“Pretty cool”. That’s the view of a Fife husband and wife who are forging a new union with the Church of Scotland.
In a highly unusual move, Susan Cord and James Bissett, who come from Cowdenbeath, will be ordained as Church of Scotland ministers at the same service on the same day.
The couple, both 40, will be welcomed into the Presbytery of Ross during a service at Knockbain Church in Munlochy, near Inverness, next month.
Ms Cord will lead the linked charge of Killearnan and Knockbain churches as a minister of word and sacrament and her husband will become an ordained local minister who will work directly for the presbytery on a part-time, voluntary basis while continuing to study at Highland Theological College in Dingwall.
Ms Cord, who studied theology at New College in Edinburgh, described the prospect of a two-minister household as “pretty cool”.
“It is an exciting and somewhat scary next step on a journey I have been on since I was three years old, the age I told my mum I wanted to go to church,” she said.
Ms Cord explained that her husband of 12 years had supported her throughout her training, a journey that partly inspired him to follow in her footsteps.
“When I first started feeling that I should react to what appeared to be God’s calling, I broke the news to James and his first reaction was ‘that sounds fun’,” she said.
“He came to my vocations conference because I was nervous and has always supported me through the journey.
“He too felt he was being called to ministry but did not want the two of us going through it at the same time. But after a few years, the calling became stronger for him and I encouraged to him to go through the process.”
Mr Bissett who will study part-time and work wherever the presbytery deems necessary said it was a “great privilege” to be a Church of Scotland minister.
“I am really looking forward to my new role because I love helping people.”
Mr Bissett, who expects to finish his training in 2019, said he and his wife were a good team and bounced ideas off each other.
“The after-dinner conversation can be a bit theological sometimes but we are quite good at maintaining a balance and creating space,” he added.
The couple will live in the manse attached to Ms Cord’s charge with their two gerbils, Caper and Caillie.