A MINISTER and his wife have been told to quit a manse in a bitter fight for control of a historic church sparked by gay ordination.
Legal proceedings have been started by the Church of Scotland against Rev Dr William Philip to seize back the landmark St George's Tron Church in Glasgow.
The action, sparked after the minister and his flock left the Kirk over its stance on allowing homosexual clergy, includes the manse in the south side of the city.
The 500-strong congregation that seceded from the Kirk in June with plans to join a more strict denomination believe the church buildings belong to them, while the Church of Scotland is to go to court for the 17th-century structure off Buchanan Street.
Also in contention is the building in the city's Drumbreck area, where Mr Philip, who has been the minister there for seven years, lives with his wife.
Richard Henry, the St George's Tron's session clerk who helps administer the parish, is included in the legal action, along with the treasurer.
Mr Henry said in a letter to Glasgow presbytery members: "Our minister and his wife received a letter at home stating that he and his family now had no right to remain in the manse, even though the manse clearly belongs to the congregation, not the denomination, and Dr Philip remains the minister of the congregation.
"More recently, court proceedings have now also been launched personally against our minister, our treasurer and myself by the new 'Interim Moderator' and 'Kirk Session of St George's Tron Church of Scotland'.
"The Summons we received claims that the action is raised with 'the full concurrence of the Presbytery of Glasgow'.
"All these things have been very stressful, as you can imagine, and also very disappointing, since we have sought to make clear at every stage that we hoped our situation could be resolved amicably, away from public dispute in the courts."
The legal test case will set the scene for what could be one of the largest land and property wrangles in Scotland, as evangelical congregations prepare to challenge the Kirk's stance on gay ordination at the next General Assembly.
The court battle over St George's Tron is the first one in response to the Kirk's stance in allowing the Rev Scott Rennie, who is openly gay, to take up a post in Aberdeen.
The Kirk's General Assembly voted to accept gay clergy provided they had declared their sexuality and were ordained before 2009, and next year it will outline how it will implement that decision on a wider basis.
Mr Philip said the congregation was taking legal advice but "the minister, elders and members of St George's Tron Church remain absolutely committed to maintaining our ministry and building Christ's Kingdom in the city centre of Glasgow".
The Kirk would not comment on the letter but a source claimed it also contained a "tacit admission that they haven't exactly been co-operating fully with the (presbytery) special committee in sharing congregational records".
The Church earlier said St George's Tron "is seen to have a place within the presbytery plan for Glasgow", adding in a statement: "Its evangelical tradition and its buildings are essential and integral to the life of the Church of Scotland in Glasgow, which the Presbytery of Glasgow and others will seek to rebuild.
"Glasgow Presbytery believes that a vibrant congregation can rise again, integrated within the Church of Scotland and ministering to the needs of that part of Glasgow city centre."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article