No.7 2nd August 2024
Hi,
Hope this finds you well and enjoying the good weather...maybe enjoying some Olympics too.
We have our own small Olympic focus too as we start the Community Week - I hope you are aware of the events being run throughout and even planning to see which you can be involved in. More details below.
Enjoy the mag.
M
Sunday 4th August, 10.30am
Morning Service
Scripture - Romans ch14
LARGE PRINT
If you would prefer to have a large print copy of the song words which appear on the screen on a Sunday morning let the door team know.
We don't want to print copies which aren't used so just the team know and we can organise that for you.
If you require a lift to get to church email office@mearnsfree.org
All activities will take place at Belmont House School where Mearns Free Church rents space to worship and serve the community.
All events are free to attend
We are looking forward to our community week getting underway on Monday morning with our first event being holiday club and the parent's cafe. However before that we will have a weekend of setting up the hall and classrooms. If you are free and able to help on Saturday to help with moving furniture, hanging bunting, making decorations, sorting craft and activity supplies then please pop into Belmont anytime between 10am and 4pm.
We are looking for donations of baking throughout the week so please speak to Sandra if you can help. Donations can be dropped off any day between 9am and 1pm.
Finally, if you know of any primary or high school aged children please take a flyer and encourage them to come along to holiday club or the youth night - they will have to register online. Contact Pauline or Jacob if you need more information.
Also, Cafe Connect (Tuesday afternoon), film night on Wednesday and Friday evening cultural night are open to anyone in our church family and in the wider community. Please come along to support and invite friends and neighbours to join you.
Thank you
Pauline and Jacob
Letter from the Manse
Dear Congregation,
The summer is not quite over yet but we are delighted that we can produce a first magazine for a new church season! A good number of our congregation were in Keswick for the Convention this year and had a wonderful time, being refreshed in body and soul! That might be something for more of us to consider planning for next year? I do hope you had a lovely break if you were away, wherever you were.
Community Week…Next week is the “Community Week” and you will find details enclosed in the magazine below. Please pray and participate in all ways that you can. This week has events for all ages. Martin Smith would like to involve many of us in praying for the events daily from wherever we are. However, he would also like us to come together to pray on the Belmont premises during the week. Please contact Martin for details.
Jacob…We will be praying for Jacob as he plans taking up his new appointment as a Christian youth worker in Airdrie. Jacob’s last Sunday with us will be August 25th and we will aim to pray that Sunday for Jacob (and Jess) as they leave us. You will see Jacob’s article below about his new role. In light of Jacob’s departure, the elders met last Monday night to begin reflecting on what next steps we should take as Mearns Free Church. In the short term, we shall most certainly ensure that our youth work continues.
The Pulse – Weekly Prayer…We will resume our weekly prayer meeting on Wednesday 14th August (7.15-8.15 pm). Between 15 and 22 of us normally gather for this weekly prayer meeting.
To try and make the meeting more accessible to all, we shall use several locations between August and Christmas. We plan to meet in one location for a month and then move to the next location the following month. Details for each location will be supplied each month. Would you have space to accommodate us? You do not need to have been previously at the meeting. We would need a room that can accommodate not less than 20 chairs (usually a mixed type of chairs). There would also need to be reasonable on-street parking in the surrounding streets for about 15 cars. I am especially looking for accommodation in the months of November and December.
We would love to see more of the congregation join us and especially those who may have become less regular or have never attended. All are welcome.
Email Addresses… Please do change your email address list to the revised Mearns Free Church addresses. You will see a list in the magazine below. I am tracking emails sent to my previous email address but I risk missing some or being delayed in responding.
Sometimes our email system auto-fill the send details, a bit of care is needed to make sure the email goes to the correct address. I am now on minister@mearnsfree.org. Sometimes mail from a new address goes to SPAM and JUNK mail. Please do check these for recent emails.
With warmest regards,
Scott
"Prayer for One Another"
Dear Congregation,
Please see below an extract from this week's Free Church bulletin "Praying for One Another", which included denomination-wide prayer points for Mearns Free Church.
