The Church of Scotland is expected to decide whether to allow its ministers to be in same-sex marriages at its annual General Assembly.
The assembly, which opens in Edinburgh today, is to vote on extending a law passed last May that permits ministers to be in same-sex civil partnerships.
The issue of also allowing same-sex marriage ministers was sent to presbyteries for further discussion at last year's event, deferring a decision on the matter until this year.
The 2015 assembly was told that the measure would not change the Church's traditional stance on marriage, or amount to a recognition of the validity of same-sex marriage.
The outcome of last year's vote on civil partnerships followed years of deliberation within the Church.
The decision meant the Kirk adopted a position which maintains a traditional view of marriage between a man and woman, but allows individual congregations to ''opt out'' if they wish to appoint a minister or a deacon in a civil partnership.
But because that debate pre-dated the legalisation of gay marriage, the change related only to civil partnerships, not same-sex marriages.