The presbytery service is pretty much as I say – a ‘well done’ for reaching the milestone of becoming a ‘graduate candidate’. It basically means that the next step is into probation. The service itself is really just (my) presbytery’s way of marking that. If I remember correctly (from a previous one) some people get up and say some nice things and we get to thank everyone and their dog for helping us get to that point. I hope I don’t sound too cynical – it’s nice that such milestones are marked.

My dissertation is looking at how effectively the Church of Scotland does (or doesn’t) engage with the Emerging Church movement and how church law might need to be nudged to better accommodate such a move. It also looks at some of the underpinning theology, such as ordination, which is also an issue. On the plus side, it’s a very contemporary and relevant issue. On the downside, there isn’t an awful lot of written scholarly material to draw on that is specific to the CofS. I would never claim the dissertation will be ground-breaking, but it will certainly be engaging with current issues.