Robert Anderson is our Minister and he has been with us since April 1998. He is evangelical stressing the radical
challenge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and communicating its transforming and regenerating power in human lives.
 
Robert is an arts graduate and a gold medallist and first class honours graduate in theology of Glasgow
University and holds a doctorate from Oxford University. He served as a missionary theological lecturer
in Africa, as parish minister in Overtown, as Chaplain to Edinburgh University and as development officer
for Carberry Tower before coming to West Lothian.

A strong critic of the way the Church of Scotland is managed, Robert has recently published two
thought-provoking booklets on reforming the Church of Scotland called Who cares, wins and Changes
in Spiritual Freedom in the Church of Scotland 1980 - 2005. His other publications are the autobiographical
Intimations of Love Divine, four meditations for Lent called Stop the world! I want to think and a lecture
entitled Biblical Basis of healing Throughout the Ages.
 
Changes in Spiritual Freedom in the Church of Scotland 1980 - 2005
 
(Leaping Salmon, Blackburn, 2005, 82 pages, 14 chapters, 27,000 words)
 
This was a study leave research project carried out in the summer months of 2005 by means of a questionnaire
in Life & Work. The results are summarised below.
 
Among positive reactions to the survey were these:
 
A survey like this should have been done years ago by 121 George Street. Thank you for the opportunity to express
the views of an ordinary Church member. May God guide you in this work that you have been called to do.

Among the most critical views expressed were:

This is an extremely biased questionnaire badly drawn up.
Should study leave for ministers be discontinued? Yes.
An end to knee-jerk, self-important surveys like this which do nothing more than splinter the church further.
 
The Questionnaire
 
Number of questionnaires returned - 1200
 Number of questions answered - 15,062
Many respondents added comments beside each question and some of these are described below.
 
