No.83 21st March, 2026
Hi,
Hope this finds you well.
Slightly warmer days this week - Spring has sprung and Easter is almost upon us. Below are reminders on how we can be involved in the various activites - but there are things to do each week and the AGM, which
was well attended last night (see below) highlighted the breadth of work being done through the year.
Enjoy the mag.
MB
Sunday 22nd March
Morning service - 10.30am
Mark 12:28 - 44
Sunday Evening - 7-8pm (refreshments from 6.30pm)
at NMBC
“A Flock with Jesus our Shepherd”
John 10:11-18
The Wednesday mid week prayer meeting
7.15-8.15pm
This week we are at the McNicols' in Eaglesham
Not long now till our Easter Fun Day… thank you to everyone who has agreed to help on the day.
If you would like to help/donate please contact me on 07795361752.
THIS SUNDAY IS THE LAST DAY FOR BRINGING PRE-LOVED TOYS.
Please share the flyer/poster available at church on Sunday with your friends/neighbours.
More details below...
Fiona W.
Letter from the Manse
Dear Church Family,
On Tuesday lunchtime a few of us joined with others around the Free Church to pray against The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill. You will know the outcome by now. It was defeated 69-57. I do believe the Lord has been merciful to Scotland.
The Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland, Alastair MacLeod, gave a public response on behalf of the Free Church:
“Along with many others, we are thankful and relieved that the Bill designed to assist people commit suicide has been defeated. This decision affirms that every human life is precious and worthy of protection. As Christians we believe that human life is a gift from God, and that our calling as a society is to care for one another, especially in times of weakness, illness, and suffering."
We have a great hope in the Gospel that even now in a broken and sinful world, the grace of God is to be found in the Lord Jesus. This is a Gospel of life and through faith in him one day all who trust in Him will share in a great day of restoration and wholeness in His presence.
This Gospel is about life not death. I heard a pithy expression this week. We need to "kill the suffering at death, not the sufferer".
Surely we would all want to pray for better Palliative Care in Scotland as a way forward.
On a less important matter….I am writing this letter prior to our AGM on Friday 20th. The AGM is a formal meeting we need as part of our constitution. And, it is the place we as a congregation elect our Finance Committee. With the elders, these Finance Committee members serve as Trustees for Mearns Free Church. We are very grateful to all who serve on the committee (and for our elders). With Trustees we are permitted to register with OSCR and open a Charity bank account. We can also receive Gift Aid back from the Inland Revenue. Our Finance Committee make all decisions regarding our financial and physical assets. We shall vote for six members of the committee to be elected for 2026/2027. Many thanks to all who agreed to serve and been voted on the Finance Committee.
We are so conscious that for some in our congregation 2025 was a hard year. Illness, bereavement unemployment caused pain. We pray that with one another in MFC we can indeed comfort one another as Paul also calls us to do:
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God." 2 Corinthians 1:3–4
However, there has also been an amazing number of joyous moments in 2025 among our extended church family. We have delighted in significant anniversaries, seen new spiritual life professed, new physical life in the birth of babies, engagements and marriages– what blessings we have enjoyed together alongside the bereavements and illnesses.
As we approach Easter, we are entering a season which reminds us that whatever is going on in our lives, the Gospel is fundamentally Good News of Hope. We have a living Saviour who indwells all believers by His Spirit and assures all who believe in the Lord Jesus they will have eternal life.
Please do invite all your friends and family to church this Easter and to all the extra events - shown on this Easter Calendar...
Don't second guess if they will come or not. You never know, this might be the year the Lord brings them to a true, repentant faith in Jesus.
"The Resurrection – Seriously":
On the evening of 29th March, Scott Hamilton will lead us in exploring the historical evidence of the Resurrection. This is a fantastic opportunity to ground our faith in the evidences of history.
Easter Fun Day
Our aim is simple: to let the people of Newton Mearns know that Mearns Free Church is here. We have a fantastic day planned (See below all the activities). While we hope for conversations about Jesus during the day, we are praying specifically for the "downstream" gospel opportunities that will flow from this day of fun.
