The annual meeting of Synod took place on Tuesday, 21st May 1991 in the Free Presbyterian Church, Inverness, at 6.30 p.m. when the retiring Moderator, the Rev. Donald J. MacDonald, Uig, Lewis, preached a suitable sermon from the words in Revelation chapter two, verse twenty-five, “But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.”
The members present from the various Presbyteries of the Church were as follows:
NORTHERN: Revs. A. F. MacKay, J. A. MacDonald, D. B. MacLeod, D. M. Boyd, J. Goldby and Messrs R. Ross, I. MacLeod, E. Fraser, E. Sutherland, I MacRae and R. MacLeod.
SOUTHERN: Revs. D. MacLean, L. MacLeod and G. Hutton and Messrs K. Gillies, A. MacLennan, D. MacSween, R. Campbell, J. MacDonald, I. MacKinnon, A. MacRae, and A. Gillies.
WESTERN: Revs. A. MacKay, A. MacDonald, D. Ross and N. Ross with Messrs H. MacLeod, A. MacKenzie, T. Maton, K. MacLeod, D. MacCuish, W. MacLeod and E. Ross.
SKYE: Revs. F. MacDonald, J. R. Tallach, A. M. Cattarach and D. Nicolson with Messrs D. MacKay, R. MacBeath, M. MacKay, J. Campbell, and J. Gillies.
OUTER ISLES: Revs. A. Morrison, J. MacDonald, D. J. MacDonald, K. D. MacLeod and J. MacLeod with Messrs R. MacLeod, A. Morrison, D. MacKenzie, J. Nicolson, N. Thomson, J. MacAskill and D. A. MacKay.
AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND: no member present.
ZIMBABWE: Mr Neil Murray.
CANADIAN: Messrs G. Schuit and N. MacPherson.
Letters of Apology for Absence
Letters of apology for absence were read by the Clerk of Synod from the following: Rev. D. J. MacAskill, Harris; Mr A. Geuze, New Zealand; Rev. A. Ndebele, Zimbabwe. It was reported that Rev. A. McPherson although absent from this meeting was expecting to be present at further sederunts. The Clerk of Synod added that he had received a letter of apology from Mr D. J. MacLeod, Portree.
The Officer of Court on this occasion was Mr Angus MacIntosh of the Inverness congregation.
The Rev. D. J. MacDonald, as Convener of the Training of the Ministry Committee, intimated that there were no students ready for licensing this year.
The Moderator then intimated that as his term of office had come to an end it was now the duty of the Synod to appoint a successor. Mr MacDonald thanked the Synod for their forbearance and for the help he had received from members of the Court.
The Clerk of Synod intimated that the Church Interests’ Committee of the Church had decided that the name of the Rev. D. A. Ross, Laide, be put forward and the Clerk referred to the service which Mr Ross had given to the Church having served on the Foreign Mission for several years and now occupying the charge of the Laide congregation. Mr Ross, he added, had visited the Dominions and also Eastern Europe.
Rev. D. M. Boyd also spoke of the suitability of Mr Ross for the Chair saying that Mr Ross had shown himself willing in the service of his Master and Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Rev. D. M. Boyd reminded the Synod of the stand made in this very building two years ago, for the advance of the gospel against idolatry.
Rev. D. Ross accepted the office and in taking the Chair he said — “Fathers and brethren I thank you for these kind words spoken. I certainly do not feel fit for this honour bestowed upon me. I hope I will be able to keep order by the Lord’s help. When I was listening to Mr MacDonald preaching here tonight I felt it was a great privilege to belong to the Free Presbyterian Church. In reference to what took place two years ago, it is plain that the Lord was with us. The witness has been maintained by the Lord and this is a wonderful testimony of the Lord being mindful of us. So strong was the liberal element in our church at that time that some of us thought the witness would be lost. The world was mighty against us. The religious world was mighty against us. Our former brethren, whatever they may say, were mighty against us but the Lord was with us, as it is said in Psalm 115, ‘The Lord hath been mindful of us: He will bless us.’ Some think that the Church is finished but it is not so, and it will not be finished so long as we hold fast to the Truth and are not carried away by the errors of the wicked.”
Reference was made to the members of Synod who had passed away since our last meeting namely, Rev. B. B. Dube, Zimbabwe; Mr Donald MacAskill, Portnalong (or rather Carbost Beag); Dr R. K. MacCuish; Mr Duncan MacLeod, S. Harris and Mr John Campbell, Auckland. Tributes would be presented to the Synod at a later Sederunt.
Rev. Fraser MacDonald made the proposal to have the Synod sermon inserted in the Church Magazine and in doing so said, ‘The sermon we listened to with pleasure and profit. There were notes of confession, of courage, and of confidence — polemical notes — notes of the evangel — of the glory of Christ as the one and only Saviour. We are living in very, very dangerous times but the necessity of our Biblical stand has been solemnly reinforced and were it not that we believed that the stand made was from above, we would be very low; but we are convinced that the stand was not of man and that therefore it will last. We fervently endorse what we heard in the sermon and we seek that prosperity may characterise our Synod in spite of our flouting and laughing. Our prayer is that the Lord will raise up, by the power of the Holy Spirit, men and women who would be like the men and women whom we knew and admired in other days of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland.’
This public meeting of Synod was brought to an end by prayer and praise. The Synod met again in public on Wednesday 22nd May at 3 p.m. The Clerk of Synod intimated that acknowledgment of last year’s Synod address to Her Majesty the Queen had been received.