Q1
Do you think that more decision-making powers are centralised in 121 George Street Committees than they were 25 years ago?
Yes - 83.7%
No - 16.3%
Concern was expressed that power is in the hands of the Church of Scotland curia, the Nominations Committee.
It was recognised that the Council of Assembly has increased the centralisation process.
Q2
Should decision-making powers be redistributed back to Congregations, Kirk Sessions and Presbyteries?
Yes - 85.9%
No - 14.1%
Members want to be informed and consulted before Committee pronouncements are made and feel they should have a greater say in the life of the Church of Scotland. One suggested that decentralising could bring chaos.
Q3
Should Freedom of Call be maintained for Congregations and for Ministers?
Yes - 92.5%
No - 7.5%
Across theological boundaries there were strong affirmative comments such as “most definitely”,
“most certainly” and “essential”, reflecting the historical understanding of our Church. Some respondents linked
freedom of call with financial responsibility for the cost of ministry.
Q4
Should a new Annual One Day Forum for representatives of Congregations be established?
Yes - 64.4%
No - 35.6%
Some thought this was an excellent idea if it could be well organised, have authority, be held at Presbytery level
and meet in different areas of the country. This would offset the monopolizing of General Assemblies and admit “ordinary” members to participation in the decision-making process. Some suggested that it would be simply another costly talking shop. 
Q5
Are financial and property control regulations too severe on Congregations?
Yes - 68.3%
No - 31.7%
Respondents from rural areas, from poorer congregations, from unions of congregations and others answered with strong affirmatives. There were particular complaints in relation to strictures on listed buildings by the Artistic Matters
Committee, restrictions on use of property income, prevention of use of funds in hand, the high interest charges on
loans for property repairs and the practice of having to submit invoices to validate fabric expenditure before interest
payment from the consolidate fabric fund can be released.
Q6
Do you think that salaries of 121 George Street employees should be made known to the membership of the Church?
Yes - 80.3%
No - 19.7%
“Most definitely”, “especially ministers”, and “all expenditure should be transparent” were many of the comments.
Others suggested that this should apply to senior staff or salary bands only. One or two offered comments objecting
to the idea as “petty” and of “no concern of congregations”.
Q7
Should Presbyteries be allowed to nominate representatives on a rota basis to the new Councils?
Yes - 88.5%
No - 11.5%
There are strong opinions that Congregations’ views need be communicated to the Councils and that the whole system is far too self-selecting. Some suggested that expertise was more important than geographical representation. A surprising number had never heard of the new Councils.
Q8
Do you think that Moderatorial appointments reflect the whole membership of the Church of Scotland? 
Yes - 26.7%
No - 73.3%
Some respondents felt that too many liberals and too few evangelicals or radicals are ever chosen and others said that the proportion of women was not reflected. It was suggested that Moderators are often too academically inclined to communicate successfully with ordinary life and there was a perception that Moderators reflect Committee opinions rather than parish ministry.
Q9
Should Moderators be elected by Church members?
Yes - 47.9%
No - 52.1%
Comments such as “a good idea”, “an interesting idea”, “could be dangerous too” were balanced by practical considerations such as that it could be a “logistical nightmare”. Membership voting from a short leet was considered. Publishing short biopics of suitable candidates was suggested for the benefit of congregations. Moderators might be chosen for longer than one year. Elections, therefore, might not be held annually offering more practicability. Another compromise offered was to enlarge the Committee which at present chooses the Moderator and for it to canvas more publicly and widely before settling on a short leet, “not like the secret society at present”.
Q10 Are General Assemblies managed fairly for Commissioners?
Yes - 26.7%
No - 5.8%
Not Always - 67.5%
Comments included the following - “very rarely do Boards and Councils not get their own way”, “especially (unfair) for
non-ministerial Commissioners”, “some issues and Commissioners seem to get the brush (off) from the playpen”, “the membership is often treated as ignorant by authority”. Some respondents confessed that they had no knowledge of the GeneralAssembly.
Q11 Do the Church’s public statements reflect your own faith and belief?
Yes - 13.7%
No - 5.6%
Sometimes - 70.8%
Seldom - 9.9%
Respondents were frustrated at the apparent weakness of the Church’s public statements, commenting, for example, “I can’t
remember when I was last aware of one”, “Do we have public statements?”, “the Church is notably silent on nearly everything”, “too infrequent”, “better and more guidance on the problems of the day (are required)”, “rarely stated at all, alas”, “too woolly or liberal/politically correct”, “the greater number of these are political”.
Q12 Do you think that the Church of Scotland offers a fair balance between personal freedom and institutional authority?
Yes - 70.6%
No - 29.4%
“I have total personal freedom under God and the Church of Scotland has no institutional authority over me”, wrote one respondent. However, doubts were also expressed such as “Anyone who disagrees with the Ministers or Presbytery is an outcaste - this from the biggest failing workforce in Scotland”, “Yes for Ministers, no for Congregations“, “everything is filtered through the Minister and/or Kirk Session”. Someone feared that “institutional protection seems to be increasing”, although this was balanced with the realistic view that “(the Church’s) perceived authority is far greater than its actual authority”. Some concern about the state of the Church was reflected in comments such as “personal freedom is too great”, and “(the Church) no longer searches for the truth”.
Q13 Do you think that the Church of Scotland has lost its way spiritually and theologically in the last 25 years?
Yes - 59.3%
 No - 40.7%
There were brief critical answers such as “big time”, “definitely” and “absolutely”. One respondent lamented, “the
Church of Scotland is slowly disintegrating and dying and simply does not realise it”. Another idea was that “the Church is failing to connect spiritually and theologically with many (of its own) members” and quite a few took the longer term view - “what is different about the last 25 years?”
Balancing opinions were also expressed. “I do not think that the Kirk has lost its own way, but that it is western liberal
bourgeois society that has lost the idea of the Almighty and his Kirk”, was one comment. “The Church has changed position and society has changed in every quarter century”. “Trying to cope with modern thinking is difficult”. Briefer comments were “no more than other denominations”, “not totally, so let’s be positive”, “people apathy is not the fault of the Church” and “there are definite signs of improvement”.
Q14 What single thing would most help the Church of Scotland?
The answers, extended comments and letters which accompanied this question amounted to 25000 words.
 
