No.46 16th May 2025
Hi,
We are rejoicing with those who rejoice these days and it's good to recognise a milestone anniversary alongside new birth! You can read more of that below. And Mearns Free also celebrates an anniversary next week, being one year since we were brought into the Free Church of Scotland. Details of that to come next week!
Hope you have enjoyed the continued good weather this week.
Perhaps the Summer sunshine might remind you that that the school holidays are nearly upon us and we want to run a Summer Hizkidz over these weeks - Pauline is looking for people to step forward and assist - see the note on this below and speak with her asap!
Enjoy the mag.
MB
Sunday 18th May
Morning service - 10.30am
Rev Scott Kirkland
Mark 1:14-20
Home Groups
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday
Wednesday - 7.15pm - 8.15pm
@ John and Sandra's
Letter from the Manse
Dear Congregation,
As a Presbyterian congregation, local congregations are governed by locally appointed elders. When these elders gather to make decisions about congregational business, we typically refer to the gathering as "The Kirk Session."
Beyond the local level, there are two "higher" assemblies, the “Presbytery” and “General Assembly”. Our church belongs to the Glasgow and Argyll Presbytery of the Free Church of Scotland. This Presbytery comprises of local ministers and elders from all the congregations within our geographical bounds. Ordinarily, the Presbytery meets monthly, and these meetings are generally open to the public. You are therefore welcome to attend and observe. Mearns Free Church is currently represented at Presbytery by myself as minister and John McNicol, one of our elders. John has been appointed by our Kirk Session as “Presbytery Elder”, a one-year term.
The General Assembly is an annual gathering. (Was the first General Assembly in Acts 15?) Each Presbytery sends a delegation of ministers and elders on their behalf. This year, I will be attending the General Assembly along with our elder Sandy McDougall. It's interesting to note a difference here between the Church of Scotland and the Free Church. The Free Church permits Presbytery to be represented by elders of local congregations even if they are not “Presbytery elders”. The Church of Scotland only permitted representatives at Assembly who were Presbytery elders for that year. In our case, previously only John McNicol would have been allowed to attend (and not Sandy McDougall).
We will be spending most of the week in Edinburgh at the St Columba's Free Church building, located just off the Royal Mile. I will attend an introductory course on Monday afternoon. The formal proceedings begin on Monday at 6 pm and will conclude on Thursday. The schedule is quite demanding. We begin each day at 9 am and there is a short lunch break. Business resumes at 2 pm and dinner is scheduled between 5 pm-6.30pm. Business recommences at 6:30 pm and there is a guillotine at 10 pm. On Thursday, we will commence business as usual at 9 am and continue until all matters are concluded.
This will be our first experience of the General Assembly. Please pray that any contributions we make will be helpful.
These meetings are generally open to the public, and you are welcome to attend any or all of the sessions. (Occasionally, certain matters are discussed privately, and non-delegate attendees will be asked to leave during these closed sessions.) I have attached the schedule for your prayers and to help you decide if any of the Sessions are of interest to you. (Schedule Linked can be read here.)
On a related but different matter….Our elders will meet as a Kirk Session on May 26th, and the agenda includes the welcoming of new members to Mearns Free Church.
I am aware that some of you who regularly worship with us still hold formal membership in other churches. If you have made the decision to commit to worshipping with us here, we would encourage you to transfer your membership to Mearns Free Church also.
For some of you, the Lord may have called you to now publicly profess your faith for the first time and openly identify with Christ's people (here at Mearns Free Church). We would be delighted to be a part of this.
Please speak with me soon if the Lord has placed either of the above desires on your heart.
With Warmest Regards
Scott
Church Day Out
Saturday 24th May
Here is the plan for our Mearns Free Church day out to the Inspiration Orchestra Festival 2025.
1. Leave Belmont together (or Glasgow on your own) at 9.30am to travel to Pitmeadow Farm, Dunning, Perth, PH2 0RA
2. Arrive at Festival 10.45 - enjoy some tea/coffee and cake
3. Spend time getting up close to a variety of farm animals or chat to the classic car owners
4. Listen to the orchestra and appreciate all the work that's being done in this great ministry led by Ian White.
5. 12.30pm Eat picnic or get a burger from the stall and enjoy lunch together
6. 1pm Linger at the festival for as long as you like and/or have a walk beside Dunning burn for a couple of miles in the afternoon. 7. Return to Glasgow at your leisure (or with the car you are travelling in!).
If you want to go to the Festival but need a lift please email our office: office@mearnsfree.org by Sunday 18th May
Hope to see you all there. (Speak to me if you would like more details.)
Scott
Let's Read Together
If you didn't get a copy last week of this book which we are reading together as a church then Stewart will have them available for you on Sunday.