With warmest regards,
Scott
Our Easter family Fun Day is an ideal opportunity to bring together friends and families within our community.
There will be plenty to see and do (although no pony rides this year - sorry!)
We would also be grateful for any donations towards various stalls and competitions - thank you if you have already contributed.
Pre-loved Toy Stall. This is your chance to clear out and de-clutter! We are looking for toy donations in very good condition and with all the relevant parts present. We will accept your donations by bringing them to Belmont school on Sunday Sunday 22nd March.
DO YOU HAVE ANY GIFT BAGS WE COULD HAVE - we would like to be able to put the prizes in nice bags.
Various Prizes - any unwanted gifts you may have received but will not use eg. toiletries, chocolates, sweets etc There will be a bag at the hall entrance on Sundays for any donations.
Please get in touch with Susan Little, if you have any questions. Thank you!
Home Baking - all donations will be greatly appreciated - speak with Sue Anderson about this.
Letter from the other Manse
Hello church family,
One of the privileges I have working for a church is to see the gospel seed scattered across multiple different ministries outside of what takes place on a Sunday morning. Let me give you three examples for your encouragement.
Last weekend was the regional SU weekend away. Thanks to all of you who were praying for that weekend. As Pauline, Eilidh Lockhart (SU worker in Glasgow) and I shared the gospel from Genesis, Exodus and Ephesians, we saw plenty of young people respond positively to what they had heard. Some who we haven’t really seen express much regarding their faith were really clearly worshipping God as we sang. Another girl, who isn’t yet a Christian, was really weighing up the reality of God’s grace and how she cannot earn her place at His side. Pray for these teenagers as they weigh up everything they heard last weekend and hear at their youth groups. Pray for SU as they run more and more of these weekends.
This past week we had another young adults Bible study. We’re going through Romans, covering Paul’s unashamed understanding of the gospel, and how every nation needs to hear about Jesus. We studied his visceral description of the human soul in the second half of chapter one. It was heartening to see people realise that Paul’s words don’t describe someone else who we’d deem to be “worse” than us. Paul’s words describe us. God’s diagnosis of sin permeates every single human being, and nobody deserves to be saved. Again, I was encouraged to see eight of us gather together to study Romans, and the hope is that this will form a tight-knit community for our young adults to grow together in the gospel and be transformed to be more and more like Jesus. Some of them are still young in the faith, even though they show almost visible signs of maturation every week. Please be praying for them.
Tomorrow, we wrap up our 321 course, just in time for Easter. We’ve seen a handful of guests at these sessions, with honest, real and vulnerable conversations had between the leaders and those who are exploring Christianity. We’d love to see these guests come back to our Easter services, and we’d love to see others come along too. Please pray for those who have been attending the 321 course, that they’d understand the need to respond positively to Jesus’ claims and His invitation into His kingdom, and pray that they’d understand that Jesus is the way, and the truth, and the life, and He has opened the door back to the Father.
There is a lot of discipleship and evangelism to be done, let’s go do it (in the Lord’s strength!)
See you tomorrow.
Scott H
It only takes a spark...
One of the best pictures showing the proximity of the Union Street vape shop fire to Glasgow Central Train Station.
With most Glaswegians now being experts in structural engineering, this angle gives it a bit more perspective.
James ch3.
"We get it wrong nearly every time we open our mouths. If you could find someone whose speech was perfectly true, you’d have a perfect person, in perfect control of life. A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it!
It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell. This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue—it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth! My friends, this can’t go on. [The Message]
Part of our maturing as Christians, being sanctified, is controlling what we say. We love to talk about God justifying us but we need to remember we don't just pick up things from that point onwards...it is His Spirit which continues to work in us - we need to get back to learning that God's word sanctifies, which is why reading the Bible regularly and listening carefully to preaching on a Sunday is key. It changes and shapes our accent, and trains us to speak in a Christlike dialect.
James reminds us that it only takes a small flame to cause a great fire. We need to be watchful that gossip, meaness, snide and hurtful comments are not something we allow to be part of our lives individually or as a church family - James says, ''...these things ought not to be so.' (ch3:10)
Serving at Mearns
Each week there are lots of ways to help serve at church.