The main concerns expressed were as follows:
Respondents seriously want 121 George Street do be significantly down-sized in power and staffing, something that has not happened with the creation of the new Councils.
The Church of Scotland gives an uncertain sound in communicating the Christian message in the public arena and this must change by having either extended appointments for Moderators or employing a dedicated spokesperson
Members must take more responsibilities for all aspects of congregational and local outreach life
The ministry should remain visible in communities and its training, conduct and quality should be improved 
Prayer and the exercise of personal faith is central to the life of the Church More dedicated funding and effort is required to interest younger people The booklet amplifies the discussion and quotes many respondents. It also gives examples and a personal account of abuses of power in the present-day Church of Scotland. Who cares, wins
 
(Leaping Salmon, Blackburn, 2000, 80 pages, 4 chapters, 27,500 words)
 
This booklet was inspired by the publication of two reports, Church Without Walls and Change or Decay. Neither address the main issues facing the Church of Scotland in a positive enough manner. Chapter 1 deals theologically with the problem of communicating Christian truth in an age and society in which proofs are sought for most assertions. Chapter 2 looks at the spiritual nature of the Church of Scotland from its Protestant inception as a God-centred community with history and politics. Intellectualism rather than sacramental life and discipline typified the Reformed Church over the centuries, explaining the fractious nature of its history and contemporary character. Chapter 3 Discusses whether reform is actually possible and suggests that it probably is not due to the unwieldy nature of the Church’s authority structures and the strategic misuse of these by the ruling liberal establishment. Chapter 4 argues for a stronger Church of Scotland Christian voice in Scotland in the areas of national politics, education, ecumenism and within the Church itself.
Who cares, wins offers a contemporary Creed or Mission Statement and 54 Dynamic Principles of Reform which arise from the ext and are summarised at the end.
 
Mission Statement
 
I know
and love my Creator
Jesus of Nazareth made this possible
He was conceived as a son on earth by the Holy Spirit, the Personal Power of creation, and was born of Mary, his mother
Jesus grew up and worked as a carpenter
He began to proclaim reconciliation between our Creator and us
He displayed evidences of the Personal Power of creation in discernment, supernatural healing acts and obedience
He explained His special role to His chosen disciples
He was unjustly crucified as a failed Messiah
His death has atoning purpose for human beings for all time
He rose victoriously from death and visited His disciples
He asked them to tell everyone about His life, death and resurrection
He mediated the Personal Power of creation to His disciples
He returned to our Creator
Jesus is alive for evermore and exercises influence and authority in both the visible and invisible world
I know
this Jesus who is alive
I know the Holy Spirit, the Personal Power of creation,
I recognise all Christians in the visible and invisible world
I receive forgiveness for wrong-doing
I am given inspiration to live as my Creator wishes
I look forward to the resurrection and to personal eternal life
 
