she was among the many members of the Chapel Royal who remained with the late Queen at Holyrood Palace after which stood vigil as she lay in state at St Giles’.
“It was extremely transferring,” Dr Brown stated.
“It was a historic second and to be part of it was simply superb.”
In 2018, Dr Brown took on essentially the most high-profile function within the Church of Scotland as Moderator.
She stated: “I felt very blessed to have had the privilege of representing the Church and going out to satisfy folks and discuss what issues and what the Church is doing.
“The presbyteries I visited are working with essentially the most marginalised folks of their midst and saying with out phrases what the love of God is all about.”
Learn the complete interview on our Speaking Ministry web page.
Revealed on 17 July 2025
4 minutes learn
When Very Rev Dr Susan Brown was the minister of Dornoch Cathedral – the primary girl in Britain to have the cost of a cathedral – the church’s mission assertion was: “Within the coronary heart of the neighborhood with the neighborhood at its coronary heart”.
It’s a assertion that sums up Dr Brown’s personal perspective in the direction of ministry, which formally concluded when she retired from her remaining rural cost at Greenlaw within the Borders.
Interviewed for our common Speaking Ministry function, Dr Brown stated: “That’s actually what the church is about. There’s a power in rural communities that doesn’t exist to the identical extent in additional city areas.”
Dr Brown felt the decision to ministry as a teen within the Lothian city of Penicuik, earlier than she had even met a feminine minister, feeling {that a} profession as a minister was “proper and good and what God was asking” permitting her to work and discuss with folks and share her religion.
Learning theology straight from faculty was so uncommon that the Church of Scotland and New Faculty in Edinburgh needed to create a brand new course for the younger Dr Brown and fellow scholar Jim Cowan, simply a few weeks aside in age, to make sure they’d accomplished the necessary six years of examine required by ministry candidates at the moment.
Following an prolonged probationary interval at St Giles’, the Excessive Kirk of Edinburgh within the coronary heart of the town, in 1985 she moved to her first cost, Killearnan, a rural church with a historical past courting again to the Center Ages on the sting of the Black Isle peninsula simply north of Inverness.
A pioneering ministry
It was a time when feminine ministers had been nonetheless a relative novelty, particularly within the Highlands.
“I suppose I did really feel a little bit of a pioneer,” Dr Brown acknowledged.
“The Highlands had by no means had a feminine minister and there have been some who did not approve, however folks got here round. As soon as you’re a part of a neighborhood, folks do not care in case you are male or feminine. They only need to know you could be there to assist and befriend them. They had been improbable congregation.”
Nonetheless, conscious of the hazard of feeling remoted in a rural parish, Dr Brown additionally started to be concerned within the wider work of the Church, starting with ecumenical relations, which allowed her to satisfy and study from Christians in different denominations, earlier than turning into concerned with the ground-breaking Church With out Partitions venture, after which broadening her connections out internationally as a part of the World Mission staff.
“You might have to take the time to do issues, however for me the advantages far outweighed the 5am begins and getting residence at 9.30pm,” Dr Brown defined.
“I might say to any new minister to contemplate widening your horizons or have them widened for you and have interaction with folks from different components of the nation, from different church buildings or different nationalities, as a result of it’s so enriching.”
After 13 years in Killearnan, Dr Brown, husband Derek and their two youngsters moved north to Dornoch.
Though classed as a cathedral, the main focus in Dornoch just isn’t on pomp or pageantry, however neighborhood.
“Like Killearnan, it goes again a good distance, nevertheless it’s in regards to the current in addition to the previous and the way you change into a pressure to be reckoned with in right this moment’s society in a optimistic approach. When folks really feel remoted and apprehensive about worldwide occasions, the Church is completely positioned to speak about hope and peace and justice and love above all else,” she stated.
Nonetheless, as a world vacationer vacation spot, Dornoch Cathedral welcomes guests from world wide, most famously pop star Madonna and movie director Man Ritchie, who selected it because the venue for his or her marriage ceremony in 2000. Because the minister who performed the ceremony, that introduced some unwelcome media consideration on Dr Brown.
A royal appointment
However in addition to overseeing the wedding of “the Queen of Pop”, Dr Brown additionally has a connection to authentic royalty. In 2010 she was appointed Chaplain-in-Abnormal to Queen Elizabeth and is now a Royal Chaplain to King Charles.
Following Her Majesty’s loss of life at Balmoral in 2022, she was among the many members of the Chapel Royal who remained with the late Queen at Holyrood Palace after which stood vigil as she lay in state at St Giles’.
“It was extremely transferring,” Dr Brown stated.
