Howe of Fife Parish Church members are being urged to support the future of their church by attending an important meeting in Kettle this week. Representatives of the Church of Scotland Ministries Council and the Presbytery of St Andrews will consult the congragation on the priorities for the next 18 months at the meeting in Kettle Kirk on August 21, starting 7.30pm. At the start of July, the Ministries Council in conjunction with the Presbytery appointed the Rev Dr Gordon McCracken as interim minister of the church in an attempt to support the congregation to attract a new minister to the parish. Dr McCracken urged all members of the congregation, of whom only a small proportion support the charge, to make a positive decision to work with the church in taking part in Thursday's meeting. The Howe of Fife Parish has 4 places of worship - Collessie, Cults, Kingskettle and Ladybank - but it has been designated as one congregation for the past 25 years. Dr McCracken said the Church of Scotland has almost 1200 'charges', currently around 200 of these without a settled ministry. The number of people offering themselves for the ministry had increased in recent years but the number ofministers continued to fall as retirement outstripped recruitment.