Minister describes stress of leaving Church of Scotland over gay clergy By CRAIG BROWN Published on Friday 15 June 2012 01:35 THE minister of the congregation which is the first to split from the Church of Scotland over the issue of gay clergy has spoken of the "heartbreak" and "stress" they faced in making the break. The Rev Dr William Philip, minister of St George's Tron in Glasgow, has called on the Kirk to find a "constructive" and "amicable" way of allowing the congregation and others with similar intentions to leave the denomination. The church made the decision to secede on Monday night in response to the General Assembly's decision in 2011 to consider allowing gay clergy to be ordained and openly gay ministers ordained before 2009 to remain within the Kirk. Speaking to The Scotsman yesterday, Dr Philip said that the move had come at the conclusion of a long period of discussion. He said: "The whole process has felt pretty stressful, quite sad. When we got to Monday night, I think there was a great sense of peace and relief that we had reached some sort of clarity. He said that a "rubicon had been crossed" on a fundamental point of Scripture with the 2011 Assembly decision: "This is not where I wanted it to be. It has been painful, hard and heart-breaking, but it's what we've had to do, we believe, to be faithful to the Lord Jesus. The 500-strong congregation currently reside the iconic church on Buchanan Street, and are in discussions with Glasgow Presbytery over whether they can continue to worship there. However, the congregation has outstanding arrears in their contributions to its Ministries and Mission committee, and there is an outstanding balance on a loan - thought to have been £750,000 originally - made by the building's outright owner, the Church of Scotland General Trustees, towards refurbishment in 2009. Dr Philip said that they hoped the outstanding financial issues could be settled amicably, stating that he felt neither side "had an appetite" for legal battles over ownership. He added that he did not think their departure would spark a flood of secessions: "We're not trying to lead a charge. What I would hope is that, where we find ourselves now and the way we are able to work things out, would help set a precedent for reasonable peaceful and constructive ways of doing it. He said he hoped the Kirk would adopt a system for departing congregations similar to that of the "gracious dismissal policy" of the Mainline Presbyterian Church of the US, which has dealt with similar ructions. A Kirk spokesman said, however, that because each church was different in its ownership of properties, any discussion about seceding would be taken on a case-by-case basis. He added that the Kirk would not be conducting any discussions on the future of the church in public: "No decisions have been taken about the on-going use of the building, or the outstanding financial obligations to the Church of Scotland and the General Trustees." The congregation are currently in discussions with the International Presbyterian Church.