No.89    2nd May, 2026

Hi, 

I was asked why there was a band of colour along the bottom of the screen when the Bible verses were on the screen on Sunday mornings. Clearly, these people had been getting on with their lives quite happily and not ruining them by playing a phone puzzle app called Versle. If you have played Wordle you are in the same ballpark. 

Versle can be more frustrating if you get it wrong, and leave you very smug for the rest of the day if you get it right.  On the same App there is a blind bookmark game where you need to find out where the Bible verse comes from with some clues.

That's where the image comes from. This one shows the Old Testament - basically the wider the band the longer the book.
It was thought that the image below the bible passage was some sort of screen 'test card'. I'm too young and had to google what a 'test card' was.

Enjoy the mag...and tell me how you get on with Versle.
MB

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Sunday 3rd May

Sunday Morning
Rev Scott Kirkland
Mark ch14: 25-42

Sunday Evening

This Sunday (and during the week) the Home Groups meet to study Rahab. 
Are you involved in a group yet? Speak with Scott K and you can be plugged into these groups which meet fornightly.

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TUESDAYS  2 - 3.30pm

at Newton Mearns Baptist Church

A great opportunity to meet friends, and enjoy some tea, coffee and home baking.
If you want more information or need a lift to get along to the Cafe speak with Elizabeth Smith.

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We meet again for prayer this Wednesday
and throughout  May  at the McDougalls 
7.15 - 8.15pm

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Saturday 9th May
The monthly prayer meeting is back at the Smiths in Eaglesham this month
9am - 10am.

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Letter from the Manse

Dear Church Family,
Thank you to everyone who responded to my requests for assistance in helping to facilitate worship over these coming few weeks. It was wonderful to see so many of you willing to give yourselves to this. Each of these tasks, no matter how small, supports the worship and congregational life of Mearns Free Church. Seen in the right light, these are themselves truly acts of service and worship of our God. It is a great encouragement to serve alongside you all.

This Sunday morning, I’m looking forward to leading us in worship as we gather to praise our King Jesus. But the fellowship and shared worship does not end there. On Sunday evening, many of us will transition into our House Groups. Currently, fifty-eight members of our congregation are involved across our five different groups.
Have you ever thought about joining one? We have just begun a new series on the theme of "Women of Faith" and on Sunday evening, Monday (ladies lunchtime) and Tuesday evening we shall explore this theme through the story of Rahab.
Many of us are hesitant to reveal our roots. We fear that the "skeletons in our closets" might tarnish the reputations we’ve built. Rahab was a prostitute. In Matthew’s Gospel and his opening genealogy of Jesus, four women are mentioned by name, one is Rahab! It is astonishing, this lady with "a past" has actually no moral or ethnic claim to be part of God’s family. Yet, she was gifted the privilege of being a direct ancestor of not only King David but then King Jesus.
Her inclusion is a beautiful sign that God’s covenant promise to Abraham to bless all nations is already being fulfilled in the depths of the Old Testament. It is also evidence that Jesus shows radical solidarity with sinners. He never condoned any sin, but He came in solidarity with his sinning people to bring forgiveness for their sin.
Join us as we marvel at this sovereign grace as we explore this further in our Home Groups.

Prayer from the Confession: This week's magazine includes our final prayer from the Westminster Confession of Faith (Chapter 33). As a last chapter it deals appropriately with the subject of the Last Day and the Judgment that will go with it. (See below.)

Holidays: I will leave for holiday on Monday morning and be away for three Sundays. Our travels will take Anita and me to Pittsburgh. Some of you may remember back to Maxwell days and I brought a Church team from Brooksville, Florida to assist us with a holiday club. Some of you opened your homes to host the team. I still fondly recall how one of the more senior men in that team began every morning declaring to all: "It's gonna be a great day!" That Church team was led by my friend and colleague, Rev. Matthew Everhard. Matthew now pastors a different church in a different denomination. His new congregation in Pennsylvania happens to be only twenty minutes from where we shall be holidaying (Gospel Fellowship Presbyterian Church). I look forward to worshipping with his new congregation, reuniting with Matthew and bringing warm greetings from Mearns Free Church. (I don't recall such a long beard when we hosted him and his team!)
While I am away, Scott Hamilton will be overseeing congregational life and all pastoral emergencies. Please do feel free to contact Scott for any pastoral or practical matter. You can reach him via his usual email address and his mobile number.

A May Wedding: Please keep Cathy Renn and Finlay Murphy in your prayers as they count down the days to their wedding on May 23rd. Pray especially for Finlay as he navigates a heavy schedule of final exams right before the big day!

