Pastor Gillian Weighton. PHOTO PROVIDED

Faith Presbyterian Church of Cape Coral has announced the election of the Rev. Dr. Gillian Weighton as its next senior pastor and head of staff. She will begin her duties on Sept. 8.

Weighton was born and raised in Scotland. She earned her bachelor of divinity with honors in theology and ethics at the University of St Andrews. She also earned a certificate in ministry from the University of Glasgow, during which time she worked as a chaplain in a drug rehabilitation center and in a large teaching hospital in Glasgow.

Weighton won the Scottish Fellow Scholarship to study at Union Theological Seminary in the city of New York and graduated with a master of sacred theology in homiletics in 1991. Returning to Scotland, she was ordained by the Church of Scotland in September 1992 after spending a year as a probationary minister at The High Kirk of Dundee. She was called to serve Ayr, St. James Parish Church on the west coast of Scotland in 1992 and remained there until called to Bridge of Allan Parish Church in 2004. While in the Church of Scotland, Weighton trained as a conflict mediator for the church and for “A Place for Hope,” working at times with the Scottish government in their fight against sectarianism.

In both Ayr and Bridge of Allan, Weighton also served as a university and hospital chaplain, served on General Assembly Committees and served as spiritual adviser and chaplain at conferences for newly ordained pastors. In 2013, Weighton heard the call to serve at First Presbyterian Church, Racine, Wisconsin. She had served this congregation on a pulpit exchange in 2004 and returned in 2013. Over the course of her ministry, Weighton has engaged in 18 pulpit exchanges across the United States and Canada. During her time in Racine, Weighton helped establish a downtown food pantry in the church and led the congregation to financial stability as well as grow a partnership with a Presbyterian Church in Matanzas, Cuba. She also served on the Committee on Ministry (COM) in the Presbytery of Milwaukee.

Weighton was called to St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Suffolk, Virginia, as head of staff and pastor in August 2018. In the past six years this congregation has weathered the pandemic during which time Weighton taught nearly 200 online classes, developed new prayer ministries and welcomed in many new members.

Weighton is a member of COM and the Congregational Vitality Team in the Presbytery of Eastern Virginia. She also serves on the board of directors for a local non-profit, Firm Foundations, that strives to house young single mothers and equips them with practical skills that can enable them to find employment.

While at St. Andrew, Weighton completed her doctor of ministry and graduated from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Her dissertation is titled, “Responding to the Pandemic, the Church as a Vaccine Against the Pandemics of Trauma and Loneliness.”

When asked to describe the ministry setting to which she believes God is calling her, Weighton replied, “My sense of call is toward a ministry setting where I can serve a church that understands itself as a family of faith. A place where all are welcome, where community is important and where everyone is included and involved.”

The seven-member Pastor Nominating Committee conducted a national search over the past year during which they reviewed 77 potential candidates, watched dozens and dozens of sermons and interviewed five applicants. In a letter to the congregation, the committee members wrote that Weighton “…consistently came to the top of every set of standards we envisioned and exceeded every expectation we had.”

Faith Presbyterian is one of the oldest churches in the Cape and the first to construct a church building in 1963. The church is located at 4544 Coronado Parkway, two blocks north of Cape Coral Parkway. Further information may be found at www.fpcfl.org or by calling the office at 239-542-2858.