Update from Free Church Legal Group

Over the period from the year 2000 there have been several attempts at resolving the division that took place in the Church. Some of these have been through official channels and some have been more unofficial initiatives. They have also, in fairness, sometimes been activated by one side and sometimes by the other. Unfortunately the positions have been too far apart to have produced success.

In the meantime the Free Church has had to make a range of arrangements to reduce the impact, when it could, to the congregations that have suffered the most. There are three congregations where the departure to the FCC in 2000 was almost total – Tarbat (Portmahomack), Kiltearn (Evanton), and Kilmorack (Beauly) and Strathglass. Ten others were very severely affected and property was seized and occupied that has never been returned to its rightful owners, the Free Church of Scotland. These congregations are St. Columba’s (Edinburgh), Partick (Glasgow), Greyfriars (Inverness), Duthil-Dores (now linked with Greyfriars as Stratherrick), Strath (Skye), Bracadale (Skye), Portree (Skye), Snizort (Skye), Kilmuir (Skye), Scalpay (Western Isles), and North Uist. In some cases manses were taken, in others churches and halls, and in a few cases all of these.

Thankfully, despite the severe loss of property and the departure of some ministers, the vast majority of the people stayed faithful to the Free Church.

So far the General Trustees and the Stewardship and Policy Committee have been able to assist with accommodation in the following ways; bought alternative manses on behalf of Greyfriars and St. Columba’s; loaned funds for congregations to purchase alternative manses for Portree, Scalpay and Partick; loaned funds for  the congregation to build a new alternative manse in Kilmuir; and assisted Bracadale to cover the rent for a property to be used as an alternative manse. In the near future the expectation is that an alternative manse will be purchased for Bracadale by the General Trustees. (None of this provision should be construed as giving up the congregation’s original manses for which the Free Church holds titles.)

All of these represent a significant outlay by the Church, and these represent only one strand of the difficulties experienced through the division. Other congregations have lost personnel including ministers; an immense amount of time has been spent by individuals addressing the problems raised by the split; moneys have been spent defending ourselves in Court action – moneys only partially retrieved when, praise God, our stance was vindicated; substantial funds still lie frozen in trapped bank accounts; and the cause of Christ we feel has been diminished in Scotland and beyond by the adverse publicity. We would not wish in particular to see this last point worsened.

The congregations most in need of our assistance and prayers are the ten listed above. It is widely recognised that although much has been done, especially in the sphere of manse provision, it has placed enormous financial burdens upon them. Houses provided and loans given have necessitated repayment structures that have been punitive and have devolved upon those most hurt. It is hoped that methods can be found to share these burdens more widely and to ensure that these congregations are not saddled with inordinate debt burdens for decades to come. Work is proceeding in this area.

We have not been able to do all that we would have liked to, and especially in the provision of places to worship, which has taken second place so far to obtaining housing for the preachers of the Word.

No mention has been made of any other future initiatives, but the Group is not being idle. No mention either has been made of what might happen in terms of our relations with the FCC. What we wanted to concentrate on in this bulletin is what has been accomplished, and the fact that we wish to explore mechanisms for more equitably sharing the load.

Ian MacIver
Convener, the Legal Group