A Birthday "Guided Walk" - Save the Date: Please mark your diaries with Saturday, 30th May. We have organised a 'Guided Walk' as the congregation turns two years old that weekend! We will be taken on a Guided walk tied to the history of the Covenanters in our area. For those who were part of the Maxwell Mearns Castle Church congregation, you may remember that the most notable part of Maxwell Mearns Castle’s history was its use as a "Conventicle" -  a secret place of worship in the seventeenth century used to hide from the Redcoats during the "Killing Times." Our church worship today is still deeply shaped by the biblical convictions upheld by these men and women during that era. It will be a great time together walking but also talking as we hear brief explanations of these events around the Covenanters and the area. Let’s get this in the diary and celebrate our second anniversary together - and use it as a way of introducing others to the church family - it is open to everyone. Further details are below and will be circulated over the month of May.
Warmest regards,                                    
Scott K

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David Arthur

1926 - 2026

Mearnskirk Church was busy on Friday afternoon as many people gathered for a service of Thanksgiving for David's Life.
It was so nice to see how many people were there who attend or serve at the Cafe Connect - David had become quite a character at the Cafe before he was no longer able to get along. ('He could drink innumerable cups of coffee' - anon)
Scott K and local politician Ken Macintosh both spoke about David's life and then Scott H concluded the service speaking about David's 'small faith' and 'growing faith', making it clear that it is not intensity or depth or longevity of David's faith (or of anyone's) but the where the faith was placed and in whom he trusted -  that alone gives sure and certain hope in the promises of God.

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Letter from the 'Other' Manse

What do Alexander the Great, Vlad the Impaler, Ivan the Terrible, and Richard the Lionheart all have in common?
The answer is easy. These historical figures are all known by a name that tells us something about their identity. Their names reveal the nature and the character of each individual.

It’s the same with our God as He reveals His name to Moses in Exodus chapter three.
Moses is trying to come up with any reason he can to avoid being sent by God to Pharaoh to rescue the Israelites from the Egyptians. He feels intimidated by the task at hand and by the nature of the opposition he faces. As God speaks through the bush to answer Moses’ questions, He reveals that His name is “I AM”.
It’s a name that reveals His self-sufficiency.
It’s a name that reveals His unchangeable nature.
It’s a name that reveals His consistency and faithfulness in the covenant that He makes with His people.
It’s a name reveals that He is the Lord of all time.
Our God is the great I AM because there has never been a time when He was not, nor will there ever be.

The scandal is that this is the name that Jesus takes upon His own lips. There are seven known times where Jesus says, “I am” and follows it up with an important description of His identity and His mission to save His people. These 'I AM' statements are what we’re covering in our studies during Youth on a Sunday evening this term.
It’s a controversial thing for Jesus to say because, as He does throughout John’s gospel, He is claiming divinity. He is staking His claim as the Son of God, truly one with God the Father, something that would have earned you a blasphemy charge and death, one of the things that ultimately took Jesus to the cross. Make no mistake, Jesus’ claim here is that He is truly God.
He is also unfolding what God’s unchangeable self-sufficiency is like. He is showing us what God’s consistent covenant faithfulness is like towards His people.
The 'I AM' statements help us to understand God better in both the Old and New Testaments.

Pray for the teenagers and for our team of volunteers who serve so faithfully and consistently as we look at John’s gospel over the weeks ahead. Our prayer is that the teenagers would not only see Jesus divinity but also why it matters, why it’s good news for us, that Jesus is the bread of life, the light of the world, the door, the good shepherd, the resurrection and the life, the way, truth, and life, and the true vine of God’s people.

Scott H

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This is a lot longer than a usual tea break session - so either do it in slots or have a bucket of tea. 
How to Talk About Jesus in a Post-Christian Age (with Glen Scrivener)
You can watch the full video interview here. or on Spotify here.
You can watch a very brief intro here.
Scrivener points out that our lives are indistinguishable to our neighbours...how we behave, what we do - except perhaps on a Sunday morning  - what is the difference between our lives??The reason we get nervous about evangelism is because when we start to talk about Jesus that is the bit that makes things awkward, HE is the dividing line. 

A shorter Tea Break from Glen Scrivener  is here  - 'Hell Fire' picks up on the topic of a couple of this week's themes...
In the Home Groups this week we look at Rahab from Jericho, who understood that she was part of a people who under God's curse and judgement...and responded to this. 
In Scott's prayer from the Westminster Confession (below) the focus is on the judgement of God.
These aren't often areas of discussion we are comfortable with - what does it mean to fear God and his anger?