Some are more straightfoward than others...
Instructions and guides are readily available for those wanting to be involved... and after last week Alastair has asked those looking after the rotas to publish a Spanish version of the instructions too.
Did you know that "Por favor, no nos saquen fotos para publicarlas en la revista. Tener algo de respeto" is translated as 'Do not take photos of us for the magazine - have some respect' ? No, neither did I.
At the AGM one of the areas covered by Sandy was how we can support the work of the Free Church and our own Mearns Free Church by arranging our legacies accordingly.
There are details in this FCoS leaflet 'A LASTING LEGACY: IMPACT THE FUTURE' - click
here.
And if you want to see how this can be part of YOUR legacy this
document is a template to which you can add your own details and that of Mearns Free.
Speak with Sandy McD for more details about this.
Scottish Day Conference 2026
DATE FOR THE DIARY
Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!
Date: Saturday 18 April
Time: 10am – 2.30pm
Venue: Sandyford Henderson Church
Join us for a day of worship, fellowship, and mission-focused teaching.
We’re privileged to welcome Andy (Eastern Europe), Paul Daniel (Indian diaspora) and Jess Merkle (Scotland)—as we seek to respond to the glorious reality that, despite all the chaos we see in the world, our God still reigns, and that his reign is being extended through the gospel.
All the usual details and booking details can be found by having a chat with Catherine A or by looking at this link.
It's great to see people supporting Govan Free Church's Food Bank.
Thank you for giving so readily and filling the bag at the back of the hall.
It really has made such a difference.
At the moment, Cereal (any size, as it can be made into smaller bags), pasta sauce, or biscuits (eg digestives) are welcome.
If you have any questions about the Food Bank speak with Sue A or Martin B
Put this Easter outreach event in your diary -
who could you bring along to hear about the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus from the dead?
It's on Palm Sunday evening at Belmont School.
Speak with Scott H for more info.
Melville Knox School
The Melville Knox School is looking for Christians and churches to support their Spring Appeal to raise funds for the new school campus in the east end of Glasgow.
They invite you to financially support this new educational initiative in the East End of Glasgow. You can hear about this in the video
here
And you can see more about the school more generally
here.
50 Reasons for the Cross
As we head towards Easter there are a number of daily devotional books available to focus our minds on the meaning of what Jesus would accomplish in His death.
John Piper's book 50 Reasons for the Cross is available as a FREE download which you can access easily here. Each 'reason' is only 2 pages long- Read one each day?:
Last Sunday morning we heard about those who didn't believe in the resurrection - the Saducees had failed to read God's Word properly and were corrected by Jesus regarding life after death.
In this extract from 'Reason' 41 John Piper looks not just at Jesus' resurrection but OURS and how that is possible people like us.
To Secure Our Resurrection from the Dead
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. Romans 6:5
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. Romans 8:11
If we have died with him, we will also live with him. 2 Timothy 2:11
The keys of death were hung on the inside of Christ’s tomb. From the outside, Christ could do many wonderful works, including raising a twelve-year-old girl and two men from the dead—only to die again. If any were to be raised from the dead, never to die again, Christ would have to die for them, enter the tomb, take the keys, and unlock the door of death from the inside.
The resurrection of Jesus is God’s gift and proof that his death was completely successful in blotting out the sins of his people and removing the wrath of God. You can see this in the word “therefore.” Christ was “obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him” (Philippians 2:8-9).
From the cross the Son of God cried, “It is finished” (John 19:30). And by means of the resurrection, God the Father cries, “It was finished indeed!” The great work of paying for our sin and providing our righteousness and satisfying God’s justice was finished in the death of Jesus. Then, in the grave, he had the right and the power to take the keys of death and open the door for all who come to him by faith. If sin is paid for, and righteousness is provided, and justice is satisfied, nothing can keep Christ or his people in the grave. That’s why Jesus shouts, “I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades” (Revelation 1:18).
