Each Autumn, Greenbank and Morningside Parish Churches organise a themed lecture series, and in 2025 Fairmilehead Parish Church also took part. Traditionally, the lectures are alternately hosted between the two churches, and sometimes livestreamed and recorded. More details are available below.
2025 Lectures: Ecology Matters
The 2025 lectures will be held at Morningside Parish Church at 7pm, preceded by refreshments at 6:30pm. The lectures will last approximately one hour, including time for questions. The lectures will be livestreamed with recordings available thereafter, via the Morningside Parish Church website.
7 Sept 2025 – Ecology, The Climate and The Need for Action – Dr Mike Robinson
Dr Mike Robinson is Chief Executive of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society and Chair of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, and has been instrumental in informing sustainability and climate change for 25 years.
14 Sept 2025 – The Unstoppable Power of Hope: Christian Aid at 80 – Val Brown
Val Brown is Head of Christian Aid in Scotland. She has served on the Church of Scotland’s World Mission Council, chaired their Middle East Committee and currently chairs their ethical oversight committee.
21 Sept 2025 – Nature’s Genius: Evolution’s Lessons for a Changing Planet – Professor David Farrier
David Farrier is Professor of Literature and the Environment at the University of Edinburgh, and author of Nature’s Genius: Evolution’s Lessons for a Changing Planet and Footprints: In Search of Future Fossils.
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2024 Lectures: Questions for our time
8 Sept – The Justice Question – Joy Gillespie
Joy Gillespie is CEO of Survivors of Human Trafficking in Scotland, an adviser to the Scottish Government, and a board member of Poverty Alliance and GoYouth Trust.
Recording of ‘The Justice Question’ available here.
15 Sept – Assisted Dying – Rev Dr Liam Fraser
Rev Dr Liam Fraser is minister of St. Michael’s Parish Church, Linlithgow. He is the author of ‘Atheism, Fundamentalism and the Protestant Reformation’ (2018) and ‘Mission in Contemporary Scotland’.
Recording of ‘Assisted Dying’ available here.
22 Sept – Searching for Renewal in the Mainstream Church – Rev Neil Glover
Rev Neil Glover is a parish minister in Highland Perthshire and the author of ‘Finding our Voice’ (2024). He convenes the Church of Scotland’s Seeds for Growth.
Recording of ‘Searching for Renewal’ available here.
2022 Lectures: I was a stranger…
Three lectures exploring the theme of refugees and their place in our society — and our responses to them.
11 Sept – Sabir Zazai – CEO of the Scottish Refugee Council
Sabir is CEO of the Scottish Refugee Council. He arrived in the UK as an asylum seeker in 1999 and has a wealth of knowledge in refugee integration. He is passionate about refugee rights, social justice and intercultural relations.
18 Sept – Fr Vasyl Krenus
Vasyl is Priest of the Ukranian Catholic Church in Leith. He has been instrumental in helping with the response to the Ukrainian displaced persons crisis in Edinburgh and beyond.
25 Sept – David Bradwell
David co-ordinates the Church’s response to refugee issues, working as Co-ordinator for Scottish Faiths Action for Refugees and Scottish Churches Parliamentary Officer.
2021 Church and Society: Moving Forward?
5th Sept – Very Rev. Dr John Chalmers, Convenor of the Assembly Trustees
The shape of the Church to come in a time of transition. Recording available here.
12th Sept – Rev. Liz Henderson, Richmond Craigmillar Church
Lessons learned from the pandemic and how it affected the parish and ministry in Craigmillar.
19th Sept – Prof. Helen Bond, Professor of Christian Origins and New Testament, University of Edinburgh
What Jesus and the first Christians thought about faith and community and what it could teach us for today.
26th Sept – Very Rev. Albert Bogle, Pioner Minister of Sanctuary First
What the evolution of an online church and community means for the future. Recording available here.