No.94    5th June, 2026

Hi, 
Hope this finds you well. 
Last weekend was a busy one for the church - not just busy in numbers (although it was) but with activities on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening too.
Lots of photos below to show what people have been up to...we've even managed to include people who weren't even there!

Enjoy the mag,
MB

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Sunday 7th June

Sunday Morning - 10.30am
Rev Scott Hamilton
Mark 15:21-32

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Wednesday

In June the meetings will be at the Robertsons'.
7.15pm - 8.15pm
Speak to Scott K or Scott H if you want more information.

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From the Manse

Dear Church Family,
What a wonderful walk we had last Saturday on the Covenanters Trail. (see photos below). It was a great encouragement to reflect on the faithful stance so many believers took over the centuries, ensuring our freedom here in Scotland to worship the Lord according to His biblical prescription. For many, that freedom came at the cost of property and even life. While history books often focus on well-known ministers, many others who exhibited such courageous faith came from other walks of life and some what we might call "ordinary" Christian men and women. The names of these many men and women will perhaps not make the history books and be forgotten here on earth, but certainly not in glory.
We are so grateful to Eric Robertson for his research and the historical insights he shared, not to mention his mastery of a rich variety of accents and languages! Eric mentioned the book The Scots Worthies. I have my own copy, which carries a literal smell of the centuries recorded in it. If you promise to handle it with care, I would be happy to lend it to you for a short while.
Given Eric’s legal background, it is perhaps not surprising that he spoke at some length about the lawyer Archibald Johnston (Lord Warriston). Johnston was the chief architect of the legal framework for the 1638 National Covenant.

Many of us might consider the legal profession dull, but for Johnston, it was downright dangerous. His name is one of the many etched on the plaque of Edinburgh’s Grassmarket. The plaque remembers those executed there by hanging. Just above Lord Warriston's name is the minister James Guthrie of Stirling. It is a sobering thought that, had Eric and I been born in a different generation, Eric, in his capacity as a lawyer and I, as a minister, could have been confronted with the same life-and-death witness decisions these men faced. It is a fearful question, how would we have stood?

I am certain that it is only through deep engagement with the Word of God and its illumination by His Spirit to us, that we will be enriched by the magnitude of God's grace in Christ which it unveils. Only in this way will we find the strength to stand firm for His glory. Let's pray for the grace to faithfully bear witness to Christ in all things, however small our daily efforts may appear in this generation.

We are grateful to the Outreach Committee for the time they spend meeting, praying, and planning opportunities like the one above to encourage us and also welcome guests amongst us that they too might begin to hear of the wonderful goodness of God in Jesus.

On other matters for your prayers please:
On Thursday this week, I moderated the AGM of Tarbert Free Church and chaired the joint congregational meeting of Lochgilphead and Tarbert with the one task of appointing a Vacancy Committee. I ask for your prayers for this committee’s work. I will be chairing the committee and our own Calum McPhail will also be a part of it. The unique challenges of rural ministry were brought home to me this week: I had planned to be present in person for both meetings, but road closures near Arrochar made it wiser to join via Zoom. (It serves as a reminder that our own traffic frustrations are perhaps not as debilitating as we sometimes feel they are!) Let's pray the Lord may raise up his man in his time for this ministry.
Finally, let's pray for the ministry of God's Word this coming weekend. Scott H. will lead worship and preach at Mearns Free, while I travel north to Smithton Free Church near Inverness to lead worship for their "Communion Season". This opportunity means leading worship on Saturday evening, Sunday morning and evening. I will carry our congregation's greetings with me. Let's share in both ministries in Smithton and Mearns through our prayers that the Lord’s Word may be preached faithfully and that He would be truly worshipped.

Warmest regards,
Scott K.

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MFC - Happy 2nd Birthday !!

Huge THANKS to Sue Anderson who made the lovely Birthday Cup Cakes last week as we remembered that it was 2 years since becoming part of the Free Church of Scotland.

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Covenanter Trail

The church birthday celebrations included a walk and picnic with some history bites along the way - see Scott's letter for more details of all that.

