An Inverness-born minister has been appointed as the next moderator of the United Free Church of Scotland’s General Assembly.
The Rev Ian Boa will lead the church’s annual gathering in Perth in May after being appointed Moderator Designate.
His role will also involve touring Scotland to speak to around 16 to 18 congregations following the General Assembly.
He is currently assistant general secretary of Action for Churches Together in Scotland and was formerly a minister for the United Free Church in Alloa and Blairlogie.
Mr Boa said: “It’s a great honour to be entrusted with the responsibility of this position.”
The 55-year-old was born in Inverness and spent his early years in the Highland capital, apart from two years living in Aviemore.
He attended Inverness Royal Academy and was a dedicated member of the 3rd Inverness (Crown) Boys Brigade Company, becoming a Queen’s Man in 1979.
The father-of-three left the Highlands after school to study marine biology at Heriot-Watt University.
Following a period of unemployment, he retrained as a management accountant, qualifying in 1991 and then working in the industry in a number of locations across the central belt.
He came to the church after he moved Lochwinnoch in Renfrewshire where he started attending Calder United Free Church of Scotland with his wife Sally in 1990.
Under the care of the Rev Archie Ford, he came to faith in 1991, was ordained an elder in 1993 and was called into the ministry in 1995.
Following acceptance as a student by the United Free Church of Scotland, he studied at Trinity College in Glasgow.
In 1999, gaining a BD (Honours) and was awarded the Peter Marshall Scholarship to Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey attending in 1999-2000.
He was then called in 2001 to be minister at the joint charges of Alloa Moncrieff and Blairlogie where he served for 11 years until being called to his current role with Action of Churches Together in Scotland, the national instrument for ecumenism.
As well as his work in these congregations and communities, he has served the church as Moderator of the Presbytery of the East.
Nationally he has served at different times on the church’s overseas committee, as vice-convener of the ministry committee, convener of the ecumenical relations committee, and is currently vice-convener of the administration and finance committee.
He said his varied career, both before and after joining the church, had all contributed to his skill-set in understanding and helping people.
His current work is involved in helping uniting nine denominations within the Scottish church which he said was a message which could be applied to wider society.
He said: “The churches do not always agree on everything but we don’t let that get in the way of our work.
“We recognise that we have more in common than we have differences and we can work together.
“In this day in age there seems to be so many people always falling out with one another and I think that message of being able to work together is an important one.
“It is the common thread in everything I have done and it is very important to me.”
Mr Boa is married to Sally and has a son and two daughters.
He now lives in Stirling.