Dynamic Principles of Reform 
 
(1) The universe is personal – that is Christianity’s message for the twenty-first century
(2) The principle of Sola Scriptura has not survived the modern world unscathed.
(3) For simplification, three sources of authority for Christianity may be admitted.
i) Relationship with Jesus Christ
ii) Biblical correlation
iii) Christian productiveness
(4) Grace underpins all of Christianity and reflects the inclusive nature of Jesus Christ’s example and ministry.
(5) Nevertheless, there is a contradiction between ‘Justification by Faith’ and the culture of human rights which has
grown rapidly at the end of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first centuries.
(6) Christianity must proclaim. Christianity must respect others. Christianity must always try to make peace in the world.
(7) The priority for the Church of Scotland is to rediscover its ‘vehicle of salvation’ identity and role.
(8) Jesus Christ is alive.
(9) The evangelical agenda would take personal Christianity back into the central courts and establishment of the Church.
(10) In the twenty-first century and beyond, it will be a sign of true Christian calling to diffuse power and authority
further and further.
(11) In the twenty-first century, popular democracy will be like water.
(12) The Church of Scotland’s legalistic method of organising Presbyteries should be simplified extensively. 
(13) The Church of Scotland needs to empower local congregations and trust them to remain within the Church while setting
them free from such impossibly restricting rules and regulations that are currently imposed.
(14) The real way forward is for the laity to fulfil the heights of their opportunity to serve Jesus Christ.
(15) The key to a correct attitude is to accept and understand that nothing that we do belongs to us. We do not own
Christ’s work.
(16) Some appreciation of either the classical spiritual disciplines or of the best of historically earlier evangelical
piety, is required at the epicentre of life in the Church of Scotland.
(17) It has meant that congregations are tenants in properties built and maintained by themselves, their families and
their forbearers.
(18) In the Church of Scotland, it is assumed that everything is fair and above board; it is not.
(19) Unless there are large scale solutions possible in Scotland in the twenty-first century, these plans for survival
and renewal will not save the Church of Scotland from extinction.
(20) Christianity’s truth and application
Christianity’s place in Scotland
Christianity’s place in the education system
(21) A Christian society will not only tolerate but care for those of other viewpoints.
(22) The office of apostle might be added to our Church
(23) They would be the opposite of Presbytery Clerks, General Secretaries at 121 George Street and typical Moderators
of the General Assembly. 
(24) The office of missionary could be re-introduced
(25) Deacons could be ordained as could local missionaries
(26) Christianity’s niche-market is its pivotal position between the visible and the invisible world, earth and heaven.
(27) Taking God into marriage vows brings an especial blessing to those who are married in Church.
(28) We should not offer people a part of Jesus, a proportion, a modicum, commensurate with our estimate of their faith.
(29) It is in breaking through to real dynamic relationship with the Risen Jesus Christ that problems of stress can be
solved.
(30) The direct encouragement of apostolic calling must be the standard by which all ministerial training should be
tempered.
(31) The entire legalistic, bureaucratic system of the Church of Scotland militates against constructive change.
(32) There has never been any detailed consideration of what might happen to Scotland and to the Church of Scotland in a politically independent Scotland.
(33) The Church of Scotland is publicly and constitutionally tied to monarchy and unionism.
(34) There is a central irreducible belief in Reform Christianity that our Maker is involved in the formation and history
and decline of nation states. The doctrine is called the Sovereignty of God
(35) People many identify Christianity with Scotland’s past instead of seeing its central relevance to Scotland’s future.
(36) The Church of Scotland should move its administrative head quarters to Stirling 
(37) The cultural marginalisation of Christianity begins in our non-denominational schools.
(38) There is a political agenda behind the emptying of schools of Christianity.
(39) Putting real dynamic life-saving and life-changing Christianity back into the non-denomination school sector will
transform children’s lives.
(40) Bringing the ethos of Christianity to schools will significantly help the development of children educationally as
well as personally.
(41) To agree now to have bishops would be to say that the last four hundred years have been erroneous at best and heretical at worst.
(42) Above all, its direction must be toward empowering as many people as possible and not the opposite, creating an Episcopal elite in whom the identity and purpose of the church is eventually to find expression.
(43) It is an outrageous experiment to diffuse apostolic authority among ordinary people but is that not what Jesus of Nazareth Himself did?
(44) The office of bishop with ecclesiastical authority today does not in itself guarantee any measure of truth or piety
or proper direction as the recent history of Scotland shows.
(45) No person on earth has the right to deny the risen living Jesus Christ the right and opportunity to speak to and call human beings into Christian community in whatever way He chooses.
(46) Where the true signs of Christian life are visible in personal confessing faith, inspiring worship, service to others
and prayerful charity to all – then such evidences of Christ’s own work must be recognised. 
(47) The Christian freedoms found in the Reform Christian tradition are well worth living for.
(48) The challenge to follow Jesus Christ is as startling today as it has been in any generation.
(49) The Church of Scotland has a clear, specific and unique role in society to make people into Christians, followers of Jesus Christ.
(50) The ‘political’ Church of Scotland has betrayed the real purpose of the Church of Jesus Christ.
(51) If the liberals will witness for the evangelicals, then the Church of Scotland will be renewed.
(52) So far they have mediated for the world against evangelical Christianity.
(53) It is time for everyone to realise that spiritual evangelical Christianity is the most positive and helpful influence
for modern Scotland.
(54) Media policies of inclusion must also mean evangelical Christianity.
 
