No.105    18th Sept

Hi, 
There is the usual mixture of news and information this week  - there are a couple of news items from UFM  you can read about -an event and their prayer week - speak with Catherine A for more details of UFM.

I was noticing as I looked at the Church Directory earlier this week how many 'new' people have recently joined us -  that is, I looked in the Directory and they weren't there!- of course we are not just looking to have more people with us each week, although it's encouraging to have to bring more chairs down from the classrooms when the hall is busy - the real joy is people coming to faith and growing in their faith. Scott makes mention of this in his letter as there is an opportunity to profess faith publicly next month - read more about that below.

Enjoy the mag,
MB

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Sunday 20th September

Sunday Morning
Rev Scott Hamilton
John Ch14:15-31

Sunday Evenings, Mondays and Tuesday
This is the second week of our Home Group studies in 2nd Corinthians

 
Meets on Sunday Evenings
Games, friendship and studies in Exodus this session.
(See SH's letter below)

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NO Cafe Connect THIS WEEK

Due to many of the Cafe team and many of the Cafe 'guests' attending the funeral of Janette McPhail there will be no Cafe this week ...back on Tuesday 29th September. 
It meets in Newton Mearns Baptist Church at 2pm - 3.30pm. If you want to know more about the Cafe (who it's for, what happens each week, if you can help out etc) then speak with Margaret Boyd.

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Our weekly prayer meeting  on Wednesdays is at 7.15pm
Meeting in the McDougalls'  throughout September.

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1. BUNKER, BUBBLE OR BIBLICAL 

​At one point or another, every parent (and grandparent) lies awake at night wondering if they’re getting it right with their kids. We wonder whether we’re sheltering them too much or if we’ve given them too much slack. This exhausting mind game never leaves us feeling at peace with how we’re parenting.

This Michael Keller essay for The Keller Center, challenges us to approach this dilemma differently. Rather than smothering our kids or uncritically sending them out into the world, Michael shares a parenting paradigm that bridges Old and New Testaments that can set us free from the crushing pressure to be the perfect parent.
If you have children or grandchildren this is a good read:

There are two ways to fail your child, and they move in opposite directions.

You can fail by keeping too much out. You can bring up a child so isolated from anything that goes against your faith that by age 18 she has no means of coping with a world that doesn’t agree with her. When she meets a compelling false idea, how will she know how to wrestle with a doubt if those have never been discussed? How will she be able to explain what she believes to someone who disagrees with her if she’s never had practice doing it, or even seen anyone else do it?

You can also fail by letting too much in. You can be so afraid of being labeled as one of “those weird Christian parents,” or want to keep dinner peaceful, that you end up treating your faith like a private matter not worth mentioning. You avoid filtering what your kids watch or listen to because you’re not going to be one of those legalistic religious types. So you skip the hard conversations. But kids get the hint: Christian faith is an optional preference. It’s not important.

Both are failures of love. Most of us are guilty of one of them, and probably both at some point...
Read the rest of this article here.

2. Six weeks in the Gospel according to John

We are looking forward to the continuation of a six week look at the last part of John's Gospel...or we should really say 'The Gospel according to John' as there is only ONE Gospel of Jesus Christ and what we have in the Bible is how Matthew, Mark, Luke and John want to open it up to us (notwithstanding it being wholly God-breathed).  Here is a short introduction to the 'Gospel' by Don Carson. Just 10 mins or so but lots of helpful pointers and correctors. Watch it here.

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Thank You...

to everyone for their prayer, support and messages over the last weeks leading up to my Dad's funeral. It’s a blessing to be part of a wonderful, caring church family.
Fiona and Brian Waugh

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Letter from the Manse

Dear Church Family,
I am eager to hear what the Lord will say to us this Sunday through the next section of John 14 as Scott H opens this amazing part of God’s word to us. These are vital words that the Lord Jesus spoke to His disciples knowing that within hours he would be put to death on the cross but also defeat death in resurrection. The significance of this section of John’s Gospel cannot be overstated.
I will participate later in our worship via the YouTube recording as I will be leading worship at Tarbert and Lochgilphead while you are worshipping at Mearns. David Merriman has been an “assessor elder” in these two congregations for a couple of years now and will accompany me, as he often does, to Argyll. David will share with me in leading these services. (An assessor elder is appointed by Presbytery to congregations where they do not have a sufficient number of local elders. David contributes wisely to the life of the congregation and is very supportive of them.)
Please pray for the congregations of Lochgilphead and Tarbert.

