Church minister; Born January 11, 1922; Died March 12, 2009.

James Philip, who has died aged 87, was one of the most influential ministers in the Church of Scotland in the second half of the twentieth century: not in the sense of dominating its structures or affecting its decisions or even determining its direction, but because of the number of people whose lives he changed.

He was minister of Holyrood Abbey Church in Edinburgh for 40 years, and he attracted huge congregations which included many who went into the ministry or who were at the time students for the ministry, and Philip persuaded them to take ministry and communicating the Gospel as seriously as he did.

Philip was born in Bucksburn, Aberdeen, and educated at Robert Gordon's College. As a schoolboy he played the organ at rallies held by the Church of Scotland evangelist D P Thomson, and at one of them he was converted.

He took an arts degree at Aberdeen University, and before it was completed felt called to the ministry of the Church of Scotland. But only those who had indicated they intended to become ministers at the start of their studies were entitled to exemption from war service, so Philip was called up, joined the RAF and saw service including in Burma before being sent home suffering from rheumatic fever.

He completed his studies in divinity and spent a probationary year at Springburn Hill in Glasgow. In 1949, Philip went to be minister of the Banffshire village of Gardenstown, where the pattern of ministry he was to take with him to Edinburgh was formed. As well as two services each Sunday, he held a Saturday evening prayer meeting. He sent a letter each month to every member of the congregation which included Bible readings, with his own comments, for each day. His preaching covered books of the Bible systematically and his pastoral visits were no social calls but opportunities to talk about faith.

In 1958, he was called to Holyrood Abbey Church in Edinburgh. He took preaching seriously, and expected the same from his congregation. Sermons lasted 45 minutes, and he expected people to have Bibles in front of them and to follow as he expounded. As well as continuing the Saturday evening prayer meeting at Holyrood Abbey, there was a midweek service. He wrote nearly 30 books and a great many articles for journals.

He was in demand as a speaker at conferences of organisations such as the Inter-Varsities Fellowship or the Portstewart Convention in Northern Ireland. He played an important part in persuading some ministers of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, who were unhappy at what they saw as political bias in the ecumenical organisations to which the denomination was attached, or departures from what they believed to be Reformed theology, not to leave the Church. On one occasion he said: "I cannot foresee any situation in which I would leave the Church of Scotland."

Although for almost all his ministry Philip represented a minority within the Church of Scotland, his loyalty to it and involvement with it was undiminished. When, in the 1970s a group called the Committee of Forty was set up to attempt to re-examine the structures and policy of the Church, Philip was a respected member of it.

He was for many years one of those involved in the Church's selection process, and another minister who was also involved said Philip's assessments were always fair and balanced, especially of those with whose theology he disagreed. He was always gracious in debate and personal dealings with people of a different theological persuasion, and a conservative evangelical of stature. He retired in 1997 and is survived by his wife Mary, a son and daughter and their children. By Johnston McKay