No.99    4th August

Hi, 
Hope this finds you well.

The magazine is out a bit earlier this week as we are heading into a busy Community weekend.
So first things first - make sure you look at the events on offer over Friday and Saturday and REGISTER!
The links are below!

Enjoy the mag,
MB

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Saturday  8th

9am - 10am 
The Smiths, Eaglesham
Contact the office if not sure of address.

Sunday 9th August

Sunday Morning 
Rev Scott Hamilton
followed by Church Family Lunch

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Our weekly prayer meeting  recommences on Wednesday, 12th August, from 7:15 PM to 8:15 PM. This meeting will also be kept to one hour. We will gather at Sandra and John McNicol's home in Eaglesham. Again, all are welcome, and the address is available from the office.

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Community Weekend!

We would love as many people in our church to attend as possible - good fellowship together and a great way to introduce folk to our Mearns Free Church family. 
HERE IS WHAT'S ON!


This is not just a weekend of events for children, there is something for everyone  -However, you can see from the Friday night and Saturday events that there is lots on for children to enjoy - go to this link to read more and there is still time to register for the one day Holiday Club - do that asap!

The Cafe Connect starts again in September - but this is a summer special for EVERYONE! 

A great way of letting people see where we meet each week if they haven't been into the school hall before - oh and there is also the delicious home baking!
 

Saturday Night!

REGISTER NOW!

It would be great to see as many Mearns Free folk along at the Ceilidh - it takes just 2 mins to register so we know numbers for catering. Please do that asap.
click this link to register. This page has all the other activities and links for the weekend.

Sunday Morning Service and Lunch
The service will be geared particularly to welcome any visitors.
Who could you invite along?
We are having a Lunch too so plan to stay on after the service.
If you have any questions  about any of these events get in touch with Pauline: children@mearnsfree.org

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Letter from the Manse

Dear Church Family,
I do hope you had a restful and refreshing summer. I have had a super summer here in worship at Mearns Free Church sharing with you in both our morning and evening gatherings. Thanks to all who shared in leading one way or another to make these possible.

Did you worship with another congregation while you were away? If so, would you be willing to share a short paragraph for the magazine in the coming weeks about where you visited and what your experience was like?

It is good for us to remember that here at Mearns Free Church, we are part of not only our wider denomination (The Free Church of Scotland) but the Universal Church, which includes gatherings of believers in Jesus’ name from across the globe. Hearing a few first-hand accounts of these worshipping communities, including those right here in the UK, is a wonderful encouragement to us all.

This Sunday (9th August), I will be meeting a new community of the Lord’s people as I lead worship at Campbeltown Free Church. I am looking forward to meeting them for the first time. In fact, apart from perhaps visiting as a small boy, the town itself will be entirely new to me. As I mapped out the trip, I realised it will take about three and a half hours of driving without stops.

It is the remoteness of the congregation that prompted me to volunteer myself. I offered to lead worship there so that their minister could take a holiday. I have come to learn that in more geographically isolated areas, finding available ministers or elders to fill the pulpit can be a real challenge, something we in Glasgow rarely have to think about. However, think about this, a minister can only get away if someone is able to step in and cover the leading of worship.

I suspect this challenge is shared by many rural congregations across Scotland, especially outside the cities and the Central Belt. Please pray for Rev. James Murray and his family as they take a holiday, and pray for the congregation's continued growth in maturity, leadership, and numbers so they may become increasingly self-sustaining to God’s glory.

Of course, this issue of rural and remote ministry is magnified on a global scale. We are rightly excited to hear of the exponential growth of Christ’s Church throughout the world, but that growth comes with immense logistical challenges. When the Gospel takes root in vast rural landmasses or island nations, local pastors maintaining a healthy rhythm of work and rest can become nearly impossible; discipling new believers is a very real challenge and especially where mature leadership is some distance away. 

In countries where Gospel churches are illegal, "underground" pastors face these exact geographical hurdles, overseeing dozens of scattered groups and sometimes at great distances, yet simultaneously carrying the constant psychological weight of security and secrecy. By the very nature of their ministry, they cannot easily call upon external support.

Let us pray for a healthy, vibrant Gospel witness in all of Scotland’s communities and for the leadership of local churches. However, let us also pray for our brothers and sisters all over the world and especially their leaders as they seek to lead their congregations in worship, evangelism and discipleship.
With warmest regards in Christ,
Scott K

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Letter from the Other Manse

When is the start of the year for us as a church?
As we sit on the cusp of another community outreach programme, and with everything else about to start again, it’s easy to feel like this is the beginning of the year, certainly the beginning of another cycle.

I hope you’re all as excited as I am for a variety of ministries to recommence, especially given all the opportunities that will come our way this year. I’m imagining  the “gospel-ing” that will happen, across the church, throughout a typical week or month, and I’m filled with joy as I anticipate all of the conversations that will take place where we will be challenged and encouraged by the good news of Jesus.
Some of these ministries, and those involved, might feel a little vulnerable at the moment. How many will come along to the weekend outreach events we’re running? Will home group members arrive in good spiritual health at the first study? We always trust in our God and His sovereignty in these moments, knowing that gospel work often takes time and doesn’t look especially spectacular, yet these moments always give us pause to pray.

