ChurchOfScotland.be
Title
St Andrew's Church of Scotland, Brussels
Description
About us
The Church of St Andrew is a Protestant church. As its name suggests, our church is a member of the Church of Scotland.
History
The Church of Scotland is a Protestant church of the Reformed tradition. It is not possible to point to a precise date at which it was "founded" - the Scots Reformation took place in 1560 but it was not until 1690 that it was finally settled that the church should be organized along Presbyterian lines. Even after that there have been moments of internal disagreement but by 1929 the majority of the movements had been reunited, the main exception being the body referred to as the Free Church.
Presbyterian Tradition
When we talk of the church being Presbyterian, this means, in very simple terms, that power is not vested in a hierarchy of individuals - there is no equivalent to the Pope and there are no bishops - but in the bodies of church members which operate at various levels. The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland meets once a year in Edinburgh and lays down general church policy, although in a consultative and not autocratic way. The Assembly is chaired by a Moderator who nowadays just serves a one-year period of office and whose rôle is largely ambassadorial.
