Check.Church

Church of Scotland

Reformed and Presbyterian · 1560 · Scotland

Scotland's Reformation under Knox made the Kirk Calvinist in doctrine and, by 1592, presbyterian in government; the recurring battle of its history — the church's spiritual independence from state patronage — produced the secessions of 1733 and 1761 and the Disruption of 1843, healed in stages by 1929.

Church of Scotland was formed in 1560. Church of Scotland continues today. Church of Scotland's institutional line runs back through Reformed, Roman Catholicism to the post-apostolic church. No body on this tree is the assembly of Acts 2; where a body claims that, the claim appears in the claimed-lineage layer.

Between the post-apostolic church and Church of Scotland stand 2 divisions along the institutional line, counting separations and disputed forks, not mergers, renewals or national organizations.

At a glance

Formed
In 1560
Family
Reformed and Presbyterian
Region
Scotland
Key figures
John Knox, Andrew Melville
Cause tags
Doctrine, Politics, Governance
Also known as
The Kirk

What it was organized out of

  • National organization of Reformed, not a separation from it.

Bodies organized out of it or separated from it: The Disciples (Campbell movement), Free Church of Scotland, Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (1789 line), Church of Pakistan, United Reformed Church.

On the tree

Church of Scotland and its institutional line back to the post-apostolic churchAD 33The church at Pentecost: On divine groundThe church at Pentecost: on divine groundtoday10042443145110541519156017061809184319701972The post-apostolic church (The spine)The post-apostolicchurchDepartureChurch of the East (Church of the East)Church of the EastChurch of the EastThe conciliar church (The spine)The conciliar churchDepartureThe Chalcedonian church (The spine)The Chalcedonian churchDepartureOriental Orthodoxy (Oriental Orthodox)Oriental OrthodoxyOriental OrthodoxEastern Orthodoxy (Eastern Orthodox)Eastern OrthodoxyEastern OrthodoxRoman Catholicism (Catholic)Roman CatholicismNot gatheredReformed (Reformed and Presbyterian)ReformedReformed and PresbyterianChurch of Scotland (Reformed and Presbyterian)Church of ScotlandReformed and PresbyterianPresbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (1789 line) (Reformed and Presbyterian)Presbyterian Church inthe U.S.A. (1789 line)Reformed and PresbyterianThe Disciples (Campbell movement) (Stone-Campbell)The Disciples (Campbellmovement)Stone-CampbellFree Church of Scotland (Reformed and Presbyterian)Free Church of ScotlandReformed and PresbyterianChurch of Pakistan (United and uniting churches)Church of PakistanUnited and uniting churchesUnited Reformed Church (United and uniting churches)United Reformed ChurchUnited and uniting churches

Solid lines are separations and unions; dashed lines are renewals that began inside a body; dotted gray lines are national organizations of one communion; a diamond marks a fork event where neither side is drawn as the one that left. Every line runs back to the post-apostolic church; no body descends from the assembly of Acts 2. Dashed gray boxes mark the institutional line after the apostles, shown as departure; no line of descent is drawn from Pentecost. A verdict appears on a box once its section is published.

Sources

Research compiled July 2026. Page data built 2026-10-31.