No.44 2nd May 2025
Hi,
Hope you have had a good week.
This week there are a couple of updates about young people being given the opportunity to get into the Bible and discover the Good News. This is a great opportunity both for those children across the Mearns, and for those less fortunate across the country who SU Scotland work with
'in the margins'. This involves both week to week Bible times as well as specially focussed holidays.
As usual there is information about events happening in our own church (Home Groups, etc) and in the Mearns and beyond.
The Home Groups start a new session this week....make sure you set aside time for preparing and attending this important part of church life as we encourage one another to read the Bible, have fellowship and 'keep going' in our faith.
And if that is not enough 'Daniel' in your life for you, scroll down for some more.
Enjoy the mag.
MB
Sunday 4th May
Morning service - 10.30am
Rev Scott Kirkland
Mark ch1: 1-11
(nb. Services are not being live streamed but will be recorded and on YouTube shortly after the service.)
NEW SESSION ... May - June
This session we are studying Daniel - your Home Group leader will have study booklets for you.
Meeting at various times on weeks beginning:
4th May - Home Group 1
18th May - Home Group 2
1st June - Home Group 3
15th June - Home Group 4
29th June - Home Group 5
If you would like to be involved in a Home Group speak to Scott.
Wednesday - 7.15pm - 8.15pm
@ John and Sandra
Letter from the Manse
Dear Congregation,
Anita and I shall attend a conference tomorrow morning on “Mental Health and the Church”. This will be held on the “Royal Mile” in Edinburgh at St Columba Free Church (Saturday 3rd May). The aim of the conference is to help equip us in local congregations to better care for one another, especially in regard to mental health (should that be “mental ill-health”?) The conference is open to all. You are welcome to attend. However, you do need to book a place. You will find more details at this link and see how to book a place here.
Home Groups…We begin a new series in our home groups this Sunday night. We shall look at the first part of the book of Daniel. I have personally found these studies extremely encouraging and hugely challenging. If you have not been involved in a House Group and would like to try one, please speak with me and I will point you to one.
Membership of MFC and Professing Faith…I know that some of you who worship with us regularly do so with formal membership in another church. Would you like to transfer this membership to Mearns Free Church?
Has the Lord brought you to a point where we must profess your faith publically for the first time and stand publically to be formally identified with Christ’s people (here at Mearns Free Church)? We want to help you do this. Please speak with me soon if either of the above have been laid on your heart by the Lord.
Ministry Opportunities At MFC Regarding “Audio Visual Equipment” (AV) and its use…Please consider participating in our AV ministry as outlined below.
Transport: We transport AV equipment to the Belmont premises most weeks. During our time at Belmont, this task has been undertaken by just 2/3 men (most willingly). Others have assisted when these men were unable to fulfil this responsibility.
It is now time to involve others in this ministry. It would be ideal to create a roster of willing drivers who would add to those currently involved.
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AV equipment is collected usually on a Friday night around 5pm and delivered to Belmont (this is a good time because the school is still open). See below the picture of kit transported.
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Because the AV equipment is stored in a residential garage next to Mearns Castle High School, the whole process takes only about 30 minutes.
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Something like a hatch-back car is required (probably) with rear seats that fold down to create plenty of space in the rear. See the picture of my car loaded with the equipment. (We are working on how to reduce the volume.)
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Colin Forster has kindly agreed to meet at the garage whoever is rostered to help load the equipment into the car and then unload at Belmont. This is a super offer which will reduce the physical effort, reduce the time involved and also make it so much more fun!
Please contact me if you would like more information or to be included on the roster.
Rostering: We have two rosters currently in operation regarding AV. It is timely for someone to take on the administration task of creating these two rosters. They are renewed quarterly (every three months).
One roster schedules who will actually assist on Sunday mornings with the AV in worship. The other roster schedules who will set the equipment up in advance (usually on a Friday night or Saturday). Reminders are normally sent out each week to those involved. This is an administration task and needs no technical AV ability.
