No.67 21st November
Hi, hope this finds you well and keeping warm.
We are heading into Advent season next weekend however, before that we have a special service of Baptism on Sunday. It's the first baptisms we have had at Mearns Free Church and with that in mind Scott K has written an article to help us think through what we are witnessing on Sunday. His intro is below but please click on the link to the full article and take time to think this through properly. (There are often links in the magazine, so if one of them doesn't work, please do ping the church office and let us know - that had happened last week on the Tea Break video link and we rectified it.)
We enjoyed the Blythswood Afternoon Coffee event last weekend - to add to what has been already raised the book stall will be available in the hall again this week with a range of books where you can get a bargain for yourself or a gift for someone.
Enjoy the Mag.
MB
Sunday 23rd November
Morning service - 10.30am
with Sacrament of Baptism
Rev Scott Hamilton
Mark ch8:27-38
"Seeing How to Respond To Jesus"
in Newton Mearns Baptist Church
7pm-8pm
(Come along at 6.30pm for refreshments)
"Letters to the Churches"
Wednesday #1
Online Prayer Meeting: Wednesday 26th November
Everyone is invited to join a central prayer time on Microsoft Team led by Free Church Moderator Rev Alasdair Macleod on Wednesday, 26th November at 12.30pm. There will be a time of devotion followed by the opportunity to pray about a number of items. Please note, there are unlimited spaces on the online Teams call, so do join us to pray!
Join the meeting now Meeting ID: 391 244 384 857 23
Passcode: gT29ie64
The easiest way to join the meeting is via the link. Select 'Join now'. You will be admitted into the lobby and the host will let you in.
The teams call will be open from 12.20pm.
Please attempt to join in plenty of time, and if you have issues joining, please email: rhiannon.mackintosh@freechurch.org
The Free Church have suggested a number of prayer points for the National Day of Prayer. Click here to look at these.
Wednesday - #2
We meet on Wednesdays at 7.15pm for one hour.
For all Wednesdays in November, we meet at the McNicols in Eaglesham
Speak to Scott about being added to the 'Signal' app for getting PULSE messages.'
From The Manse
Dear Congregation,
Every time I write a letter for the magazine on a Friday, I look forward eagerly to gathering with you for worship on Sunday. It truly is a gift of God to join with one another in worship and to know that on this special Lord's Day, He uniquely ministers to His gathered people.
This Sunday, however, is doubly special. We will take time to rejoice together in the gift of physical life in Toby So, Caleb Campbell, and Rose Clarke. What a joy to have the blessing of this new physical life amongst us! This gift of life in our church families, in this fallen world, must never be taken for granted.
We will also administer the Sacrament of Baptism to Toby So and Rose Clarke (Caleb was recently baptised in The Bahamas). In this act, we will be pointed to the eternal spiritual life brought to us through Christ's sinless life, His death on the cross, and His resurrection.
What joy to see presented in the waters of baptism the gift of eternal life from God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!
Since this will be our first baptism as Mearns Free Church, I want to offer some words of explanation -
please click here to read my article 'Baptism at Mearns Free Church' as this is an important aspect of Church life and doctrine to be aware of. It covers these key areas:
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Baptism in General.
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The Mode of Baptism: We often speak of the "mode" of baptism, which refers to how the water is applied in baptism. In our church, we view the "mode" as less significant than some other churches do.
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Who Should Be Baptised? It requires little persuasion to say that believers in the Lord Jesus should be baptised. The commission given to the apostles in Matthew 28:18-20 makes that clear and there are several New Testament examples. There must be a credible profession of faith in Jesus.
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In addition to believing adults we baptise the infants/children of believers. We do this out of a conviction that there is continuity of the Covenant of grace made in the Old Testament and the New Testament and explicitly as it was stated to Abraham and his offspring. So in continuity with God's covenant promises we baptise believers and the children of believers.
What a wonderful sign and seal of the marvellous grace of God held out in His Son Jesus! Please take some time to read through my article and gain an understanding of Baptism.
We rejoice in the physical birth of these children, but we pray one day they will embrace with conscious faith the God they are being told about and whose life is being modelled by godly parents in a godly church community. And as we watch on, we want to re-profess our own commitment to the Jesus , who bore our sins and by his risen life sets before us the hope of glory.
Warmest Regards,
Scott Kirkland
Each week Scott has been using the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) as a framework for prayer - helping us to pray through the great truths contained there... you can read the others by looking back at previous magazines.
This week the focus is 'Adoption' which ties in well with the Baptisms this week as we consider the closeness of relationship we are brought into. Read the Prayer here.
Last Saturday we had a Coffee Event to raise money and awareness of the work of Blythswood. Read more below.
BOOK STALL
This Sunday we will have a range of books available again at the back of the hall where proceeds will go to Blythswood.
The books are already heavily discounted and they range from smaller 'stocking filler' books (£1 & £2) to more substantial ones.
Reading Christian books is a great habit to get into and these come well recommended for helping understand the Bible better, or be more confident in what you believe as a Christian and facing difficult questions. Great for giving to teens as they are short books and very accessible.
Some examples..
Where is God is a Messed-Up World?
We ask questions about God, life, and suffering especially in the wake of major tragedies. Glib answers don’t help.
Roger Carswell investigates the answers to these questions. He is realistic enough to admit that there are things God reveals to us, and things he doesn’t reveal. Roger argues that the starting point is to find out who God is, and to figure out if he can be trusted – even if we don’t have all the answers.