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Equip West

Last Friday was the last Equip West for this academic year and our youth had another great night.
Run by SU Scotland, the monthly Equip events aim to help young people in S1-S6 think through their Christian faith in the face of the big questions of today and live it out each day.The programme includes a Bible talk, short group time and Q and A, as well as plenty of snacks and fun! 
At Mearns Free we meet together to travel in by train and enjoy a McDonalds before heading to Equip. This year we have heard speakers from OCCA (Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics), Speak Life and our very own Scott Hamilton and topics have ranged from relationships to 'can Christians have a fun life'. 
We're looking forward to next year's programme and would encourage anyone with high school age young people to send them along.

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HOME GROUPS SOCIAL 

A huge amount of work went into hosting folk from the various Home Groups last Sunday evening. A big thanks in particular to the McDougalls' who welcomed almost 50 people, and thanks also to those who brought various delicious savoury and sweet dishes.  

This range of photos gives an impression of how the evening progressed - some took some food and sat at a table - others like Mackenzie and Javier didn't bother to move away from the multiple large pots of food because that would just waste good eating time. Charles looks too shifty in this photo - clearing up dishes is one thing, but were they all his!?  Eric is still wondering how someone managed to nail down his wine glass.

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HOW LONG CAN YOU FOCUS FOR WITHOUT BEING DISTRACTED?
This week there are 3 Tea Breaks to consider a common challenge we all face as we try and prioritise learning the things of God in order to be stimulated to worship Him.

1. As people constantly bombarded with fragments of information, we can find it difficult to focus our thoughts on what is most important.
In this 6 min podcast from Sinclair Ferguson the question is asked: 'Could you think about an aspect of Jesus' character or life for 5 mins without a distraction'. And what do you need to help you do that?
The Thinking about Jesus episode is here and it is the introduction to 4 more short reflections.

2. This short video here Amusing Ourselves to Death in the Scrolling Age is an introduction to a topic which many see as a serious issue if we are going to be able to see us (and the next generation!) take time to focus on reading the Bible and good Christian books. 

3. Thane has written a series of 3 articles encouraging us to see that Science and Faith are not incompatible...here is part 1 and it begins in the same ballpark as the articles and videos above - it is about how God's people have always been called on to prioritise learning and focussing on God's Word which meant taking time to read and memorise. 

Reasonable Faith
Part One: Normalizing Reading 

Baby Moses was born during a kill order. "All Hebrew boys under 2 must be thrown into the Nile." His creative mother threw him into the river, in a basket woven by her own hands. By God's hand the basket floated up to Pharaoh's daughter and Miriam, his sister, watching the whole thing had a great suggestion now that the Princess needed a wet nurse. History tells a similarly unlikely story about science, conceived, born, cradled and nurtured in the church. Only recently has there been any divergence from the faith and this only superficially. 

In the beginning was the word. And the word was Rabbi. It all starts with our roots in Judaism, (which is why our tradition is sometimes called Judeo-Christian). Judaism was the first social structure to insist that peasants should read. In the ancient world literacy was an elite privilege. In China, Mesopotamia, India - 1 to 5% of the population could read, in ancient Greece and Rome, 15%. In Jerusalem, God commanded the preservation of his laws, "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house... You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6:7-9. These teaching practices, 600 years before Christ, blessed the Jews in a way that the whole world would emulate.
 "Judaism became the first religion in world history to make the primary education of children compulsory for all families, regardless of their social and economic status." [1] To teach reading at scale they needed tutors. The high priest Joshua ben Gamala (64 ce) issued an ordinance that “teachers had to be appointed in each district and every city and that boys of the age of six or seven should be sent.” [2] Eventually, women were included and the reading of the Torah, Mishna, and Talmud became the essence of Judaism. Now, how to move from temples to classrooms, from priests to professors? 
Tune in next week to find out! 

Ref.
[1] Botticini, M., & Eckstein, Z. (2012). The Chosen Few: How Education Shaped Jewish History, 70–1492. Princeton University Press.
[2]https://www.homepages.ucl.ac.uk/~uctpjrt/jewshistorymarch2004.pdf

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Last week Scott mentioned the '2 ways to live' Gospel outline.
It was in relation to the position Pilate was in, and the choice he, the Jewish authorities, and the crowd all had to make...Who would they have as their king? 