Would you be willing to take on this admin role? Please speak to me.
Operation of AV: Would you like to help on Sundays with the actual control of sound or projection of words/images? Nearly every one of our gathering requires AV in some way. Training is given This is not just a young person’s ministry. Please speak with me if you would like to become involved.
The above outlines three aspects of ministry at MFC all in some way connected to AV. Please speak to me if you would like more information on any of the above.
With Warmest Regards
Scott
Bible Alive
IN LOCAL PRIMARY SCHOOLS!
Please keep praying for this amazing opportunity in our local schools.
Pauline writes...
I'm part of a chaplaincy team along with Dave and Adrienne from NMBC and Lynne from SU which serves our local primary schools with varying amounts of input.
We have a number of sessions over this coming term we'd appreciate prayer for.
We are starting a new initiative with P5s in Mearns and Crookfur called Bible Alive which takes pupils through the whole Bible over 7 sessions through drama, storytelling, music and BSL. We are starting with 4 one hour long sessions on the Old Testament then will return to do the New Testament sessions next year. This is co-ordinated by SU and has run in various places across Scotland for a number of years.
The dates are as follows:
Thursday mornings - 1st May, 8th May, 15th May and 22nd May in Crookfur
Wednesday mornings - 7th May, 14th May, 28th May and 4th June in Mearns.
Here is Pauline's news from this week...
This morning Adrienne and I visited Crookfur P5s for the first Bible Alive lesson. The pupils were really engaged and we both thoroughly enjoyed
the sessions. We went through the whole book of Genesis and taught them about sin and how God loves and rescues his people.
Next Wednesday we are repeating lesson 1 in Mearns and also now in Kirkhill on Thursday plus Dave and Lynne are doing lesson 2 in Crookfur.
Ministry in the Margins
SU Scotland has a focus on children and young people who experience life at the margins, seeking to mirror God's keen concern for the marginalised as seen throughout Scripture.
There are a number of events and activities coming up that they would appreciate prayer for:
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SU Scotland want to grow 3 new Local Youth Projects in some of Scotland's poorest communities. The first of these has been identified in Merkinch, Inverness where ministry to support a primary and secondary school has been happening for two years, and there are numerous opportunities for more ministry. SU are about to advertise for a project worker - please pray for the right person to be appointed into this post.
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To identify other locations for Local Youth Projects, a new Local Youth Project Development Worker will start soon to engage in a lot of relational research, with a specific eye on Glasgow, being the city with the most significant amounts of poverty. Please pray for Karen as she begins this post in the summer, that God would guide her as she begins this exciting post.
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SU are hosting their third holiday for Ukrainian refugee families living ion Scotland in August - pray for these Ukrainian families and their young people to experience something of the life and hope of God as they send a week together at Lendrick Muir.
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SU are trialling two new events in the autumn, planning for which is underway. One is for neurodiverse young people who attend special schools, the other for families with adopted children.
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Whilst SU always wish to be inclusive in practice in their mainstream events, some specialist provision is required. Please pray for Elaine Tait and Elaine Watt as they respectively plan these events
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Please pray for Tim Raynes, SU's Ministry at the Margins Lead as he continues to seek God's guidance for developing relationships with local churches and youth projects in priority communities, seeking to find ways SU can dd value to existing ministry happening in these locations.
Watch an intro video
here.
Mearns Free Church have an Instagram, Facebook and YouTube presence
We would really like people to LIKE, FOLLOW and SUBSCRIBE to the church accounts.
Look out for more details in coming weeks about how you can raise the online profile of the church.
Assisted Suicide Bill
URGENT PRAYER REQUEST
from a letter from Nigel Kenny of The Christian Institute...
We have just had it confirmed yesterday that the Stage 1 debate and vote for Liam McArthur's assisted suicide Bill will unexpectedly take place at Holyrood in the afternoon of Tuesday 13 May.
