Members of the Church of Scotland Form "Covenant Fellowship"
The document below was sent to the WRF by WRF Board member Dr. Andrew McGowan, a minister in the Church of Scotland. It is posted here on the WRF website with Dr. McGowan’s permission. For further information about this material, contact Dr. McGowan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Covenant Fellowship
We believe that the Church of Scotland is moving away from its roots in Scripture and the Westminster Confession of Faith. We believe that the time has come for the creation of a ‘Covenant Fellowship’ within the Church. This Covenant Fellowship will draw together those who believe that the Scriptures, in their entirety, are the Word of God and must provide the basis for everything we believe and do. Our vision is nothing less than the reformation and renewal of the Church of Scotland, in accordance with the Word of God and by the empowering of his life-giving Spirit.
The Church of Scotland is facing a severe crisis. A majority of Presbyteries has now adopted an Overture which would permit those in same-sex civil partnerships to serve as ministers and deacons in the Church. Many people feel that the only way to protest against this unscriptural move is to leave the Church of Scotland. Many ministers, elders, members and adherents have done so already and more will follow. While respecting that position, our hearts’ desire is to remain within the Church, in order to seek its reformation from within, although we recognise that not all will feel able to make such an unqualified commitment.
It is important that we remain, however, without compromising our integrity. We refuse to be complicit in any act of disobedience to the Lord’s Word taken by the Church and we do not accept the trajectory which the Church has chosen, whatever the General Assembly of 2015 decides in respect of the Overture. We believe that, if the Church continues on the present trajectory, it will have departed from its constitutional basis as defined by Scripture, the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Declaratory Articles. We believe that it is our prophetic duty to challenge this, to protest and to call the Church to repentance on this matter.
The Covenant Fellowship is not being formed simply to protest on one issue. We long to see our nation won for Christ and commit ourselves with renewed and prayerful zeal to being involved in the outworking of the mission of God in our own day and into the future, by every God-honouring means, however traditional or imaginative and radically innovative.
However, the Overture currently before the Church has brought us to this point of decisive and concerted action. The departure from the plain teaching of Scripture, of which the Overture is a symptom, gives us cause for concern regarding the whole future direction of the Church. Many members of the Church of Scotland are deeply unhappy about the present trajectory but have had no opportunity to register their dissent or to call for the Church to return to the truth revealed in Scripture. Expressing your support for the Covenant Fellowship provides this opportunity. More detailed information about the structure and development of the Covenant Fellowship will be available in early 2015.
If you share our conviction that the Church is in grave danger and want to register your protest on this issue while continuing to be involved in the mission of God to our nation and beyond through the national church, please express your support for the Covenant Fellowship’s stand. There is no charge for doing so.
You can do this by sending an email to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Or write to: Covenant Fellowship, Church Office, Margaret Street, Inverness, IV1 1LU
If you wish, you can express your support in the words of the following declaration:
Covenant Fellowship Declaration – December 2014
I believe that the Church of Scotland is moving away from its roots in Scripture and the Westminster Confession of Faith. I believe that the time has come for the creation of a ‘Covenant Fellowship’ within the Church. This Covenant Fellowship will draw together those who believe that the Scriptures, in their entirety, are the Word of God and must provide the basis for everything we believe and do. This vision is nothing less than the reformation and renewal of the Church of Scotland, in accordance with the Word of God and by the empowering of his life-giving Spirit.
I hereby express my support for the Covenant Fellowship.
Name:
Congregation:
Position within the congregation. For example, Minister, Elder, Member, Adherent.
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Individual congregations, by a decision of their Kirk Session, may also express their support for the Covenant Fellowship’s stand.
The establishment of the Covenant Fellowship has been initiated by the Trustees of Forward Together, along with others who share the need for such action.