The Church of Scotland should purge its membership of non-believers rather than becoming even more lax, according to next moderator of the Free Church of Scotland.

Rev David Robertson Moderator-elect of the Free Church has taken issue with the Rev John Chalmers the Moderator of the Church of Scotland, urging him to stop playing ??fantasy church?? after he said he wanted to see 100,000 new people become members in the national church by 2025.

Mr Robertson, minister of Dundee St Peter's Free Church, said in his blog: ??This year Church of Scotland membership fell below 400,000 for the first time and seems to be in free-fall.

??To reverse the 20,000 members per year deficit and turn it into a surplus of 10,000 would be enough of a miracle to cause even the most cynical secularist to doubt! If the Moderator??s call was a clarion call to evangelism, to reach out with the Good News of Jesus Christ to those who are without Christ and without hope in the world, then it would a welcome call indeed.??

But Mr Robertson said it was about numbers, statistics and a somewhat desperate attempt to preserve the role of the national church ??in a Christendom that no longer exists.??

He said ??The problem is not that Church of Scotland membership criteria is too strict and thus putting Christians off from joining. It is rather that it is far too lax and as a result the Church is full of non-believers.??

Mr Robertson told how a minister visited a Church of Scotland congregation which boasts a membership of 2,000, yet there were only 20 people at the morning service. He also met an atheist last week whose father was an elder in the Kirk, but who never believed in God.

He concluded: ??The Church of Scotland needs to purge its membership roll and get back to basics. ??

But a Church of Scotland spokesman said: ??We simply urge people to read the Moderator??s article very carefully. It calls for a careful examination of what we mean by Church membership and there is no doubt that this matter is being taken very seriously within the Church of Scotland."