Bill McDonald

Died December 9 2015

VERY Rev Dr William J G McDonald, who has died at the age of 91, was one of the most outstanding Church of Scotland ministers of his generation. He was a preacher of both charm and power, willingly involved in important General Assembly committees where his tact and insight was always appreciated, and a pastor who left a considerable mark on the south Edinburgh congregation and parish he served for so long.

He was also a broadcaster whose quiet delivery and the care he took over his choice of words made him an essential contributor to BBC Radio Scotland and Radio 4 for over 20 years both as a regular presenter of Thought for the Day, and of acts of worship which were always marked by challenging insights and lively interpretations of biblical passages.

Bill McDonald was a wise guide to the General Assembly itself, and was involved in a range of its committees. He was always listened to with great respect. It was no surprise that he was appointed to be moderator of the General Assembly of 1989, coincidentally succeeding Very Rev Professor James Whyte who had been Bill McDonald’s predecessor in Mayfield Church in Edinburgh.

The announcement that Bill McDonald was to be moderator of the General Assembly in 1989 was widely welcomed, and his conduct in the chair was marked by an apparently effortless decisiveness which masked considerable preparation and a depth of procedural experience. When his year as moderator finished in 1990, he was described as having “shown his talent for imaginative and effective communication of the Church’s message. Even his handshake has been the subject of favourable comment”.

Dr McDonald was born in Edinburgh and educated at Daniel Stewart’s College of which he was dux. He graduated with a starred first class honours degree in classics from the University of Edinburgh in 1949, although his studies were interrupted by over two years of war service as a gunner in an anti-tank regiment.

He graduated bachelor of divinity from Edinburgh University with distinction in 1952 and then undertook further study at the University of Gottingen. During his divinity studies, he was student assistant at Colinton Mains and then full-time assistant minister at St Cuthbert’s.

In October 1953, he was ordained and inducted to Limekilns in Fife and moved there with his wife Patricia whom he had married earlier in the year. After five years there, he was called to what was then Mayfield Church.

In 1987 he was awarded a doctorate in divinity by the University of Edinburgh, in those days virtually a necessity before someone was considered for moderator, although Andree Herron had dented the mould two years earlier. Dr McDonald retired in November 1992.

The principal of New College Edinburgh, Rev Professor David Ferguson who was a student assistant at Mayfield during Bill McDonald’s ministry, said of him: “He was a scholarly preacher who had the capacity to mesmerise a large congregation and leave a lasting impression”.

The present principal clerk of the General Assembly, Very Rev John Chalmers, described Dr McDonald’s ministry an “all-round” one in which he would not settle for glib expositions of scripture and said that “he was a man who could have chosen any one of many different careers, but the Church of Scotland will forever be grateful for God’s call on his life and for the outstanding way he lived out his vocation”.

Dr McDonald was excellent company, especially relaxing over lunch following a morning’s broadcast recordings. He had a quiet, lively sense of humour, and there are many younger ministers who benefited from the wisdom of any advice they sought.

With the assistance of his daughter, the journalist and broadcaster Sheena McDonald, he wrote Words Thought and Said: Prayers and Reflections, which was recently published by Handsel Press. Within days of its publication the book was to be found on at least one Edinburgh vestry, and no doubt the studies of many ministers.

Bill McDonald is survived by his wife Pat, their children Roderick, Sheena and Alison, his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and his many friends and admirers.

JOHNSTON MCKAY