“It was a historic second and to be part of it was simply superb.”
In 2018, Dr Brown took on essentially the most high-profile function within the Church of Scotland as Moderator.
She stated: “I felt very blessed to have had the privilege of representing the Church and going out to satisfy folks and discuss what issues and what the Church is doing.
“The presbyteries I visited are working with essentially the most marginalised folks of their midst and saying with out phrases what the love of God is all about.”
Learn the complete interview on our Speaking Ministry web page.
Revealed on 17 July 2025
4 minutes learn
When Very Rev Dr Susan Brown was the minister of Dornoch Cathedral – the primary girl in Britain to have the cost of a cathedral – the church’s mission assertion was: “Within the coronary heart of the neighborhood with the neighborhood at its coronary heart”.
It’s a assertion that sums up Dr Brown’s personal perspective in the direction of ministry, which formally concluded when she retired from her remaining rural cost at Greenlaw within the Borders.
Interviewed for our common Speaking Ministry function, Dr Brown stated: “That’s actually what the church is about. There’s a power in rural communities that doesn’t exist to the identical extent in additional city areas.”
Dr Brown felt the decision to ministry as a teen within the Lothian city of Penicuik, earlier than she had even met a feminine minister, feeling {that a} profession as a minister was “proper and good and what God was asking” permitting her to work and discuss with folks and share her religion.
Learning theology straight from faculty was so uncommon that the Church of Scotland and New Faculty in Edinburgh needed to create a brand new course for the younger Dr Brown and fellow scholar Jim Cowan, simply a few weeks aside in age, to make sure they’d accomplished the necessary six years of examine required by ministry candidates at the moment.
Following an prolonged probationary interval at St Giles’, the Excessive Kirk of Edinburgh within the coronary heart of the town, in 1985 she moved to her first cost, Killearnan, a rural church with a historical past courting again to the Center Ages on the sting of the Black Isle peninsula simply north of Inverness.
A pioneering ministry
It was a time when feminine ministers had been nonetheless a relative novelty, particularly within the Highlands.
“I suppose I did really feel a little bit of a pioneer,” Dr Brown acknowledged.
“The Highlands had by no means had a feminine minister and there have been some who did not approve, however folks got here round. As soon as you’re a part of a neighborhood, folks do not care in case you are male or feminine. They only need to know you could be there to assist and befriend them. They had been improbable congregation.”
Nonetheless, conscious of the hazard of feeling remoted in a rural parish, Dr Brown additionally started to be concerned within the wider work of the Church, starting with ecumenical relations, which allowed her to satisfy and study from Christians in different denominations, earlier than turning into concerned with the ground-breaking Church With out Partitions venture, after which broadening her connections out internationally as a part of the World Mission staff.
“You might have to take the time to do issues, however for me the advantages far outweighed the 5am begins and getting residence at 9.30pm,” Dr Brown defined.
“I might say to any new minister to contemplate widening your horizons or have them widened for you and have interaction with folks from different components of the nation, from different church buildings or different nationalities, as a result of it’s so enriching.”
After 13 years in Killearnan, Dr Brown, husband Derek and their two youngsters moved north to Dornoch.
Though classed as a cathedral, the main focus in Dornoch just isn’t on pomp or pageantry, however neighborhood.
“Like Killearnan, it goes again a good distance, nevertheless it’s in regards to the current in addition to the previous and the way you change into a pressure to be reckoned with in right this moment’s society in a optimistic approach. When folks really feel remoted and apprehensive about worldwide occasions, the Church is completely positioned to speak about hope and peace and justice and love above all else,” she stated.
Nonetheless, as a world vacationer vacation spot, Dornoch Cathedral welcomes guests from world wide, most famously pop star Madonna and movie director Man Ritchie, who selected it because the venue for his or her marriage ceremony in 2000. Because the minister who performed the ceremony, that introduced some unwelcome media consideration on Dr Brown.
A royal appointment
However in addition to overseeing the wedding of “the Queen of Pop”, Dr Brown additionally has a connection to authentic royalty. In 2010 she was appointed Chaplain-in-Abnormal to Queen Elizabeth and is now a Royal Chaplain to King Charles.
Following Her Majesty’s loss of life at Balmoral in 2022, she was among the many members of the Chapel Royal who remained with the late Queen at Holyrood Palace after which stood vigil as she lay in state at St Giles’.
“It was extremely transferring,” Dr Brown stated.
“It was a historic second and to be part of it was simply superb.”
In 2018, Dr Brown took on essentially the most high-profile function within the Church of Scotland as Moderator.
She stated: “I felt very blessed to have had the privilege of representing the Church and going out to satisfy folks and discuss what issues and what the Church is doing.