I want to share a little detail below about recent and upcoming events there because it is important for us to keep looking outward towards what the Lord is doing in other places and how we might support them in their Kingdom work. (You will see a note below from Jack Geddes about how we continue to extend our support of Govan Free Church.) We have providential connections to these congregations and so it is good to see how the Lord might use our prayers and our participation to grow His church outside the Mearns.
Having secured a manse at Lochgilphead earlier in the year, we appointed a vacancy committee to search for a new minister. However, the rules within the Free Church mean that a congregation’s “right/permission to call” a minister has to be reviewed after two years. This period is drawing to a close. We need to renew this permission.
We would appreciate your prayers because the review is made more complicated by the relocation of several members of the congregation to other towns. This not only means a decrease in congregational numbers but the associated drop in financial giving. The congregational finances are now extremely fragile. Please pray for the finances and God’s will regarding renewal of the “right to call”. We will have to work on this process over the next few months.
Our friends, Calum and Lynda McPhail and Ken and Elaine Taggart, retain a significant place in the life and work of Lochgilphead and Tarbert congregations. More recently, with others in the congregations, they have been working incredibly hard to renovate the new manse. As I type, carpets are being laid, electrics are being certified, beds are being built and sheets being purchased. The work is fast and furious because we have arranged for a Presbyterian minister to arrive from America with his family to spend a few months ministering to the congregations. He arrives on 2nd October. Please pray for his safe arrival, comfort in the manse, and vitally, a fruitful ministry among the congregation and communities of Lochgilphead and Tarbert. Maybe one Sunday we will have the opportunity to meet with Harry (Chip) Huey at Mearns Free Church.
PROFESSION OF FAITH
On a different matter but closer to home, I want to encourage us to pray also for those worshipping with us at Mearns Free Church who have not yet given their lives to the Lord in public declaration of their faith. We shall have a service of Profession of Faith and receiving of new members on 25th October. Is this something you should be praying about and considering for yourself? Please do pray for others. If you have repentant faith in Jesus or worshipping regularly with us but not a member, speak with Scott H or myself.

I am looking forward with anticipation to hearing how the Lord blesses us on Sunday at Belmont,
With warmest regards,
Scott K

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FROM THE OTHER MANSE

What do sin and Pharaoh have in common?  
That’s one of the questions we’re looking at this weekend in our Youth study on Exodus chapters five and six. The similarities are striking. 

Both sin and Pharaoh enslave those who are chosen by God. Sin has us in our grasp in a much uglier way than even Pharaoh had the Israelites in his. They look like they have the upper hand as we feel the sting of their mastery over those they have enslaved. 

Equally, both sin and Pharaoh challenge God’s rule over our lives. Satan essentially asks Adam and Eve, “did God really say” that He was good, and that He is a God who wants the best for His people. Curiously, Pharaoh is similarly dismissive of God and His authority, asking Moses “who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go”.  

Additionally, both sin and Pharaoh stop His people from worshipping our God as we ought to. Instead, they try and tighten their grip on our lives. Sin stops us from giving our God the worship and the glory that we are due to give Him. This is eerily similar to Pharaoh in Exodus refusing to let God’s people go to the mountain to worship Him, instead making their slavery even more miserable. 

Any form of slavery disfigures the glory of the image bearer. That’s true of physical slavery across the world, as people are treated as a commodity rather than being treated with the honour that they are due.  

If this is true of physical slavery, how much more so the spiritual slavery of sin, twisting us and desecrating us as we worship something else rather than worshipping our God. 

This week, we’ll see the rumblings of God’s redemptive plan. Pray for our Youth, that they’ll see the ugliness of slavery to sin, even worse than Israel’s slavery to Pharaoh, and yet see that there is a God who is making promises to redeem and rescue His people, then and now, from all of the enemies we face. Pray that they’ll trust in Him for redemption! 

Looking forward to seeing you on Sunday.
Scott H

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NEXT FEBRUARY!

Below are the details of the SU Regional Primary Weekend - don't hang about!
Bookings are open and places are going fast! click here to book. 


💎Diamond Wedding Anniversary💓

Congratulations to David & Wilma Urquhart 

Last week we congratulated Ken and Priscilla Fisher and this week we congratulate the Urquharts too who were also married 60 years ago (on the 24th September) - we are going to take the opportunity to celebrate with both couples properly with some cake on Sunday after the morning service.

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Ladybird Book of Mearns Free

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Who is our Hatch Hero?

