The government of the Church of Scotland is that of a hierarchical court structure with a history stretching back for several centuries.
Each court of the Church has committees, which may include other members of the Church. The highest court is the General Assembly. The Church of Scotland councils and committee web pages will provide you with much more detailed information about the work of its committees.
Below the General Assembly are the Presbyteries. You can find out more about the work of the Presbytery of Edinburgh and West Lothian here.
At the local level of our own parish church, the court is known as the Kirk Session and this body, which is made up of elders and chaired or “moderated” by the parish minister, is concerned with spiritual matters affecting the congregation and parish.
As well as the Kirk Session a parish church may have a Congregational Board, responsible primarily for finance and property matters. The Congregational Board comprises members of Session as well as members elected by the Congregation at their annual meeting. Greenbank Parish Church has a Congregational Board.
All members of the Kirk Session and Congregational Board are Trustees for the purposes of recent charities legislation.