The children's version of '2 Ways to Live' is actually called 'Who will be King'. A few months ago the magazine serialised each part of the outline - with the help of the images could you retell the Gospel?
If you're struggling click here to see the answers.

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Ladybird Book of Mearns

 

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The next 'I AM'in our series in Mearns Youth takes us to a much more sombre scene.

Jesus’ friend Lazarus has died. Curiously, He doesn’t receive this news but is the one who breaks the news to His disciples plainly (John 10v14).
Yet there’s something else going on at the time...

Jesus deliberately stays away from an unwell Lazarus. He then willingly returns to the area where the Jewish authorities were ready to stone Him to death. He tells His disciples that He was glad that He wasn’t there, “so that the disciples may believe (Jhon 10v15). Believe what exactly?
There are two answers that John gives to that question.
The first answer is the anger and frustration that Jesus feels towards death. He weeps in response to the loss of His friend but also in response to the weeping of Lazarus’ friends and family. The phrase “deeply moved” (v33, v39) is a word often used two thousand years ago to describe the frustration of an animal towards the presence of a perceived threat.
Our God detests the presence of death in our fallen world. Make no mistake, death is not a “natural” part of creation. It wasn’t a part of God’s original design. It will be swallowed up in victory one day. It’s an enemy, the last enemy to be defeated, but Jesus always walks towards His enemies to take them on.
The second answer is that, in Jesus, He has the answers to burials and death. He is the resurrection and the life (v25). Whoever believes in Him, although he or she will taste death one day, shall live.
The God who spoke creation into existence with just a mere word can certainly speak life into the body of a dead man with just a mere word. This is how He raises Lazarus to life again. I remember someone once suggesting that Jesus has to specifically say “Lazarus, come out” (v43), because if He had just said “come out” then everybody in the tombs that day would have been raised from the dead, such is His irresistible power and authority over death.
Jesus asks Martha arguably the most important question in the chapter, “do you believe this”? Through her tears we see her faith. Her faith is vindicated as Jesus delivers on His promises. In so many ways, isn’t Martha’s experience so often our experience in our fallen world?

Pray for our teenagers, that they too will confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that they too will trust in Him, and know the assurance of not only an answer to death, but a promise from Jesus that they will live and never die.
Scott H

We are keen for everyone to follow what the Youth are studying and to pray for them from week to week.
Thanks to Scott H  for these notes which keep us up to speed on which verse they are looking at each week. 
 

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Mearns Primary SU group

This week saw the last session of the SU group at Mearns Primary for the year.
This group has grown considerably this year and we regularly have been 15 and 25 pupils each week and we have had nearly 40 pupils come along at least a handful of times throughout the year. Many are encouraged to come along by friends in their class others have come because they wanted to know more after Bible Alive lessons. Over half of these pupils have no church connection. What an opportunity!


Pauline and Heather from Newton Mearns Baptist run the group, and on Monday were invited to a special Thanks Assembly and afternoon tea by the management team at the school along with other parental volunteers. 

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COFFEE AND TREATS AFTER CHURCH

BAKING  - it's great that so many people are on the baking rota - this means that it is around every 7-8 weeks that they are called on. Can you join this group - or know someone in your family who is a great baker, who could make something which you can pass off as your own work? Speak with Margaret Boyd
CUPS - already a lot of people bring their own cup along - this does save on costs for paper cups so if you can bring your along that would be great,  and the team will almost certainly speak about you behind your back less than they currently do!

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Summer Sundays

Over the summer we like to give our regular kids team a break and so are looking for volunteers to help lead sessions on the Sundays listed below.
We need volunteers to help in various ways - you will get all the support you need. 
ALL THE DETAILS ARE IN MAGAZINE No.92 HERE
Please take a look and contact Pauline if you can help. Thanks.

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Bible Alive props needed 

Can you help Pauline help you?!
"We are looking to add some more props into our Bible Alive lessons and are on the hunt for the following:
The list of what is required is in last week's magazine - take a look again and see if you can  be helped to declutter your house!"
Pauline
 Click here to see the list.

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