 He was Convener of the Church of Scotland's Committee on Church and Nation from 1988 to 1992, a member of the BBC Broadcasting Council for Scotland from 1988–93 and the UK Board of Christian Aid from 2000–04.Educated at Stirling High School and the Universities of St Andrews (MA, 1964) and Edinburgh (BD, 1982), before entering the ministry he served as a senior civil servant from 1964 to 1979, including a term (1975–77) as Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Scotland.He was Chaplain to the University of Edinburgh from 1985–88, Lecturer in Practical Theology at the University of Glasgow from 1988–95 and Leader of the Iona Community from 1995 to 2002 and served as Moderator of the Presbytery of Glasgow from June 2002 to June 2003.