BANFF, Scotland — The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, in a narrow 269 to 257 vote, has rejected a proposal to raise the age limit for accepting candidates for ordination to the ministry from the present 45 to 50.
The assembly also rejected a separate but related proposal to allow ministers who so wished to stay in their posts until they were 70. The church currently has a compulsory retirement age of 65.
Alan Macgregor of Banff, Scotland, a supporter of the proposals, said that throughout the Western world people were living longer and in general staying healthy and active longer. Not letting anyone over 45 become a candidate for ordination, he said, was “poor stewardship” of the church’s God-given human resources.
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