In Depth:  The Revd David McCarthy

‘If you want me to stick my neck out, I think I would say that if the Church were officially to approve homosexual partnerships as a legitimate alternative to heterosexual marriage, this so far diverges from biblical sexual ethics that I would find it exceedingly difficult to stay. I might want to stay on and fight a few more years, but if they persisted, I would have to leave.’ (John Stott, Balanced Christianity, p. 63)

Some advocate strongly for staying in denominations which are being sucked into the black hole of contemporary morality. John Stott is cited as someone who would support this today. Others have come to a place much more like that expressed in the quote above – it is time for us to realign for our spiritual health, for the extension of the kingdom and in obedience to the Lord.

St. Thomas’ Church, Edinburgh, has a long history as an evangelical congregation.

It was founded in 1844 as an Independent Anglican Church, following the introduction of the Oxford Movement to the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC). It gradually grew closer to SEC from the 1940s onward. Rectors have included George Duncan, Gordon Bridger (later of Oak Hill College), John Wesson (later of Trinity College, Bristol) and Philip Hacking (later of Christ Church Fulwood, Sheffield).