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Churches face an “intolerable and utterly unsustainable” lack of interest from their congregations, according to a minister.

An outspoken and wide-ranging attack has been made on members who failto attend for worship or offer financial support to their churches.

The Rev Scott Burton, minister atSt Matthew’s Kirk in Perth, said: “I have no reason to believe anything other than the fact that it’s only going to get worse in the next decade.

“It’s time for someone to say it as it is I’m afraid and I’m either brave enough or stupid enough to be the one who’s choosing to say it.

“I see the bank balance (deficits), I lead worship in the more than half-empty buildings, I feel the never-endingpressures, I counsel the office-bearers who are tearing their hair out to make ends meet. So I assure you, I’m notexaggerating.”

He hit out after studying the number of people attending churches in Perth but his comments resonated with congregation leaders across Tayside and Fife.

The Rev Michael Goss, AngusPresbytery Clerk, said: “The generalperception is that attendance at services runs at about a third or a quarter of the congregational roll.

“The picture is a continuing downward trend, which has been the situation for a long time.”

The Rev James Wilson, the clerk of Dundee’s Presbytery, said:“Our membership is gradually getting fewer and older.We are slowly but surely struggling to find people to do additional tasks and take up positions of responsibility.

“It is a problem for us in the Church of Scotland in Dundee certainly a major problem but it is not one that only the church is facing.”

Ministers in Fife confirmed numbers were dropping, with the Rev Jan Steyn,minister of Cupar St Johns andDairsie United Parish Church, saying “generational change” was required to keep churches relevant.

For more on this story, see Saturday’s Courier.