It's crucial not only that we all be praying about this but also that Christians in large numbers are contacting their MSPs as a matter of urgency - it is less than two weeks until the vote
. Watch the information video here.
The CI is sending out a briefing to our supporters but if you do not receive our emails, then please use of Care Not Killing's tool, which specifically targets MSPs who are known to be undecided or who have not made their views known yet: Details
HERE
There are so many reasons why this particular Bill should not go ahead, as well as the obvious one that it is wrong headed in principal:-
- the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee in their Stage 1 report have declared themselves NEUTRAL on the Bill, even though a clear majority were initially in favour of it;
- they have declared it "not fit for purpose" and have found flaws in every clause;
- the fact that there is no time limit for assessment of terminal illness (unlike the 6 month diagnosis in Westminster) means that eligibility under this Bill could be extremely wide;
- it has been estimated that 28% of all hospital patients at any time in Scotland would qualify to be offered assisted suicide if the Bill were to pass in its current form;
- recent case law would make it mandatory for doctors to put assisted suicide forward as an option in all these cases;
- vulnerable and frightened patients should not feel any implied coercion to take up this offer, yet doctors would be legally obliged to offer it (probably repeatedly);
- around half of us will die of a terminal illness, so that means that every single family in Scotland will be affected by this law.
Thank you for partnering with us and many other organisations at this crucial time in our nation's life. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Yours in Christ's service,
Nigel Kenny
Daniel Is Flying!
Back around autumn 2021 Daniel Clarke met with me (and John McNicol) in the manse and told us he was resigning as Youth Worker to train as a pilot. While I was delighted that he and Anna would remain with us in the congregation, I was disappointed he was giving up the Youth position and hugely concerned about the plan he was telling me about! (I was thinking about the extensive training involved and the associated costs that he and Anna would incur). I felt like a very concerned dad and I confess I did not express much encouragement or enthusiasm at that time.
Exactly to schedule, this week, Daniel flew his first passengers to their holiday destinations in Europe. I want to congratulate Daniel and Anna in all that they have achieved in these last few years. I praise God for the gifts the Lord has given Daniel to succeed but also the resolve He has given to both Daniel and Anna to undertake such a huge ambition at this stage of family life! Praise God!
Scott
Ladybird Book of Maxwell
Sightly longer 'breaks' than some of the Tea Break suggestions we have had...
Graham and Emily were telling me this week about a Free Church of Scotland site with sermons from over the years.
They had been enjoying a particular minister with a west coast lilt of the name Mackay!
LEGACY
I'll let the details from their page below explain what the website gives access to...
"For generations, the Free Church of Scotland has preached the good news of Jesus Christ. The gospel has been proclaimed, the truth has been taught and lives have been changed. This heritage of preaching has lived on in the memories and testimonies of men and women who were there to hear for themselves. But now, this heritage can be heard again. With over 1000 sermons from days gone by, you can listen to the voices of the past proclaiming the gospel. This is their legacy. This is our hope.
Every effort has been made to ensure that the sermon recordings are clear and easy to listen to. However, please note that for some sermons, the quality of recording is to a lower standard. But despite this, the message preached remains of enduring value."
Visit the page HERE
Summertime for...
The summer holidays are going to be upon us in the blink of an eye.
We are looking for some people to lead one (or more) of our summer sessions to give our regular Kids leaders a break. You will need to have a PVG with Mearns Free Church (this can be arranged through Alastair MacLellan or Sue Anderson and is a relatively painless procedure) and there will need to be two adults aged 18+ at each session. We will be focusing on Nehemiah this summer and full teaching materials and resources will be provided for each week.
Speak to Pauline if you can help on any of the following dates:
29th June, 6th July, 13th July, 20th July, 27th July, 4th August.
Community Week 2025
4th-10th August. Keep the week free!
We are planning a week of events based around the stories of King David and King Jesus, for all ages across our local community and would love as many people to be involved as possible. To find out more about how you could be involved or support even in a small way, speak to Pauline. Every contribution is worthwhile and helps us to share the Gospel.