Intimations of Love Divine
 
(Leaping Salmon, Musselburgh, 1996 282 pages, 12 chapters, c.150,000 words)
 
This book is a spiritual autobiography giving an account of Robert Anderson’s experience of God, call to the ministry,
the working out of that call at university in Glasgow and Oxford, in Kenya, in Lanarkshire, in Edinburgh and East Lothian. It is an account of special revelation and special calling and of the apostolic hardships that this brought over the years, including marginalisation and even persecution in the Church of Scotland to which  Changes in Spiritual Freedom in the Church of Scotland 1908-2005 testifies currently.
 
Few are called directly to the ministry by divine intimation but this was the experience of the author. Thereafter, he
was led along a spiritual path of unusual intensity and personal risk. Intimations of Love Divine shows the conditions
under which God may communicate and work out His providence.
 
20th century theology has offered much criticism and scepticism about the basic truths of Christian experience and of
Biblical veracity. Against the prevailing trend which demands proofs Intimations of Love Divine testifies to the personal reality of God through Jesus Christ. It does not have the character of scientific proof but it does have the status of legal testimony in a court of law. It opens us out into the dynamic spiritual world which is around us but from which our eyes and ears are largely shut off unless or until we are awakened to its reality.
Intimations of Love Divine seeks to place personal Christianity above Robert Anderson’s individual life and to witness not to any human achievement but to the greater grace of God and the effective truth of Jesus Christ as a living continuing influence in human lives.
 
Thus the Introduction begins,
 
“The claims of Christianity are true. It is possible to know God in and through Jesus Christ . Personal destiny is to be
found in relationship to God and the life eternal beyond this physical existence. ….This is not a matter of private
psychology as Calvary was not. There is possible a dynamic and historical relationship between each human being and our Maker. This is at once the highest and deepest of relationships. Confirmations and verifications are possible within the logic of our Maker’s revelation to persons. It is possible to meet and know Jesus Christ and to receive the realities of His spiritual promises. It is even possible to actually glimpse the life to follow in all its blessedness and joy”.  
 
The Introduction concludes,
 
“Above all personal and human considerations, collective, global whatever this book tells of the kind of Being our Maker is. The manner in which God will speak to us and deal with us in and through Jesus Christ. The lovely person God is. The beautiful things God does. The gift of eternal life and friendship with God. The highest aspirations of the human spirit concluded. The finitude of earthly life answered. The promise of the continuation of a good purpose in creation, understood eternally. Jesus Christ as the only Mediator of all this. To these the very best and highest of human hopes, I am a witness”.
 
Chapter 1 The Spirit Within describes Robert’s call to the ministry, his life at Glasgow University and the deeper
spiritual aspects of his early Christian experience..
 
Chapter 2 The Ministry of Angels is concerned with Robert’s spiritual struggles while at Oxford from 1975 - 1978.
It includes a detailed history of Robert’s visit to Crowhurst in Sussex in 1977 and the extraordinary intimation of love
divine and special calling given to him at that time.
 
Chapter 3 Call to Africa deals with Robert’s call to serve in Kenya and various spiritual aspects of his initial African
experience including his exercise of the ministry of healing.
 