Making sense of Life
Michael Ots has spent 20 years speaking and listening on university campuses across Britain and Europe. He knows what the big questions of life are, and if you turn to the contents page you'll find at least three chapter headings which deal with subjects that you find both beckoning and bewildering.
True Friendship
In a culture where online communications and communities can be set up in seconds, it is striking that loneliness is still rampant...Vaughan Roberts takes us back to the Bible, and challenges us to consider our need for true friendship. He’s both honest and clear in his approach as he shows us that knowing and being known by God is the hope we need to begin to deal with the sickness of our ‘self–love’ society.
Lorna sent in photos from last Saturday's Coffee Afternoon event...
"What a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon - supporting a worthy cause, a great speaker and fantastic baking whilst spending time with our Church family and their guests at last week’s coffee afternoon for Blythswood" - Lorna.
Lorna was just one of a number of key people who set up the hall, or brought along baking or served during the afternoon - HUGE thanks to them.
The amount raised for Blythswood on the afteroon was £480 !
Thanks to all who contributed.
Paul Algeo from Blythswood was the speaker, letting people know more about the focus Blythswood has in its ministry in this country and abroad.
He also shared his own story of coming to faith in Jesus and that account is in one of the booklets which goes in the shoeboxes sent out. THere are a handful of these books available free on the book stall.
Here is a taste of his remarkable story: "It was 2006. I had been arrested again and was being taken to Saughton Prison. I had an awareness of sin although I didn’t know that word. I was thinking of my partner and of letting my two kids down. I didn’t even have words but my prayer was ‘Get me out of here and I’ll change.’ God responded to my prayer.
I was brought up in Paisley. Life in Ferguslie Park was marked by drugs, especially in the 1980s. Those with wealth and power and influence were all dealers. When I was young, I used to go to chapel with my gran. I enjoyed it. To me it was a place of peace and safety. I was a shy boy and had a bad time at secondary school. I got involved in drugs and that continued until I was in my mid-20s. When I was 32 someone told me the story of the prodigal son. My lifestyle changed a lot. I was spiritually bankrupt, my circumstances difficult. But looking back, God was with me in it. He noticed. He knows."
Paul’s is a long story but by May 2015 he was, in his own words, clean and sober and had started to read the Bible. He went on to work for Amazon, then become
Family and Development Worker with the Church of Scotland. He got married in 2017, is now a member of the Scottish Baptist Lay Preachers Association, serving as a deacon at New Prestwick Baptist Church.
NB. The Annual Box Check finishes this week on Wednesday!
Can you help? From 9.30 to 3.30 in the garage at Maxwell Mearns Castle Church
There are lots of Shoebox stories from Blythswood
here.
Arty
Alastair's ability to spot what is a proper work of art and sheer genius were put to the test again this week.
This week...
A few weeks ago Tom sent in a note of a meeting to hear from Andrew Brunson - it's this week and you can see the details of this above.
Tom writes:
Together with Christians all over the world we prayed in the Pulse prayer meeting for Andrew and his wife Norine over the two years Andrew was held in Turkish jails on false charges, enduring all the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual hardships of such an ordeal, then we prayed our gladful thanks to God when he was released.
Our prayers were answered back then, and now we have the opportunity to see and hear Andrew and Norine in the flesh, and pray with them as they tell us about their new ministry that has been born out of that dreadful hardship.
Andrew and Norine are in my view living examples of the power of prayer and the power of God. James expressed this so beautifully in his letter... "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much". ch5:16
The 'Christmas creatives’ group, who are organising the wreath making, are looking for pine cones and evergreen conifers e.g. Leylandi branches .
If you are out for a walk or in your garden and come upon these items they will be gladly received and can be brought to Belmont on Sunday mornings 23rd or 30th Nov.
Speak with Val for more details on this or the event itself.
Ladybird Book of Mearns Free
We are heading into Advent - how would you sum up what happened in Bethlehem 2000 years or so ago?
The doctrine of God becoming a man is something which the Church leaders have been determined to make clear because the truth of what happened is often under attack...and if we get the truth of the Incarnation 'wrong' or 'twisted' it has implications- doctrine is important!
In this short video from Tabletalk Magazine, Dr Joel Kim outlines briefly what the Bible teaches about the humanity AND deity of the Lord Jesus.
Watch it here.
In last week's Tea Break we had a link to Sinclair Ferguson asking us to consider a really important topic ie what participating in church life looks like for each of us.
It was pointed out that the link to the video was broken on Friday and it was quickly fixed- but if you did try and look at it and it failed (sorry about that!) then here is the link again. And of course, if you haven't got round to looking at it here is a second chance... Watch here.
For more information about this event speak with Margo or Debbie, and look out for details on how to invite friends coming soon.
Public Leader Programme
Laura Anderson (who many of us know firstly by her maiden name 'Young') shares her experience of the Public Leader programme and how it has equipped her in her leadership context. You can watch Laura tell her story here.
Applications for the 2026 programme close on Friday 28 November 2025. To find out more, share with someone you know, or apply yourself, visit this EA page.
Mearns Free Church also has a What's App Group for PrayerThe "PRAY NOW" Group
Purpose: A platform to share information regarding a sudden and crucial need for prayer.
How to connect: Speak or email Margaret (mandmboyd@hotmail.co.uk) if you would like to be added to this WhatsApp group.
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.
Emailing The Minister
Please be careful when emailing Scott Kirkland 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
Scott Hamilton (Associate Minister): associate@mearnsfree.org
Sandy McDougall (Treasurer): finance@mearnsfree.org
Pauline Forster (Children and families worker): children@mearnsfree.org