Because of the often-sensitive nature of each week's prayer points, the Free Church is keen to keep the mailing list secure so if you'd like to receive your own full copy each week you should subscribe (there is no cost involved) via this link
Regards,
Tom
Extract:
Prayer Points 29th July - 4th August 2024
Monday 29th July
Mearns Free Church
Give thanks for the recent admission of Mearns Free Church into the Free Church of Scotland. Please pray the Lord may bless the congregation, and that He will continue to bless the preaching of His word.
Friday 2nd August
Mearns Free Church
Please pray for our "Community Week", 5th-11th August. We shall have a daily primary-age holiday club and teen events during the week. Senior adults are invited to "Cafe Connect" (6th). Pairing with our Olympics theme, a Film Night (8th) & Friday (9th) we'll host an all-age "Scottish / Chinese" Cultural Evening (& parents). Concluding with All-Age "Community Week" worship on Sunday (11th).
Jacob and Jess
As Scott has already shared (see email from28 July) , Jess and I will be moving on from MFC in the next few months.
Our destination is currently a bit up in the air, as I have provisionally accepted a job with an SU associate trust in Airdrie, providing school-based youth work, while Jess has provisionally accepted a job as a midwife in Grimsby, while waiting to hear back from both NHS GGC and Lanarkshire.
We are hoping and praying that God will make a way for us to stay north of the border so I can take up this exciting post. It has been a privilege to serve our youth and young adults over the two last years, but we feel that God is bringing our time at MFC to a close.
Please be praying for the young people as there is a change in leadership within the youth team, and for those starting university in a few months’ time.
We’d also really appreciate prayer for some certainty in our plans, and for a safe and much needed refreshing time away in September as we visit some of my family in Australia.
Jacob.
New Email Addresses For Mearns Free Church
Please make sure you change your email address list.
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Tom Brown (Office): office@mearnsfree.org
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Minister: minister@mearnsfree.org
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Sandy McDougall (Treasurer): finance@mearnsfree.org
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Pauline (Children and families worker): children@mearnsfree.org
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Jacob (Ministry Associate): youth@mearnsfree.org
Praying for our School leavers
Sunday 11th August
At next Sunday morning's service we are going to have a special focus to pray for all our school leavers at Mearns Free Church.
Some are staying around Newton Mearns and some are heading off.
During the service, we will gather them up front to lift them up in prayer as they transition into new chapters of their lives.
It will be an opportunity to support and bless these young adults on their journeys ahead.
COMMUNITY WEEK
at Belmont
On Tuesday afternoon we are holding a special Cafe Connect as part of the church’s community week.
This will run from 2pm-3.30pm. This is a great opportunity to invite along a friend or neighbour or if you’ve never been before come and see what happens.
There will be a lot of input from the young people in serving, music and the Bible Connect, illustrating how the Bible and faith connect with our daily lives. I’m sure it will be a great afternoon.
If you need a lift to Belmont please let me know. Elizabeth Smith 07761114987
COMMUNITY WEEK
What to Watch this Wednesday?
This is one of these movies you can watch a number of times - such a feel good film!
Why not invite a friend or family member along this week... a great way to introduce folk to where we meet on a Sunday too!
Chariots of Facts from the Movie
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This was the first non-American movie since Oliver! (1968) to win the Best Picture Oscar.
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When Colin Welland completed his first draft, the only title he could come up with was "Runners". Then, one Sunday evening he turned on BBC's religious music series Songs of Praise (1961), featuring the hymn "Jerusalem," with lyrics from a poem by William Blake. The chorus included the words "Bring me my chariot of fire". The writer leaped to his feet and shouted to his wife, "I've got it, Pat! 'Chariots of Fire'!" (The "Jerusalem" hymn is featured at the beginning and end of the movie.)
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Besides the lead actors, most of the white-clad runners training on West Sands in St. Andrews during the title sequence are St. Andrews golf caddies!
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Although it received a standing ovation when shown in competition at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival, this movie was mercilessly savaged by the French critics, because it called the French "the frogs" and "an unprincipled lot."
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About six years after this movie's release, Trinity College re-enacted the quad dash with British Olympic athletes Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe taking part. Nigel Havers agreed to act as starter. At lunch after the event, the Dean confessed it had been a great mistake not to cooperate with the making of this movie.