• Let’s ask God to bring many children along to the events this coming weekend, as well as families to the ceilidh and to church on Sunday.
• Let’s ask God to spiritually sustain those who come along to Café Connect, that they would be spurred on by meeting with one another and seeing familiar faces.
• Let’s ask God to bring us to our knees in prayer at Pulse on a Wednesday evening, arguably the most important meeting we have each week outside of a Sunday gathering.
• Let’s ask God to grow our Youth and our young adults as they meet on Sundays and Thursdays, that God’s Spirit would illuminate their hearts and cause them to grow stronger and mature weekly into the likeness of our Saviour King Jesus.
• Let’s ask our God to protect the proclamation of Christ on a Sunday, that the preaching would continue to draw the gospel riches out of God’s Word, and that we would be fed and transformed by God the Son.

Wonderfully, thankfully, these things are strong features of our church. We must never take this for granted and continue to ask our God to scatter the seed of His Word and for it to find good soil, that it may grow and bear much fruit.
Best wishes
Scott H

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Bibles

These days it’s as common in church to hear someone say 'Turn on your Bible' as it is 'Open up your Bible'
What do you do - bring your Bible or have it on your phone? 

On a Sunday morning we have the Bible reading on the screen but during the sermon it isn't always on the screen and it's really helpful to have a Bible open in front of you to follow what is being preached on -  in fact, both Scotts will regularly say, 'Keep you Bibles open, or 'Look down at verse...etc' when they are speaking. The AV team sometimes will bring the verse up on the screen, but not always.
It's a good habit to take responsibility and bring a Bible with you, or to have yours ready on your phone. 
We use the English Standard version and there is a free app available to download for your phone here or download from your usual app store.

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Reading Christian books is great thing to commit time to for many reasons - for encouragement, to understand the Gospel story and to see how Christians are called to live out their faith etc.
This book we are reading together is designed to give us confidence in a 'post Christian' culture when it is alleged that religion is divisive and dangerous. What can we say about that - what has Christianity ever done for us??!
Get a copy from Stewart Anderson on Sunday  - just £7

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There was a number of people from Mearns at the Keswick Convention this year and they were enthusing about the talks given there. 
Here are a few of them - they are on YouTube and if you like one of them, you can easily find the other in the same series. For instance the one below with Christopher Ash is on Genesis 3 but there are 4 others on Genesis in the same theme.
You need to scroll on a bit in the videos to get to the reading and talk if you don't want to watch the singing etc
Amy Orr Ewing...Defeating Satan’s lies - God isn’t altogether good - click here  (59mins in)
Christopher Ash - speaking about the Enmity in Genesis 3 click here (35 mins in)
Martin Ayers - Slavery and Sonship. Click here  (57 mins in)

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Ladybird Book of Mearns Free Church

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Starting 23rd August

One of the key elements of church life  is now the Joint Evening service with Newton Mearns Baptist.
We meet on 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month at NBMC at 7pm (6.30pm for tea/coffee)
Make sure you prioritise these dates - this session the focus will be on 2nd Corinthians.

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Elie and Earlsferry Festival of Life 2026

Sandra is busy at Elie this week - she is cooking for the team this week (we suspect that she will get involved in other things too as time and energy allow!)
"This is the third year of the Festival, and we are expectant of what God will do amongst us and amongst the people we will encounter through the week. We’ve planned a programme with three key elements space to pray, space for families and space for teenagers. There are different activities each day - in this picture are the Bethany Christian Trust team  - they have come to help people explore their vision of a world without homelessness and discover how we can all help create lasting change through fun, interactive activities"
Activities for later this week are below and you can see the prayer letter here.
Wed: Third annual putting competition and prizegiving
Thurs: Rockpool guddle with Fife Coast and Countryside Trust, Beach picnic, and games
Fri: Gig at the Green with singer songwriter Ellyn Oliver and guests

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Ecclesiastes on Sundays

Sunday morning sermons have focussed on the teaching from Ecclesiastes and it's been good to study such crucial themes as life's vulnerability, and death itself, along with the very subtle danger of our health, wealth, family, happiness all becoming idols instead of enjoyed as gifts from God.


If you want to dig deeper into the themes and teaching of Sunday mornings then a very highly recommended book is 
Living Life Backward: How Ecclesiastes Teaches Us to Live in Light of the End by David Gibson.
"Only by keeping the end in mind can a person truly learn how to live in the here and now. Living in light of our death reorients us to our limitations as creatures and helps us see God's good gifts right in front of us-enabling us to live wisely, freely, and generously. Drawing on wisdom from the book of Ecclesiastes, David Gibson teaches us to embrace this countercultural mind-set and live life backward: to take the one thing in the future that is certain-our death-and work backward when it comes to our priorities, goals, desires, and decisions. If we do this, we'll learn that only with a proper perspective on death can we find meaning and satisfaction in life--and see just how great God is."
You can buy here or Amazon and it's available as an audio book too.

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Love of money?

There was a concern amongst the elders (well, one of them) that Chisholm and Christine were falling into the trap of materialism and the love of money that had been warned about in Ecclesiastes.

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It's been great to see people supporting Govan Free Church's Food Bank.
Thanks to those who brought items in recent weeks.
Look out for the Green Box at the back!

Coffee, Teabags, Cereal, pasta / pasta sauce - all these are welcome- remember any size of jar/box will be divvied up into smaller bags - can you help?
If you have any questions about the Food Bank speak with Sue A, Mary R or Martin B

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DATE FOR THE DIARY

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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!