Last week's mystery person was Liam - Well done if you guessed that.
And it WAS a genuine photo (ok, maybe not the Alastair bit) but yes Liam did come to the rescue - thanks Liam. There were a few wrong guesses of course, along the lines of 'Are they Chisholm's skinny jeans?', 'Hmm does Sandy wear Adidas or Nike?' and 'Did May know Bryson was doing that?'

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Not quite a tweet online this week but a message which came to a few of us  from Iain McC
with a wee insight into his world of work:
I did an Autumn quiz with all the clients today. One question was about brambles. After the quiz a guy asked if I had many bramble bushes near my home. I said yes. He said he had too and picked a load of them. He got an ice cream maker from the charity shop and made ‘bramble and buckfast ice cream’ 🫣😂

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Govan Free Church

An international competition of Dobble this week at Govan Free FoodBank. 
Over the last couple of weeks we have welcomed competitors from Turkey, Iran, Poland and Edinburgh to play.
It's a start to try and have more conversations in order to help with those learning English and to be in a place to invite them to something more formal, in terms of learning English, next month.

It's always great to be able to take some groceries with us down to the FoodBank - 
Things like sugar, coffee, teabags, pasta can be split into smaller bags for families so don't worry about bringing large bags.
Speak with Sue A, Mary R or Martin B for more info.

Jack Geddes writes:
Mearns Free Church has developed a really positive relationship with Govan Free Church. Our main area of cooperation is their foodbank every Thursday when we have four members of our congregation involved – Sue A, Martin B, Mary R and Jack C. Govan Free are delighted with our support and our folks are enjoying this practical ministry.
After a suggestion from our team, and further to discussion with their minister, David MacPherson, we are now looking at the possibility of a small number of us attending worship at Govan at 11am on a Sunday from time-to-time. Depending on interest from you, our members, we anticipate this would be on an ad hoc basis with no strict or prescriptive attendance.
Interested? If so, please email me at jgeddes0802@gmail.com and I will be happy to coordinate the visits so that two or three of us can go along together.

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CAN YOU HELP?!

If you are on Facebook or Instagram please engage with the Mearns Free pages.
One of the ways we would like to raise the profile of Mearns Free is by using social media. We have been highlighting our services and the teaching on Ecclesiastes recently on social media, above is an example from Facebook a few weeks ago (we did the same for the Easter day earlier this year and the Community Weekend).
However, we really need YOU (if you use social media) to like, comment or forward etc these posts in order for as many people in the area to notice them. Can you help!?

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The unstoppable wave of God's glory

As part of God’s great mission, Habakkuk 2:14 declares: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” This powerful promise reminds us that God’s glory is not confined to one place or people – it is spreading across the nations like an unstoppable wave.

This year, our Week of Prayer theme is O.C.E.A.N – The Unstoppable Wave of God’s Glory. Across five days, we’ll journey together in prayer around the world, asking God to move powerfully among the nations and bring many people to know and worship Him.

Throughout the week, we’ll pray for churches, mission workers, unreached peoples and gospel opportunities across different regions of the world. As we hear stories of what God is doing globally, let’s ask Him to deepen our vision for His mission, strengthen those serving cross-culturally, and raise up more workers for the harvest.
Click here to ask for the details to be sent to you through the week and join with many others praying across the globe. Its' free.

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Saturday 26th September
Scotland’s most urgent need in 2026 is for the gospel.
That gospel needs to be heard, believed and followed all across our nation. But for the gospel to be heard, it needs to be offered.   
This year’s ETS Conference focuses on the Free Offer of the Gospel – a subject that has been a source of controversy and tension in the history of the Scottish Church and which today remains an urgent priority as we seek to meet the deepest needs of our nation. 
Join us as we explore the rich theological history and discuss the immediate contemporary relevance of this profound and priceless topic.
See details including ticket info here


Thursday 1st October
A Night of Worship and Prayer for Scotland: The Revival 2026
An evening of worship and prayer will take place at the SEC in Glasgow on Thursday 1st October. The Revival 2026 will feature worship led by Michael W. Smith and Celtic Worship, with a message from Nicky Gumbel. Doors open at 6pm, for a 6.30pm start. For more details and how to book your tickets, go to: The Revival 2026 page here or the SEC page here


Thursday 17th December
Celtic Worship
Experience an uplifting night of traditional Scottish folk and contemporary praise as Celtic Worship head to the O2 Academy Glasgow this December alongside the incredible Zerua Music!
Go to Celtic Worship webpage here or see ticket details here. 

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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 own along that would be great,  and the team will almost certainly speak about you behind your back less than they currently do!