Helpful, practical advice and examples about approaching disagreements in the right attitude, listening properly, and even being able to be persuasive when these days that can be viewed as being manipulative.
Only £5 each.
Congratulations x2
Golden Anniversary!
Firstly, congratulations to Margaret and Malcolm Brown.
We are delighted that Margaret and Malcolm were able to celebrate with their family 50 years of marriage on 10th May.
And secondly...
Welcome!
We are so happy to welcome into the church a new, beautiful, wee baby boy to Manny and Ivy (and to big sister and brother Tilly and Theodore)!
Praise God from whom all blessings flow....
CAR ROTA
Can you help? We want to be able to offer lifts to the 'guests' who come along to the Cafe and need to have some more drivers who are able to be part of a rota to do this.
​Speak with Sandy Halliday or Elizabeth Smith for more details.
See details below on how to listen to Kevin de Young talking about this so well.
In the News
Maybe you, like many others, think it's just depressing to watch the news. This week's vote on assisted dying, alongside the wars, lack of justice and pain in life can be a discouragement.
If that were the primary force shaping your view of life then you would conclude that the world is out of control, and evil had won, and good people with moral conviction have been sidelined.
But we must let the plain teaching of the Bible be our key influence about how we look at the world - both personally, (in our families) nationally and globally. So, what is true? Everything is under the control and authority of the Lord. Nothing can stop him, no one is His equal in power or might.
Paul Tripp points out that buried in 2 Chronicles 22:7 are a few words to shape our thinking in these matters, and that what seems to be an out of control mess (as often seen in the Old Testament even with a few bright moments, eg evil rulers, idols replacing God, power grabs, children sacrificed) is in fact not out of control at all.
Tripp writes:
"Ahaziah was one of those evil kings. He did what was evil, and he led God’s people to do what was detestable in the sight of God. In the chronicle of Ahaziah’s reign we find these words: “It was ordained by God that the downfall of Ahaziah should come about through his going to visit Joram.” Let these words sink in. Ahaziah, with all of his evil pride and immoral power, was not the one in charge. For all of his desire to shake his fist in the face of God and go in the opposite moral direction from God’s commands, Ahaziah did not possess the power to determine his own fate. His life, reign, and fate were in the hands of one of infinite power and glory. Verse 7 tells us two things. First, the movement and success of God’s plan for his world were determined before he formed the world. Second, God has the power at every moment to assure that what he has ordained actually happens. So do not fear; it is never risky to trust the Lord. Take heart. He reigns, and he always accomplishes his will."
MB
Got it Covered!
We all are aware that there a number of items which need transported each week as we set up sound and vision for the church services. One of these is the lectern and there was a danger of it getting scraped and scratched...Jaan M has kindly made a cover for the lectern to protect it as it is handled... thanks Jaan!
Ladybird Book of Maxwell
Help!
Please consider participating in our AV ministry as outlined below – we do need help.
Transport: We transport AV equipment to the Belmont premises most weeks. We need volunteers to be part of a roster.
AV equipment is usually collected locally and delivered to Belmont on a Friday around 5 pm. (See picture of kit transported.) Assistance will likely be given each week to load and unload.
The process takes about 30 minutes (or less).
A car would best be a hatchback or SUV with rear seats that fold down. (See picture of car.)
Rostering: We currently have two rosters in operation regarding AV. We need someone to undertake the administrative process for these rosters, which are updated quarterly.
Operation of AV: Would you like to help on Sundays with the control of sound or projection of words/images?Please speak to Scott if you are interested in assisting in any of the above ministry opportunities.
1. In this week's Tweet (see above) Kevin De Young encourages us to consider how God reveals himself as the Triune God. This short clip is on X (ie. Twitter) and worth a listen. HERE
2. Is This REVIVAL? 10 HUGE Shifts in Britain's Spiritual Temperature
Also...this week Peter Lynas from Evangelical Alliance spoke at NMBC about how the church was growing in the UK and some interesting stats around this. In this short video HERE Glen Scrivener looks at this subject and comments on the current 'temperature' in the UK church. Some interesting trends appearing that are as surprising as encouraging.
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.
End of school year service and outing
On Sunday 22nd June we will mark the end of another school year for our Mearns Free Kids.
This will be an all age service and an opportunity to hear about what we've been up to over the last year and to support and pray for the youngest members of our church family.
After this we plan to head to Dean Castle Country Park in Kilmarnock for a BYO picnic and fellowship and there will be the opportunity to choose from activities such as games, play park, woodland walk, exploring the castle, going to the cafe or simply sitting and chatting. Everyone is welcome to join us.
Speak to Pauline if you would like to come but need transport or would like to car share. If the weather is horrific then we will bring the fun to Belmont instead!
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