There will be a team meeting on Sunday 1st June after church for those who will be involved in whatever capacity to give an overview of the week, to allocate roles and most importantly, to pray together.
The next 2 meetings are on Saturdays 10th May and 14th June...we plan to continue on the 2nd Saturday of each month.
Speak with to Martin S for more details.
Some news and events coming up...
Below are some events which you might be interested in attending over the next few weeks.
Brian More, at last week's evening service, mentioned the event at NMBC 'BEING HUMAN' which should be very interesting.
Remember to register for these events.
There is also news from the Free Church for May which you can look at by clicking HERE
Book in a Day
Tuesday 6th May, 2025,
09:30-16:30
25 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 1HW
Come and join our Cornhill class for the day as we spend time digging deep into the book of 2 Corinthians together.
Our Book in a Day events are a great opportunity to learn key Bible handling skills, to grow in your understanding of a book of the Bible and all whilst enjoying warm fellowship with like-minded brothers and sisters. These days will be really helpful for pastors, elders, women’s workers, lay preachers, Bible study leaders, youth and children’s workers or anyone wanting help with reading the Bible. Our Book in a Day events are also a great taster for those considering doing the full Cornhill Training Course.
Paul Clarke is a seasoned Bible expositor and serves as the Senior Minister of St Andrews Free Church.
All light refreshments during the day will be provided as well as all the teaching material. Please bring your lunch with you or buy it from one of the many eateries in central Glasgow.
The cost of the day is £20 per person or £10 for students or unwaged. For groups of 3 or more there is a flat rate of £60.
If the cost is a problem then please contact us and we will do what we can.
We would love to have you with us.
Being Human taster event with Peter Lynas
– navigating culture through a Christian lens .
Newton Mearns Baptist Church
| Thursday 15 May | 7 p.m.
A recent survey we did with our members showed that Christians in Scotland are seeking guidance on how to engage with today’s major cultural issues.
With that in mind, we invite you to stay for the Being Human taster event, where Peter Lynas, UK Director at the Evangelical Alliance and co-lead of the Being Human project, will introduce a framework to help us understand and respond to these issues from God's perspective. On the night, we’ll explore examples such as assisted dying and gender/sexuality, with space for discussion and a Q&A session.
This event is open to your wider church community – leaders, students, professionals, creatives – everyone is welcome. If you’re unable to attend, we’d really appreciate you sharing this event with your church and other leaders you know. This is open to all churches who are interested.
To help with sharing, I have attached a promotional poster for you to share. The QR code on the poster links to the registration page, but I’ve also included the direct link
here for convenience.
LARGE PRINT -
SONG WORDS
If you find viewing the song-words on the screen in Sunday worship a problem, we currently print a limited number of large-print song sheets for specific people.
We don't want to print unnecessary copies so please speak with the door team and we will begin to make these available for you each week.
Mearns Free Church has a What's App Group for Prayer -The "PRAY NOW" Group
Purpose: A platform to share information regarding a sudden and crucial need for prayer.
How to connect: Speak to Margaret Boyd if you would like to be added to this group or email Margaret at: mandmboyd@hotmail.co.uk
What tech do I need?: You need to have a Smart Phone with WhatsApp to get set up.
Emailing The Minister
Please be careful when emailing Scott that you are using the correct current email address minister@mearnsfree.org. A number of emails continue to be sent to accounts no longer in use. Please be doubly careful when sending from a device that is not your normal communication device (like a phone) or if you use “reply to all”.
Email Addresses For Mearns Free Church
Please make sure you change your email address list now we are part of the Free Church.
Tom Brown (Office): office@mearnsfree.org
Scott Kirkland (Minister): minister@mearnsfree.org
Sandy McDougall (Treasurer): finance@mearnsfree.org
Pauline Forster (Children and families worker): children@mearnsfree.org