The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has spoken of the need to continue reforming the Church 450 years after the Reformation.

Marking the Reformation’s 450th anniversary at the General Assembly yesterday, the Rt Rev John Christie said Christians were now living in a very different world from the time of Scottish Protestant reformer John Knox.

He said the present time was one in which secular voices were challenging the Church and exploiting divisions.

“These siren voices are often critical, sometimes dismissive and seldom affirming. Perhaps they are right to be so. I wonder if we need to face the criticism directed at us and rethink what we are about,” he said.

“I think we need a reformation of the relationship within the body of Christ, something new and better in obedience to the divine plan often acknowledged, more often ignored because of the blinkered eye of tradition or the earplugs of sectarianism.

“The world of 2010 does not need or want a divided church; divided within itself it cannot stand. It is time for the 21st century Church to affirm that which unites us.”

He encouraged Christians to look forward to the day when young people celebrated the Reformation’s 500th anniversary, “hoping that the world is a better place”.

“If you think that is dreaming an impossible dream then let me say this: the Scottish Reformation began with John Knox in Perth and it circled the globe,” he said.

The Reformation dominated yesterday’s session of the General Assembly, with the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament Alex Fergusson reading out the account of the Scottish Parliament of August 1560, which approved the Scots Confession, a historic document setting out the faith of the Protestant church in Scotland according to a Calvinist interpretation.

Actor John Sheddon was dressed as John Knox as he read out extracts from the reformer’s account of the martyrdom of his mentor and Protestant preacher, George Wishart.

The Moderator concluded: “If this special session to mark the Reformation is to have any lasting validity then what we have marked today must be measured in how we take its inspiration and apply it to the future.”