Rev Susan Brown, the minister of Dornoch Cathedral in the Highlands, will take up the year-long role when the Kirk's General Assembly begins in Edinburgh on Saturday.
The 59-year-old, known for having been the minister who married Madonna and Guy Ritchie in 2000, said she is "deeply moved and honoured" to be chosen for the role.
Succeeding the Right Rev Dr Derek Browning, she will be the fourth woman to hold the title.
Mrs Brown said: "The prospect of becoming Moderator of the General Assembly is slightly scary but incredibly exciting.
"It will be a challenging year but I am really up for it.
"As the ambassador for the Church, I am really looking forward to meeting people and hearing their stories as my theme is 'walking with'.
"I also want to highlight how important walking, which is an ancient spiritual tradition, is for our physical and mental health, an issue that I plan to raise with political leaders."
Around 730 commissioners from Scotland and beyond are expected to attend the General Assembly on The Mound to make decisions on matters of Kirk policy and governance.
Notable events in the week ahead include an expected discussion on Saturday afternoon on whether to allow ministers who wish to do so to perform same sex marriages.
Rev Bryan Kerr has put forward a motion to be voted on, telling the Legal Questions Committee to draft a Church law that would permit such a move.
If passed in its current form, the motion would give the panel two years to come up with the draft law, with a final vote expected in 2021.
In June last year, the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC) took the "momentous" decision to allow same-sex couples to be married in church. The historic move made it the first branch of the Anglican faith in the UK to allow same-sex marriage.
During the Church of Scotland's Assembly on Tuesday, a public procession will take place to mark 50 years of the ordination of women within the Kirk.
Nearly 300 people are expected to take part in the event in central Edinburgh, exactly half a century on from the Assembly's decision in 1968 to permit women to become ministers.
Wednesday brings discussion of a report from the Church and Society Council, which proposes the Kirk "should, over the next two years, divest from fossil fuel companies unless there is clear evidence that these companies are themselves modifying their policy and practice".
The General Assembly meets for a week every year in May. It has the authority to make laws determining how the Church operates and can also act as the Kirk's highest court.
This year's Assembly closes on Friday May 25.
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