Rosemary is happy to be 'cheerleader' for the church

Rev Rosemary Frew will become the Kirk’s ambassador at home and abroad next May, succeeding current Moderator Rt Rev Dr Shaw Paterson.

She comes to the 12 month role with not only experience of parish ministry but of church involvement at a national level.

"It is incredibly humbling that other people see in you the qualities and experience that they think a Moderator should have,” said Rosemary.

“A very small number of people knew I was going forward for interviews and they all said the same thing: ‘You have got to be yourself.’

“That’s what I will bring to the job: I am bringing myself and my faith, my hope, my passions and my enthusiasm.

“Someone described me as ‘a cheerleader for the Church’ and I love that. I still have that passion and enthusiasm that I had when I was licenced for ministry.”

Rosie feels incredibly grateful that the church, especially Giffnock South Parish Church where she began attending Sunday school, has always been part of her life.

The connection continued when her family moved to Linlithgow when she was 14 and she joined St Michael’s Parish Church, going on to become a member of the youth fellowship and the hill-walking group and a Sunday School teacher.

It was around the time of the family’s move that she read about the first married couple in Scotland to be licensed for ministry.

“It was a kind of epiphany,” she explained. “My experience up to that time had just been of older men in ministry and this realisation that a woman could be a minister was the planting of a seed of call at the age of 14.

“That seed was nurtured by a whole load of people, experiences and opportunities until, by the age of 21, I felt that call had to be tested.”

These experiences included working at a Christian outdoor centre, Compass Ski Centre at Glenshee Lodge, where she took a gap year while deciding if she should study for ministry.

It was a very special place for Rosie, not least because it was where she met her husband Dave, with whom she shares son Pete (29) and daughter Bex (26).

Accepted as a candidate for ministry, Rosemary studied theology at New College in Edinburgh. During her studies, she and Dave married and they moved to Fife where he worked as a civil engineer.

She was ordained and inducted to her first charge, Largo and Newburn, in May 1988, serving for 17 years before moving to Abbotshall Parish Church in Kirkcaldy.

She became minister of Bowden Kirk and Melrose Parish Church in 2017 and, two years later, became convener of the Ministries Council and the Faith Nurture Forum. This experience led her to decide the time was right to put herself forward as a potential Moderator.

“I have been approached a number of times about the role and it was easy to say no because the time wasn't right," she added.

“It's not an ambition thing, it's very much about call and as that seed of call grows, you recognise that it is not going to go away and has to be tested.”