McGowan was the founding principal of Highland Theological College, serving from 1994 to 2009, after which he became minister of the Inverness East Church of Scotland congregation.
He attended Aberdeen University as part of his theological training straight from Secondary School.
[2] In 1998, he moved to be the Minister of Trinity Possil & Henry Drummond Church of Scotland, in the Possilpark area of Glasgow.
"[6] In it, McGowan suggested the word "spiration" in place of "inspiration" and argued against the concept of biblical inerrancy, instead being in favour of a type of infallibility.
[7] Norman Geisler and William C. Roach suggest that McGowan's "challenge to inerrancy is one of the most dangerous because it is clear, direct, and comes from within evangelicalism.