A leading theologian and academic has clashed with the Church of Scotland over recruitment policies for clergy as numbers continue to decrease.
Rev Dr Doug Gay, a lecturer in Theology and Religious Studies at Glasgow University, said as numbers of applicants and students looking to join the ministry have dropped that the Kirk failed to capitalise on plans for a new route to create ministers that included vocational charges similar to chaplaincies.
It comes as figures show there were 50 applicants for ministry this year, a drop on the year before when it was 69, and 81 the year before.
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Full-time candidates studying theology in Scotland are down on four out of five courses.
The drop makes recruitment of new Church members seem more difficult, with numbers down from 380,163 in December 2014 to 352,912 last year, and the complement of ministers reduced from 811 to 786.
The move to create so-called pioneer ministries was Rev Gay's brainchild and has led to Scotland's first arts minister and farming minister's posts among five created.
It was reported his 2014 plan could bring 30 new ministers a year.
He said: "I think there is still some way to go to recognise the spirit of what I brought to the assembly.
"All we have done is set a very small number posts aside.
"What I was presenting two years ago was the prospect of a new pathway for candidates and being trained for the ministry."
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He also said that the Kirk might have to close 200 congregations in a decade but added there is scope to create 100 new congregations.
He said: "There are four things that we have to do simultaneously as a church of Scotland.
"We have to close, sadly, unsustainable congregations, we have to help struggling congregations to grow again, we have to support growing congregations and help them to grow further and to plant new congregations, and we have to plant new congregations in other places.
"I think we need clear strategies for each of these priorities."
Rev Neil Glover said more pioneer ministries could not yet be created without a potential placing.
Now the Kirk is to look at creating "hub" ministries, a way of sharing parish ministry and pastoral resources that it is hoped could also involve other local Christian denominations.
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The Ministries Council report stated: "The council is exploring a policy of encouraging presbyteries to group parishes together, without any formal adjustment, under the leadership of a parish minister.
"This involves a shift of mindset in the parishes: understanding that, although there will be, as far as possible, a locally recognised person belonging to a leadership team across the grouping, there will be a shared minister who leads the team."
The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland also unanimously backed a landmark agreement to enter into an historic ecumenical partnership with the Church of England.
The Columba Declaration represents a "significant step" between the two denominations and will open up new future possibilities of closer working together.
The first Archbishop of Canterbury to join in a Kirk debate, Justin Welby, also took the chance to apologise again to the Scottish Episcopalian Church over the timing of the Columba announcement while talks were still ongoing between the two after earlier accepting there had been a "cock-up".
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