A new church for the Dingwall Free Presbyterian Church, was opened on the evening of 12th May, 1959, by the Moderator of the Northern Presbytery, the Rev. William Grant, Halkirk, Caithness. Mr. Grant conducted public worship and preached from Jude, verse 3, “That ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints,” before a large congregation which filled the church to overflowing. There would be at least 400 present and the Rev. Robert R. Sinclair, Wick, Clerk of Synod, was requested by Rev. D. A. Macfarlane, M.A., Minister of the congregation, to hold a service at the same time in the old church, with quite a number of friends who could not be accommodated in the new building.
Rev. Mr. Grant referred in his discourse to “the faith” which included the fundamental doctrines of the gospel, such as the atonement made by the Lord Jesus Christ, and His resurrection. The Covenanters, the Disruption fathers of 1843, and the late Rev. Donald Macfarlane, former Minister of the congregation who, in 1893, protested in the Free Church Assembly against the Declaratory Act, were instances of contending for the faith. Mr. Grant emphasised that to-day there was more need than ever to contend because of Modernism, Romanism, and the endeavours to impose Episcopacy once more upon Scotland. Godlessness in the present age called for a witness to the faith of the Gospel of Christ.
At the close of the service the Moderator formally declared the Church open as a place of worship.
The Rev. Robert R. Sinclair, having returned to the new Church, was then called upon to address the congregation. He stated that the Church now built was linked with the fact of past departures from the Word of God and the doctrines of the Confession of Faith; and on the other hand with the faithful adherence to the Truth by the late Rev. Donald Macfarlane in 1893, who was instrumental, under God, in forming the Free Presbyterian Church. Mr. Sinclair likened the building of the Church to the building of the Ark by Noah, in as much as the present Church had been built in a day of widespread wickedness and moral corruption. Reference was made to the old building and the new, in the light of what took place in the days of Ezra, when the chief of the fathers who had seen the first temple (Solomon’s) when they saw the foundation of the new temple laid at Jerusalem wept with a loud voice. It might be that some were sad at heart at the remembrance of godly ministers, men and women whom they had heard and met at services in the old building in the past. Others in Ezra’s day shouted aloud for joy at the laying of the foundation of the new temple, and Mr. Sinclair thought there were those present who truly rejoiced at the erection of this new Church, on the ground of divine promises that the Lord will yet fill His House with glory, and that greater glory will yet be bestowed upon the Church of Christ in relation to the ordinances of His House. Mr. Sinclair exhorted the congregation to pray for their beloved Pastor, that he would be enabled to continue to preach the glory of Christ’s Person and redeeming work; and also for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon them all that the knowledge of Christ’s glory would fill their hearts.
Rev. A. F. Mackay, Clerk of Presbytery, also spoke suitably to the occasion, and in conclusion, Rev. Mr. Macfarlane thanked Mr. Dugald Matheson, Treasurer, Mr. Donald Kelly, and the Architects and Builders for their respective hearty assistance and work in the erection of so fine a Church. Thanks was also due to the Dunbar family, and Mr. William Logan for making available the excellent site.
Friends attended this ceremony from Caithness, Sutherland, Ross-shire, Isle of Raasay, Inverness and surrounding districts, and from Glasgow and Edinburgh, etc. The collection taken at the service amounted to the handsome figure of over £330.
The Moderator concluded the evening’s proceedings with the singing of the last three verses of the 72nd Psalm and the Benediction.