The present minister is the Rev Dr Ian G Gough, who since September 1990 has been minister of St Vigeans, which is linked with Knox's Arbroath. He is also the officiating chaplain at Royal Marines Condor, the base being in St Vigeans Parish. He previously held positions in the parishes of Arbuthnott linked with Kinneff, St James' Pollok Glasgow, and New Kilpatrick, Bearsden. In Arbroath Ian is also chaplain to Little Cairnie Hospital and represents the Angus chaplains on the Tayside Health Board's Spiritual Care committee. Additionally he is chaplain to the Arbroath Air Training Corps.
Ian was brought up in North Lanarkshire, attending Newarthill Primary School and Bellshill Academy. He is a double graduate of the University of Glasgow (Master of Arts, Bachelor of Divinity), and did post-graduate study at the University of Aberdeen (Master of Theology, thesis "Papal Infalliblity and Episcopal Collegiality at the Vatican Councils - a Reformed Critique"). He obtained his doctorate from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (thesis, "Contemporary Attitudes to Death and the Implications for the Conduct of Funerals") through a programme run jointly with the University of Aberdeen. Extracts from the latter have been published in Records of the Scottish Church Service Society and in the journal Theology.
His leisure interests are for the most part music, especially piano-playing, his favourites being the music of Bach, Haydn and Schubert. He is also a keen football and tennis fan. Travel is another pleasure, and Ian has had three exchanges with ministers of the Presbyterian Church USA - to West Virginia, and Texas twice (one rural and one urban) for periods of one month each. He considers his friends as his greatest blessing.
He describes his conduct of worship as traditional, and as a member of the Scottish Church Service Society insists that a proper liturgical structure is essential.