Chapter 4 Christian God : African God narrates the racial and theological issues in which Robert was caught up and which led to his enforced departure from Kenya ahead of the end of his second contract.
 
Chapter 5 It is Your Cross describes Robert’s ministry in Overtown, Lanarkshire form 1986 - 1989. Amidst the humour and character of the people, there was an undercurrent of opposition to His successful ministry, which was being undermined sufficiently for him to think it best to move on.
 
Chapter 6 One Against A Thousand narrates the circumstances of Robert’s invitation to become Chaplain to Edinburgh
University and the political opposition to his appointment instigated in New College and led across the University
before and after he took up his position. Visits to the Scottish highlands, again to Crowhurst and to Rome and a personal encounter with Pope John are included with the spiritual dimension of these being purposed and Intimations of Love Divine being communicated and received.
 
Chapter 7 The Case For Christianity indicates the success of Robert’s Chaplaincy detailing the 1992 University Mission, various initiatives and the refurbishment of the Centre itself. Robert’s own spiritual journey is juxtaposed throughout.
 
Chapter 8 Natural Injustice describes how those opposed to his original appointment returned to ensure that in spite of significant successes, Robert was denied renewal of contract to remain as Chaplain. The hypocrisy and duplicity of
university politics is exposed giving an unflattering account of New College staff and of the Church of Scotland
Edinburgh clique in particular.
 
Chapter 9 The Establishment And The Kingdom sets out the grounds of Robert’s spiritual struggles in the Church of
Scotland which have continued throughout the years. Again, his interior calling made sense of external events, allowing Robert to manage his life in extremely difficult circumstances. 
 
Chapter 10 It’s Christianity - but not as we know it From the heights to spiritual depths and retreat to Carberry,
this chapter initially accounts for the time of licking wounds, coming to terms with marginalising and ostracising in
the Church of Scotland. It moves on to describe Robert’s uneasy relationship with Carberry’s culture and management. Much humour lightens the tone.
 
Chapter 11 The Christian Right Two great themes continue interlaced. The outer strategy to save Carberry and establish it as an independent centre for Christian exploration and reflection and the inner wrestling for common sense and justice in the community itself. This led to Robert’s being treated badly and to his exclusion, homelessness and unemployment. Intimations of Love Divine alone preserved his sanity.
 
Chapter 12 Two Hundred Years Of Wrong draws together the spiritual and theological themes of the previous eleven chapters and presents a critique of contemporary theological discourse in the light of the Intimations of Love Divine given to Robert in his life. It deals with the authority of Scripture and concludes that ‘theology is biography’. Lastly, the chapter witnesses to the reality of The Spiritual Universe as a parallel universe which may be entered through Jesus Christ and lifetime spiritual seeking.
 
“The spiritual universe is alive and dynamic with all the original powers of creation on view. Answers. Discussion about
what humans discovered - the Mind above, behind, beneath, around it all. Quarks and bosons, quavers and minims, image and allegory, colour and contrast, prayer and supplication, healing and salvation. Laughter. Proof. Floating. Extasis. Worship. Face to face. Friends. Purity. Perfection….. 
 
“For this human life is not the end of anything and leads to something of immeasurable greatness in comparison. Exciting. Dynamic. Fulfilling. Wonderful indeed. Just as the life of Jesus was not just simply a moment of human history but an eternal Person in continuing relationship. For that hope given to us in Him many have lived and some have died. Would not the certainty of meeting our Maker make us change our ways on earth? Would not the conditions and criteria taught to us by Jesus Christ of that last assize chasten us? And would that not be the means and the way to the discovery of the many and generous spiritual gifts which can elevate our poor human condition and our manufactured antidotes?
 
“Some will have hard choices to make. Times of testing seem unavoidable for all. The world has not changed since the days of Jesus of Nazareth. Christians need not occupy the ghettoes of modern society - do not call it civilisation.
Neither can they order the conduct of the world. We can witness to One who can and does and will. He can bring peace
on earth and in the universe. Eternally.”