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List of Church of Scotland synods and presbyteries

 

 
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List of Church of Scotland synods and presbyteries
 
 
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The Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland

The Church of Scotland , known informally by its Scots language name, The Kirk, is the national church of Scotland. It is a Presbyterianism church , decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
 has a Presbyterian
Presbyterian polity

Presbyterian polity is a method of church governance typified by the rule of assemblies of presbyters, or elders. Each local church is governed by a body of elected elders usually called the session or consistory, though other terms, such as church board, may apply....
 structure, which means it is organised under a hierarchy of courts. Traditionally there were four levels of courts: the Kirk Session (at congregational level), the Presbytery
Presbyterian polity

Presbyterian polity is a method of church governance typified by the rule of assemblies of presbyters, or elders. Each local church is governed by a body of elected elders usually called the session or consistory, though other terms, such as church board, may apply....
 (at local area level), the Synod
Synod

A synod is a council of a Ecclesia , usually a Christianity church, convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. An ecumenical council is so named because it is a synod of the whole church ...
 (at a regional level) and the General Assembly
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland

The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the Sovereignty and highest court of the Church of Scotland, and is thus the Church's governing body....
 (the Church's highest court). However, the synods were abolished in the early 1990s as they had ceased to have any significant power.

Scottish local government was reorganised in 1975, creating a new system of regions and districts to replace the long-standing counties and burghs.






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Encyclopedia


The Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland

The Church of Scotland , known informally by its Scots language name, The Kirk, is the national church of Scotland. It is a Presbyterianism church , decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
 has a Presbyterian
Presbyterian polity

Presbyterian polity is a method of church governance typified by the rule of assemblies of presbyters, or elders. Each local church is governed by a body of elected elders usually called the session or consistory, though other terms, such as church board, may apply....
 structure, which means it is organised under a hierarchy of courts. Traditionally there were four levels of courts: the Kirk Session (at congregational level), the Presbytery
Presbyterian polity

Presbyterian polity is a method of church governance typified by the rule of assemblies of presbyters, or elders. Each local church is governed by a body of elected elders usually called the session or consistory, though other terms, such as church board, may apply....
 (at local area level), the Synod
Synod

A synod is a council of a Ecclesia , usually a Christianity church, convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. An ecumenical council is so named because it is a synod of the whole church ...
 (at a regional level) and the General Assembly
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland

The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the Sovereignty and highest court of the Church of Scotland, and is thus the Church's governing body....
 (the Church's highest court). However, the synods were abolished in the early 1990s as they had ceased to have any significant power.

Scottish local government was reorganised in 1975, creating a new system of regions and districts to replace the long-standing counties and burghs. The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland also ordered a major reorganisation of presbyteries in the mid-1970s, redrawing presbytery boundaries to make them broadly contiguous with the then-new local government boundaries. An example was the union of the former Presbyteries of Cupar and St Andrews, creating a new Presbytery of St Andrews (which also included the Parishes of Newport-on-Tay, Wormit and Tayport, previously in the Presbytery of Dundee). This new Presbytery's boundaries mirrored the North East Fife District Council.

Following further local government reorganisation in the 1990s (replacing regions and districts with a single-tier system of councils), it was proposed to further considerably reduce the number of Presbyteries (possibly to as few as seven). This proposal was rejected by the General Assembly. Since 2003 several presbyteries have voluntarily sought permission to merge, as described below. Despite these mergers the existing Presbytery numbering system is being retained, albeit now with some gaps.

It is the presbyteries which have oversight of parishes and pastoral responsibility for parish ministers, and the Kirk Sessions of the individual parishes are subordinated to them. A parish minister is answerable to the Presbytery, not to the Kirk Session. The following is a list of presbyteries, arranged according to historical synod, and with the presbytery code number from the Church of Scotland Yearbook.

Synods


Synod of Lothian

  • 1. Presbytery of Edinburgh
  • 2. Presbytery of West Lothian
  • 3. Presbytery of Lothian


Synod of The Borders

  • 4. Presbytery of Melrose and Peebles
  • 5. Presbytery of Duns
  • 6. Presbytery of Jedburgh


Synod of Dumfries and Galloway

  • 7. Presbytery of Annandale and Eskdale
  • 8. Presbytery of Dumfries and Kirkcudbright
  • 9. Presbytery of Wigtown and Stranraer


Synod of Ayr

  • 10. Presbytery of Ayr
  • 11. Presbytery of Irvine and Kilmarnock
  • 12. Presbytery of Ardrossan


Synod of Clydesdale

  • 13. Presbytery of Lanark
  • 14. Presbytery of Greenock and Paisley, created in 2003 by the merger of:
    • Presbytery of Paisley
    • Presbytery of Greenock
  • 16. Presbytery of Glasgow
  • 17. Presbytery of Hamilton
  • 18. Presbytery of Dumbarton


Synod of Argyll

  • 19. Presbytery of Argyll, created by the recent merger of:
    • Presbytery of South Argyll
    • Presbytery of Dunoon
    • Presbytery of Lorn and Mull


Synod of Forth

  • 22. Presbytery of Falkirk
  • 23. Presbytery of Stirling


Synod of Fife

  • 24. Presbytery of Dunfermline
  • 25. Presbytery of Kirkcaldy
  • 26. Presbytery of St Andrews


Synod of Perth and Angus

  • 27. Presbytery of Dunkeld and Meigle
  • 28. Presbytery of Perth
  • 29. Presbytery of Dundee
  • 30. Presbytery of Angus


Synod of Grampian

  • 31. Presbytery of Aberdeen
    Presbytery of Aberdeen

    The Presbytery of Aberdeen is one of the forty-six Presbyterian polity of the Church of Scotland, being the local presbytery for the city of Aberdeen....
  • 32. Presbytery of Kincardine and Deeside
  • 33. Presbytery of Gordon
  • 34. Presbytery of Buchan
  • 35. Presbytery of Moray


Synod of The Southern Highlands

  • 36. Presbytery of Abernethy
  • 37. Presbytery of Inverness
  • 38. Presbytery of Lochaber


Synod of Ross, Sutherland and Caithness

  • 39. Presbytery of Ross
  • 40. Presbytery of Sutherland
  • 41. Presbytery of Caithness
  • 42. Presbytery of Lochcarron and Skye
  • 43. Presbytery of Uist
  • 44. Presbytery of Lewis


Presbyteries not formerly part of any Synod

  • 45. Presbytery of Orkney
  • 46. Presbytery of Shetland
  • 47. Presbytery of England
  • 48. Presbytery of Europe
    Presbytery of Europe

    The Presbytery of Europe covers the Church of Scotland's congregations in continental Europe.As a Presbyterian church, the Church of Scotland has no bishops....
     
  • 49. Presbytery of Jerusalem


See also

  • List of Church of Scotland parishes
    List of Church of Scotland parishes

    The Church of Scotland, the national church of Scotland, divides the country into presbyteries, which are subdivided into parishes, each served by a parish church, usually with its own Minister of religion....