Neil MacMillan's Blog
On the Whisky Trail
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Mission in Moray (& Keith)
This past weekend, I left home and headed North. I was a bit shocked by the cold. Where did the sub-zero tempratures come from? Many a Scotsman will take a dram for a winter warmer, but being allergic to whisky I just turned up the electric blanket.
I worshipped with about 40 others in Elgin Free Church on Sunday morning. The church building in Elgin has had an excellent refurb, and is warm, welcoming and comfortable. In the afternoon, I made my first trip to Burghead to visit the minister and his wife, Jim and Anne Abernethy. You can read in the ‘News & Events’ section about recent progress there. In the evening I joined about 20 people for a service in Dufftown. The services here are a new outreach from Elgin Free Church.
The day was a real blessing to me. The psalms, the Scriptures, the preaching, the fellowship all helped to nourish and revive my mind and heart. Often, what I enjoy most on my journeys is meeting people with real gospel passion and a vision for mission, and I met people like that on Sunday; people who are dreaming dreams about how their church can thrive and grow. Give thanks for a burst of growth in Burghead, pray for the continued progress of the work in Elgin, with Colin and Christine Morison seeking to complete the work of revitalisation and celebrate a new work in Dufftown. I have only seen Dufftown in the dark, so the one thing I know about it is that it has four distilleries. The work there is being driven forward by local people who are bold and eager to share the gospel. This has led to a few conversions in the community and I was really moved by one conversation I had with a newly converted couple, who are full of amazement at the gospel and the grace God has shown them.
Today I am off to Skye. I am going to visit the Bracadale congregation. I believe this is where Talisker is to be found.
Reformission Scotland
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
A new church planting initiative for Leith and Scotland
Holidays, work and illness have come between me and my blog, but I am back. Responses to my questions in Ayr Time have been few but varied. One person told me face to face that I had to write something interesting before I started asking for comments. A minister emailed me to say that they were questions that he had been thinking about for quite a while. Norrie has posted reminding us that, in many ways, small is beautiful and I do agree. One of the reasons the Kirkcaldy church planted a church in Dunfermline was because Kirkcaldy had grown to about 60 or 70 people and was becoming quite cosy. We needed a new challenge and so we planted out. So, perhaps instead of looking to grow to plus 100, we should plant another church when we get to about 70 people. There is good evidence that this is a sound missiological principle leading to greater growth. (See ‘Multiplying Churches’ ed. Steve Timmis.)
But on to something else. Last night, I attended the ordination and induction of the Rev. Athole Rennie to be a church planter in the new harbour development in Leith. The service was in New Restalrig Church of Scotland. The church was pretty packed, Sinclair Ferguson preached a fine sermon on the church from Matthew 16 and we had some good singing, including an unaccompanied psalm. I even got to say a few words myself.
The service was hosted by Reformission Scotland. Reformission Scotland is a group of ministers and elders from the Church of Scotland, Free Church, and APC who are working to promote the planting of culturally relevant gospel churches with a reformed outlook. Leith is their first church plant. Reformission Scotland are working with the Associated Reformed Presbyterian Church in America to make this happen, and Athole was ordained and inducted as an ARP minister.
Athole is a fine guy, and worthy of our respect and support. If Reformission Scotland can start planting churches that are reformed but relevant we must all rejoice. Scotland is a mission field. Millions of people need the gospel. Many of them have rejected Church as they have previously encountered it. It will be fascinating to watch and see if Athole can break the missional code in Leith. Church planting is an urgent necessity for Scotland in the 21st Century. We need this church plant and we need many more like it. It is wonderful to have the support of American Presbyterians with a Scottish heritage supporting this kind of work. Thank God that they care enough about Scotland to get involved. I hope their commitment to mission in Scotland will fire the rest of us with an even greater passion to see Scotland re-evangelised.
