Derek Lamont, St. Columba's, Edinburgh 2018: Angus MacRae, Dingwall & Strathpeffer 2019: Donnie G. MacDonald, Portree 2021: Neil MacMillan, Cornerstone, Morningside, Edinburgh 2022: Iver Martin, Edinburgh Theological Seminary Recent history At the 2011 census, 10,896 people identified as being "Free Church of Scotland". The Free Church has about 100 congregations in Scotland and circa 80 ministers and 8,000 attenders. About 50 dissenting or former Church of Scotland congregations had been talking about joining the Free Kirk because the Church of Scotland's ordination of openly gay ministers. Growth As of 2021, the Free Church had an average attendance at Sunday services of 8,000 including 5,400 communicants. As of May 2013 the Free Church worship attendance was 12,639, up from 12,431 in 2007. The number of people under 30 increased by 30% since 2007. The church is growing outwith the Western Islands, especially in the bigger cities. Sunday school attendance has grown by 25% in recent years, from 575 to 709 in 2013. In 2013, Murdo Murchison, an elder from Dunblane Free Church gathered a core group to plant a church in Stirling. With some growth it was recognised as a church plant in 2014 by the Glasgow Presbytery, and in 2016 appointed Iain MacAskill as its minister. There had previously been no Free Church in Stirling since 1948. In 2014 two congregations, the North Harris Free Church, and the Stornoway group of the High Free Church Stornoway and two former Kirk ministers have recently joined the Free Church, makes it total about ten former Kirk pastors who have joined the Free Church. North Harris held its first service with around 100 people in attendance. Kirkmuirhill congregation and New Restalrig have also joined. The High Free Church has regularly attracted around 300 people in Stornoway Primary School since leaving the Church of Scotland earlier this year. Stornoway High was previously the Church of Scotland's biggest congregation on the Western Isles. In early 2015 an Inverness Church of Scotland pastor quit, and took some of his flock with him to set up a new Free Church congregation in the west of Inverness. Rev McMillan was unhappy about the Presbytery of Inverness, which voted against controversial plans to give congregations the freedom to appoint a person in a gay relationship if they wished. Other new churches welcomed into the Free Church included a new church in Leith planted originally in association with the Associate