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Enjoy a day out (to mark our 2nd birthday) at the Covenanters museum, a picnic lunch and optional walk along the trail, whilst learning more about the Covenanters - what motivated them, the actions they took, how they were treated and our response.
It's open to all...bring a friend!

There are a couple of ways to join in…see below which one suits you best. It’s all walkable (along a country pathway, not a difficult hike) up to the Lochgoin Covenanters’ Museum.

The Plan for the day:

• Meet at the Lochgoin Covenanters’ Museum carpark at 11.30am (KA3 6EX, NB this is not the Whitelee Windfarm) The carpark is adjacent to the main road. There is a walkable track about - 1.6m mile from carpark to museum.
• After our first History Bite we will walk to the Museum (1.6m) stopping off at Covenanters’ Memorial.
• At the Museum we will have another History Bite - there will also be time to look around the museum and there’s space outside where we can spend time together with a picnic lunch. Bring your own packed lunch/blanket
• Around 12.45pm there is the option to go on the Covenanters’ Trail. We know the 2.5hour walk might be too much for some, so free feel to head home at this stage. Great that you could make it along.

The Covenanters’ Trail will take us to Fenwick Parish Church  - it’s about 7 miles so wear sturdy shoes. Along the way Eric will give us more short History Bites as we head past the caves and over to Fenwick. We expect to be at Fenwick around 3.15pm and cars will meet us there to take us back to Lochgoin carpark.

Use this Eventbrite page link to register that you are coming along to the Museum and if you require transport back from Fenwick after the trail.

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Ladybird Book of Mearns Free Church

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Margaret and Martin were delighted to be grandparents again this week.
Congratulations to parents Deborah and Andy.

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Band Rehearsal

This moment from rehearsal serves as a good reminder to pray and give thanks for the team of musicians and singers who put in time each week to lead us on Sunday mornings. They are very much appreciated!

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This week the prayer Scott K has written is based around what the Westminster Confession states about God's Judgement on the Last Day.
There are a number of aspects to Scott's prayer as he walks through the implications of knowing God's certain coming judgement - AND on the fact that we aren't told for sure when that judgement will come. "May we walk in a manner worthy of the Gospel ever ready and prepared as we pray".
You can read the prayer here.

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It's great to see people at church supporting Govan Free Church's Food Bank regularly.
Whether, biscuits, tins, rice, cereal, pasta, pasta sauce, these have all been welcomed.
We will have a bag at the door of the gym on Sunday morning, or leave on the table if you don't see it. 
If you have any questions about the Food Bank speak with Sue A or Martin and Margaret B

Kiltwalk - the Big Stroll!

Maggie was happy to show off her medal for taking part in last week's Big Stroll 
but even happier  - "Totally amazing"  - to give the update on the total raised for the Govan Free Church Food Bank. Currently the amount is £1290,00 (the gift aid total is £248.00) 

Not got round to supporting yet? - you can still support the FoodBank by using this JustGiving page for Govan FC funds. click here.

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PVG TRAINING - THIS WEEK

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 session : Monday 25th May – 19.30

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A number of us from Mearns attended the Festival in Perth which the Orchestra invited us to over the last couple of years - this year it can't run and so they are coming to play in Glasgow. We hope a good number of us can head across to St Silas church and support them there.
Can you join the audience on 15th May to encourage this ministry for disabled people who love music.
Ian White is leading the Orchestra and you can hear more from Ian in this short clip here.

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Glasgow City Mission invites you to the “Light in the Darkness” conference — a time to reflect on the challenges facing people in Glasgow today and to hear stories of hope from those working at the heart of our city.

15th-16th MAY
We’ll also look at how movements that began right here in Glasgow have gone on to shape missions across the globe. Scan the QR code on the slide for full programme details and registration information.
Thank you so much for your support.

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All women are warmly invited to the Women for Mission Annual Get Together on Saturday 16th May at 2pm, held at Crow Road Free Church, Glasgow.
As well as launching our 2026/27 project, we’ll be hearing from a number of speakers who will share experiences and updates from work in Scotland, Ecuador, Bolivia, and more. We will also announce the total from our 2025/26 project Flourish. 
The meeting will last for around an hour and a half, after which we’ll enjoy refreshments together with plenty of sandwiches and home‑baked treats. We would love for you to join us.
The Annual Get Together is not ticketed, so please feel free to bring an interested friend!

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‘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+

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