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The male military band included several women with false moustaches.
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The producers intentionally added profanity to the movie to avoid a "G" rating because they thought people would associate a "G" rating with a movie for children.
Ladybird Book of Mearns Free Church
House Request
From Nigel Mowat.
My neighbour Shelia is hosting Svetlana and her daughter from Ukraine. Please read message below from Svetlana and share with anyone you know might be able to help.
Hi, I am Svetlana from Ukraine and I have been living here with my daughter Alisa (11) with a host family in Busby since May.
We are now looking for a host family for my husband and son (aged 15) so that they can come to Scotland, and we can be a family again. My husband can work here, and we would hope to move to a rental property as soon as possible, probably in the Barrhead area, so the time spent with the host family would not be for long. Only one room would be needed as they could share. My son has not been able to attend school for 2 years and has been doing online school and I would like to see him going to school in Scotland to get a good education.
We are a Christian family and my husband speaks quite good English. If you think you can help please contact me on 07425654371, or our current host family, Neil McKirdy on 07793758137
Concert at NMBC - 18th August
Can you get along to this concert?
The link for FREE tickets is here.
SATURDAY 14th SEPTEMBER
We have a St Andrews First Aid course entitled "Emergency First Aid" (plus baby and child CPR) booked and have some spaces available.
Click
here to see details of booking.
This is a 4 hour course, starting at 10am and will likely be held at Belmont. We have secured a discounted rate of £83.40 per person.
Contact Pauline if you'd like to book a space.
Safeguarding in Mearns Free Church
One of our priorities now that we are in the Free Church is to ensure that we comply with the Free Church’s safeguarding policy and processes. Our safeguarding team is here to help everyone to do what is required; our safeguarding team comprises Sue Anderson (Safeguarding Coordinator) and Ian Forgie (Deputy Safeguarding Coordinator) assisted by Marlene Smith, Sue Amery-Behr and Alastair McLellan.
WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?
We are in part 6 of a new series looking at aspects of the Gospel.
Don Carson has a short booklet based on this exposition of 1 Corinthians 15:1-19 from the plenary address at The Gospel Coalition's inaugural public conference in 2007
You can buy it here.
"I shall try to bring things to clarity by focusing on eight summarizing words (six of which were first suggested by John Stott), five clarifying sentences, and one evocative summary.
1. The Gospel Is Christological; It Is Christ-Centered
2. The Gospel is Theological
3. The Gospel Is Biblical
4. The Gospel is Apostolic
5. The Gospel is Historical
6. The Gospel Is Personal
The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are not merely historical events; the gospel is not merely theological in the sense that it organizes a lot of theological precepts. It sets out the way of individual salvation, of personal salvation. “Now, brothers,” Paul writes at the beginning of this chapters, “I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved” (1 Cor. 15:1–2). An historical gospel that is not personal and powerful is merely antiquarian; a theological gospel that is not received by faith and found to be transforming is merely abstract. In reality, the gospel is personal.
7. The Gospel Is Universal
If we step farther into 1 Corinthians 15, we find Paul demonstrating that Christ is the new Adam (vv. 22, 47–50). In this context, Paul does not develop the move from Jew to Gentile, or from the Israelites as a national locus of the people of God to the church as in international community of the elect. Nevertheless, Christ as the new Adam alludes to a comprehensive vision. The new humanity in him draws in people from every tongue and tribe and people and nation. The gospel is universal in this sense. It is not universal in the sense that it transforms and saves everyone without exception, for in reality, those whose existence is connected exclusively to the old Adam are not included. Yet this gospel is gloriously universal in its comprehensive sweep. There is not a trace of racism here. The gospel is universal.
Continued next week...
B.Y.O.C. please
CAN YOU HELP?
it makes such a difference if people bring their own cups rather than using the disposable ones each week - can you help?
Mearns Free Church has a What's App Group for Prayer
Here are some details on what it is about... read to the bottom and then find out how you can be involved...
Purpose: A platform to share information regarding a sudden need of prayer
Speak to Margaret Boyd if you would like to be added to this group or email your details to mandmboyd@hotmail.co.uk
You need WhatsApp on your phone to get set up.