We joined with the Presbytery of Fife recently to celebrate the beginning of a new ministry in Newburgh and Lindores, where the Revd Valerie Walker was commissioned as a Pioneer Ecumenical Community Chaplain.
Bishop Ian wrote:
I am so very sorry that ill health has prevented me from being present this evening. I am grateful to the Dean of our Diocese, the Very Revd Graham Taylor, for his willingness to stand in for me, and to the Moderator, Jim Reid, and the Clerk, David Coulter, for all their work to make this Commissioning possible.
This is such an important day for our two Churches, for the Diocese and Presbytery and for the Church in Newburgh and Lindores. After the St Andrew declaration committed us to work more closely together in service to the Gospel in our communities, Valerie’s Commissioning this evening, as Pioneer Ecumenical Community Chaplain, is sponsored by both the Presbytery and the Diocese. As a Scottish Episcopal ordained priest, Valerie will now be able to share her ministry of Word and Sacrament with the congregations in her care, and to serve the whole Church in Newburgh and Lindores.
I pray for Valerie’s new ministry that begins this evening, for her congregations and communities, and for the continuing partnership of the Diocese and Presbytery over many years to come, and in many other places in Fife.