Synod Proceedings 1969
The Synod Proceedings for 1969 are now ready for sale and distribution. This annual Church publication contains an account of the Public Meetings of Synod of May 1969, including Synod resolutions, decisions and discussions. Also included, as formerly, are all the Reports of Church Standing Committees, and the Financial Statement in detail of the Church’s finances for 1968. Price per copy 3/- and postage 8d. Copies can be had from Mr R. W. M. MacKenzie, C.A., 10 Beaufort Road, Inverness. Quantities will be sent to congregations as formerly. If congregations wish to alter the number of “Proceedings” required, this should be intimated to Mr R. W. M. Mackenzie at his address.
— Robert R. Sinclair, Clerk of Synod.
Church Hall Opened at Aberdeen
On Tuesday evening, 29th July, the small hall recently acquired at Aberdeen was officially opened by the Moderator of the Northern Presbytery, Rev. A. MacPherson, who preached to a congregation of about 50 from the words spoken to Zerubbabel in Zechariah iv, verse 6: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.” This message, which brought such encouragement and hope to the small remnant of the Lord’s people in the prophet’s day, was applied by the speaker with fresh emphasis to the true church today, in similar conditions of weakness and distress. The clerk, Rev. A. F. MacKay, then spoke of the pleasure this new development in the history of the F.P. Church gave them all, in that the Church’s witness had now been extended to Aberdeen. This was mainly due to the efforts of Dr James Tallach and his brother, Dr Cameron Tallach, sons of our late esteemed minister at Stornoway, Rev. J. A. Tallach, who as students organised and conducted the first F.P. service at Aberdeen.
The district of the east coast where Aberdeen lies offers little evidence of any strong attachment to the Gospel, and Aberdeen itself has never provided congenial soil where in the past the word of God has taken root. At the time of the Reformation of the 16th century the Aberdeen doctors resisted all attempts to establish the Reformed faith in their midst. Samuel Rutherford spoke of this place to which he had been banished for his opposition to episcopacy as a prison in the bleak city on the North Sea. A few stars shone for brief periods to relieve the surrounding gloom of Moderatism, such as Dr James Kidd at Gilconstom Chapel and Rev. Gavin Perker at the Bon Accord Free Church. The Free Presbyterian Church was attracted to this part of the North as a result of post war conditions, especially the educational policy of the Government. The Education Minister refused demands for the building of new universities in Scotland to meet the increased flow of students who were confidently expected to enter our universities after the war, and insisted that by enlarging the existing universities at the four Scottish centres sufficient accommodation would be provided. The late Principal Taylor of Aberdeen University also supported this mistaken policy. Places in our universities became increasingly difficult to obtain, and students from our church families had to go to other university centres than those of their choice, such as Glasgow and Edinburgh, where we have settled ministers. At Aberdeen students of our church approached the Northern Presbytery for permission to arrange services in connection with the F.P. Church, which was readily granted, and for a time the families of the church in the city and the students met in a school room, but it became apparent that a settled place of worship of our own in a convenient locality was the only solution. After inspecting several premises which were for sale, the small room which was at last chosen was purchased for £900. A loan for this amount was made available to the Presbytery by the Inverness Building Society. It is gratifying to be able to say, however, that the response from our church people to an appeal for aid in the F.P. Magazine was so generous and prompt that it was unnecessary to call for the loan. Sufficient funds came in almost to meet the purchase price, and the deficit of £100 was generously loaned interest free by a friend.
The result is that the small church hall at the official service was opened without the need of obtaining a loan and with no debt on the building itself. To meet the requirements of the planning authority of the city, however, extensive alterations were necessary which entailed additional expenditure of about £500, which is still required to meet the total cost. We have no doubt that the friends interested in Aberdeen throughout the church will continue their aid.
The new church hall is situated at the corner of Summerfield Terrace and Park Street, within easy distance of the main thoroughfares of Aberdeen, at the east end of Union Street, attractively furnished with accommodation to seat comfortably about 35, although the room was not unduly taxed to take the 50 who attended on the opening night. Here regular services will (D.V.) be held on Sabbath and weekday, in a settled centre where our people and, when the university opens, our students, may meet to worship God. It is an indication of the interest that the new hall has created in the neighbourhood that already about a dozen children have asked that a Sabbath School be opened. We know that our people will be glad to learn of the success of this venture, and we hope and pray that the cause at Aberdeen will flourish, now that a promising start has been made, and under the Lord’s blessing the hall become the birth-place of many precious souls. We may conclude by saying in the words of the patriarch: “Hitherto hath the Lord helped us”. — A.F.M.
Communions in Kames Congregation
We are asked by Kames Kirk Session to state that their May Communion date is changed to the second Sabbath of that month. Further, a second Communion is now to be held on the third Sabbath of October (D.V.).
Bracadale Church Appeal Fund
All contributions to above fund should be sent to Mr D. Y. MacKinnon, Struan, or Mr Donald Morrison, 4 Satran, Skye.
— Fraser MacDonald.
Day of Humiliation and Prayer
The Synod at its last meeting decided that Wednesday, 15th October, or Thursday, 16th October (D.V.) be set apart in the congregations of the Church as a day of humiliation and prayer in order to confess our guilt as a nation in our gross backsliding from the true worship and from the law of God and to seek the outpouring of God’s Spirit upon our nation unto repentance.
— Robert R. Sinclair, Clerk of Synod.