Obituary: Ian B Doyle, influential minister with the Church of Scotland

Died: May 26, 2019

REV Dr Ian B Doyle, who has died aged 97, was a distinguished parish minister and one of a group who had a significant evangelical impact on the Church of Scotland's role over more than a generation.

He was born in Aberhill in Fife, his father a First World War veteran, decorated with a DCM, who died when Ian was aged four. Raised, along with his two younger sisters, by a widowed mother, he showed great promise at Buckhaven High School, winning the dux medal in 1939 and a bursary to St Andrews University.

He distinguished himself as a student and played football for the university, often cycling home to Aberhill on a Friday night, and back to play football on the Saturday. Professional football was a possibility but a knee injury ruled this out.

He studied for a B.D. at Edinburgh University, gaining a distinction in ecclesiastical history, and subsequently, after taking up the parish ministry, a Ph.D. He might have gained an academic appointment but this was not to his taste.

He was one of the group of pastors who did service with the "Huts and Canteens", working with allied servicemen stationed in Europe after the end of the Second World War.

He married Anne, a native of Leven, in 1946, and there were 64 years of devoted married life and mutual support in his ministry. David and Alastair are accomplished sons of the manse and Ian and Anne were always supportive and proud of them and their wives, the grandchildren and great grandchildren.

He was called to St Mary's Parish Church in Motherwell in 1946 where someone found him playing the piano and asked 'the boy' if he had seen the new minister. Ian admitted to being the minister.

It had been in 1946, on a preaching mission in the Borders, led by D.P. Thomson, the distinguished Church of Scotland evangelist, that Ian Doyle first met Tom Allan whose special gifts he quickly recognised, and with whom he established an enduring friendship, working closely with him in the influential "Tell Scotland" movement of the 1950s.

When the invitation was made to Billy Graham, the American evangelist, to conduct an All Scotland Crusade in 1955, Ian Doyle was party to this decision and supportive of the venture. Yet he always maintained that the most effective base for the mission of the church was the local congregation; equally he was convinced that one could be evangelical and intellectually respectable. These were hallmarks of his work in the parish ministry and, in later years, in the Home Board.

In 1960 he moved to the historic parish of Eastwood on the south side of Glasgow, where he served again for around 15 years. As at St Mary's, he was found to be outstanding in all aspects of ministry: the conduct of worship (recordings of his sermons would have made excellent exemplars for divinity students), of church business, pastoral care, parish visitation, leading of the Sunday School and work with young people generally. As at Motherwell, a number of young men in the congregation chose to train for the ministry through his inspiration.

In 1974 he was appointed convener of the Home Board, and in 1977 he left Eastwood to become its general secretary, where his tact and humour and knowledge of the church's structures made him very suited to the job he held until 1991. He had responsibility for national programmes with a local focus, drawing together various strands of 'mission'. At the same time he was also pastor to staff, which meant travel, for instance, to the Highlands and Islands, often with Anne, supporting those in far flung posts. To those in the church offices he was often a listening ear and a wise counsellor.

He became pastoral associate in Palmerston Place Church in Edinburgh between 1991 and 2006, where his visitation of the elderly, the sick and the hospitalised was much appreciated. In retirement he continued to preach; his last sermon was delivered at the baptism of Brodie, his youngest great grandchild, in St Mary's in 2010.

He attended faithfully and lovingly to Anne in her later infirmity, both at home and in the nursing home. He worshipped in Craigmillar Park Church where Anne's funeral service took place in 2010. He was able to stay in his own home, with support, until just five months ago. He moved to Lornebank Care Home, in Hamilton, just a month before he died.

His character was on the face of it was quiet and understated, yet with a clear self assurance, strength and energy. His mind was sharp and organised. He read avidly. His Greek New Testament was usually nearby. His publications were few but significant, including compiling the Church of Scotland's Hymns for Special Services.

His faith was well grounded, yet he said that, as he got older he felt sure about fewer things but he held these things more and more firmly. Presbyterianism he thought was creaking. Many would say he was the finest minister never to be Moderator of the General Assembly.