“The presbyteries I visited are working with essentially the most marginalised folks of their midst and saying with out phrases what the love of God is all about.”
Learn the complete interview on our Speaking Ministry web page.
Revealed on 17 July 2025
4 minutes learn
When Very Rev Dr Susan Brown was the minister of Dornoch Cathedral – the primary girl in Britain to have the cost of a cathedral – the church’s mission assertion was: “Within the coronary heart of the neighborhood with the neighborhood at its coronary heart”.
It’s a assertion that sums up Dr Brown’s personal perspective in the direction of ministry, which formally concluded when she retired from her remaining rural cost at Greenlaw within the Borders.
Interviewed for our common Speaking Ministry function, Dr Brown stated: “That’s actually what the church is about. There’s a power in rural communities that doesn’t exist to the identical extent in additional city areas.”
Dr Brown felt the decision to ministry as a teen within the Lothian city of Penicuik, earlier than she had even met a feminine minister, feeling {that a} profession as a minister was “proper and good and what God was asking” permitting her to work and discuss with folks and share her religion.
Learning theology straight from faculty was so uncommon that the Church of Scotland and New Faculty in Edinburgh needed to create a brand new course for the younger Dr Brown and fellow scholar Jim Cowan, simply a few weeks aside in age, to make sure they’d accomplished the necessary six years of examine required by ministry candidates at the moment.
Following an prolonged probationary interval at St Giles’, the Excessive Kirk of Edinburgh within the coronary heart of the town, in 1985 she moved to her first cost, Killearnan, a rural church with a historical past courting again to the Center Ages on the sting of the Black Isle peninsula simply north of Inverness.
A pioneering ministry
It was a time when feminine ministers had been nonetheless a relative novelty, particularly within the Highlands.
“I suppose I did really feel a little bit of a pioneer,” Dr Brown acknowledged.
“The Highlands had by no means had a feminine minister and there have been some who did not approve, however folks got here round. As soon as you’re a part of a neighborhood, folks do not care in case you are male or feminine. They only need to know you could be there to assist and befriend them. They had been improbable congregation.”
Nonetheless, conscious of the hazard of feeling remoted in a rural parish, Dr Brown additionally started to be concerned within the wider work of the Church, starting with ecumenical relations, which allowed her to satisfy and study from Christians in different denominations, earlier than turning into concerned with the ground-breaking Church With out Partitions venture, after which broadening her connections out internationally as a part of the World Mission staff.
“You might have to take the time to do issues, however for me the advantages far outweighed the 5am begins and getting residence at 9.30pm,” Dr Brown defined.
“I might say to any new minister to contemplate widening your horizons or have them widened for you and have interaction with folks from different components of the nation, from different church buildings or different nationalities, as a result of it’s so enriching.”
After 13 years in Killearnan, Dr Brown, husband Derek and their two youngsters moved north to Dornoch.
Though classed as a cathedral, the main focus in Dornoch just isn’t on pomp or pageantry, however neighborhood.
“Like Killearnan, it goes again a good distance, nevertheless it’s in regards to the current in addition to the previous and the way you change into a pressure to be reckoned with in right this moment’s society in a optimistic approach. When folks really feel remoted and apprehensive about worldwide occasions, the Church is completely positioned to speak about hope and peace and justice and love above all else,” she stated.
Nonetheless, as a world vacationer vacation spot, Dornoch Cathedral welcomes guests from world wide, most famously pop star Madonna and movie director Man Ritchie, who selected it because the venue for his or her marriage ceremony in 2000. Because the minister who performed the ceremony, that introduced some unwelcome media consideration on Dr Brown.
A royal appointment
However in addition to overseeing the wedding of “the Queen of Pop”, Dr Brown additionally has a connection to authentic royalty. In 2010 she was appointed Chaplain-in-Abnormal to Queen Elizabeth and is now a Royal Chaplain to King Charles.
Following Her Majesty’s loss of life at Balmoral in 2022, she was among the many members of the Chapel Royal who remained with the late Queen at Holyrood Palace after which stood vigil as she lay in state at St Giles’.
“It was extremely transferring,” Dr Brown stated.
“It was a historic second and to be part of it was simply superb.”
In 2018, Dr Brown took on essentially the most high-profile function within the Church of Scotland as Moderator.
She stated: “I felt very blessed to have had the privilege of representing the Church and going out to satisfy folks and discuss what issues and what the Church is doing.
“The presbyteries I visited are working with essentially the most marginalised folks of their midst and saying with out phrases what the love of God is all about.”
Learn the complete interview on our Speaking Ministry web page.