Here’s the connection between Christ’s death and our resurrection: “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law” (1 Corinthians 15:56). Which means, we have all sinned, and the law sentences sinners to everlasting death. But the text continues, “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (verse 57). In other words, the demand of the law is met by Jesus’ life and death. Therefore, sins are forgiven. Therefore, the sting of sin is removed. Therefore, those who believe in Christ will not be sentenced to everlasting death, but will “be raised imperishable . . . then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory’” (1 Corinthians 15:52, 54). Be astonished, and come to Christ. He invites you: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25).
TUESDAYS 2 - 3.30pm
in Newton Mearns Baptist Church
A great opportunity to meet friends, and enjoy some tea, coffee and home baking.
This week the prayer Scott K has written (using the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) as a framework) has a title '
This week's prayer focus is on the Sacraments. Read it here. As these prayers are written they are really taking most of their wording straight from the WCF...so you are being informed as you pray. Scott points out the wisdom of God in knowing that we learn and remember things through things which appeal to our senses in order that we understand and enoy what God has done for us in Christ "...In your great wisdom, you have given us physical elements in worship we call sacraments. You have revealed to us that they are signs and seals of the covenant of grace to represent the wonderful benefits that come to a people through the sinless life and sin-bearing death and resurrection of Jesus."
One of the sacraments is Communion - we are celebrating this again on Maunday Thursday (3rd April) - take some time to read through before this service.
David MacPherson, the minister at Govan Free Church is taking part in the Kiltwalk to raise funds for the church's foodbank that we support with food donations and two volunteers - Sue A and Martin B.
David is walking on Saturday 26 April starting at 10:30. He is taking part in the Big Stroll which is 14.6 miles long from Clydebank to Balloch, check out the details
HERE.
Do you fancy signing up to walk with David and support Govan Free Church? It would be fantastic if Mearns Free Church had a presence. We as a church are supporting this fundraising by being the nominated charity that you would select when registering to walk.
To sign up click
HERE and when asked which charity you're walking for enter "Mearns Free Church". After registering you will be prompted to set up an online fundraising page at JustGiving.
Again, you nominate Mearns Free Church as your charity.
If you have any questions about the process please talk to Jack Geddes (
077143 983075).
Ladybird Book of Mearns Free Church
11 different Easter SU Holidays are running, representing hundreds of young people and team members in different locations, including the Ski Holiday in Austria.
Volunteers will be serving as Team Leaders, Group Leaders, Cooks, Assistant Cooks, Travel Leaders and Trainee Leaders. Those of us at home can still be involved, doing the vital job of covering them and their events in prayer; they are partners with us in sharing the word of God with children and young people, and are on the spiritual front line!
Can you join the prayer support team - or do you know someone who would love to do this?
Register the weeks you are available and you will be send prayer letters and urgent prayer requests during the weeks you are available. Click HERE for details.
Thank you!
‘Left to Their Own Devices’
- A Care for the Family Meeting
Parenting support event to Glasgow on the 19 May,
Newton Mearns Baptist Church at 7.30pm.
great event for parents of children aged 8+
Mearns Free Church also has a What's App Group for Prayer.The "PRAY NOW" Group's purpose: A platform to share information regarding a sudden and crucial need for prayer.How to connect: Speak to or whatsapp Margaret Boyd 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.
Protecting children & vulnerable adults is a priority at Mearns Free Church.
If you have concerns in relation to the safeguarding of children or of vulnerable adults, report these concerns to the Safeguarding Team - Sue Anderson or Ian Forgie or Alastair McLellan.
Everyone who has PVG certification through Mearns Free Church must undergo safeguarding training (or refresher training) every 3 years. Some have still to undertake this training. The Free Church provides excellent online safeguarding training (places can be booked through the following link: Safeguarding Training Booking – Free Church of Scotland).
The next training sessions are on:
Thursday 26th March – 19.30
Tuesday 28th April – 19.30
Monday 25th May – 19.30
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
Alastair McLellan (Session Clerk): alastair.mclellan@ntlworld.com
Reporting any concerns
If you want to raise any concerns about your experience in Mearns Free Church please speak to either the Minister Scott Kirkland, the Associate Minister Scott Hamilton or the Session Cerk Alastair McLellan.
A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it! It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.