No.38 21st March 2025
Hi
Hope you have had a good week.
It's a busy weekend, so do look carefully at what you can get along to. For instance supporting the Afternoon Tea (and the Haven) or Christie's concert.
And you will begin to see more information coming out about Easter events and a new regular prayer event - however these all need supporting and plans need to be made. How can you help? Can you attend? Yes, it can take up your own time and energy, and often means saying 'no' to self, but these are great ways to bless and encourage others and please our Heavenly Father.
In the Home Groups we have been looking at Jonah - far more than a story about a large fish, it's about how thinking about our self and our own needs and motives can quickly take us away from God's priorities, and His way of thinking and his plans. There's a couple of articles about these things in the magazine too.
Enjoy the mag,
MB
Sunday 23rdMarch
Morning service - 10.30am
Rev Scott Kirkland
Matthew 18:1-6
with Communion
Evening Service - 6.30pm for 7pm
in NMBC
PRAYER MEETING
PULSE MEETING THIS WEDNESDAY
7.15pm at the Coopers
Letter from the Manse
Dear Congregation,
We are looking forward to worshiping this Sunday both morning and evening. What a privilege we have, one that not all Christians enjoy around the world. Let us make the most of it with thanksgiving.
We will join again with Newton Mearns Baptist Church for a 7pm joint service (6.30pm for teas/coffee). A number of us from MFC will be involved in leading that service, welcoming at the door and making/serving teas etc. Would you like to be involved in a future Sunday at NMBC? Let me know. Let’s pray for both morning and evening times together.
Before that…
However, before Sunday, we shall have our AGM at 7pm tonight at Belmont (Friday 21st). In fact, as you read this magazine it may well be time to put your coat on. We will welcome you even if you are late!
On Saturday afternoon (22nd), we have the great opportunity to bring family and friends to Belmont for coffee & cake, tea & talk at 2pm-4pm. We have invited representatives of “The Haven” in Kilmacolm to tell us of their ministry (see details below). One of the men who has benefitted from their ministry will share how they have helped him with his addictions. You can arrive and leave when you wish. Donations for the Haven will be received and we shall have a QR code available for online donations.
5th April - Age Event Easter All …We need more helpers!
At this point we are discussing cancelling the event as we don’t have enough helpers. We need people at the door to welcome visitors (there were several new people from the community last year). We need some willing to serve drinks and snacks, look after an activity/craft station (full instructions will be given in advance). And, we need people to bake for the afternoon. Please contact Pauline as soon as possible if you can help in any of these ways. (See below)
LAMPS: Passion Play… 7.30pm, Monday 14th April.
Please put this in the diary and pray which friends or family members you might bring. This should be a super evening. We have invited a cast of five from Oxfordshire to perform the Easter Story at Belmont. This is a significant undertaking for us as a church, let’s see this as an opportunity to bring as many as we can to hear the Gospel message in a different way.
New Prayer Initiative 12th April
We are launching a new prayer venture on Saturday 12th April. This launch is timed to follow two Sunday worship services (30th March and 6th April) during which we shall hear how Jesus calls us to be and then of course helps us become, a praying people. See details below.
Safeguarding…can I ask that anyone who is the “administrator” of a church WhatsApp group ensure there is no-one on the chat under the age of 18. Also, anyone over the age of 18 that you think might be considered “a vulnerable adult”, should be brought to our attention. Speak with me please in the first instance.
Look forward to seeing you all on Sunday,
With Warmest Regards
Scott
Annual General Meeting
Friday 21st March 7pm-8pm at Belmont.
All are welcome but especially if you are a member of the congregation.
All details in last week's magazine
The Wonder of Easter
-Family outreach event
We are planning this event for Saturday 5th April 2pm-4pm at Belmont however currently we don't have enough volunteers to be able to run it.
We are looking for help with running activity stations, welcoming people as they arrive and serving drinks.
If you are able to help, please speak to Pauline either via text
07764741978, email children@mearnsfree.org o or speak at the start/end of church on Sunday.
Easter Code
Please pray for Easter Code which is running at Newton Mearns Baptist Church this coming week.
P7 pupils from schools across the area will be attending and will hear the Easter narrative and take part in activities to reflect on it.
This is a great opportunity to share the gospel with the pupils, members of staff and parent helpers.
Before morning service
Where to sit?
Part of the weekly set up at Belmont for a Sunday service involves setting chairs out.
We also have to bring some down from the classrooms...which we have to take back of course!
In order to be as efficient as possible in the amount of work in setting up it would make a difference if people can try to make sure there are no spaces left in middle of rows, so that those on door duty can direct people to free chairs quite easily.
There is no problem getting more chairs and it's a great 'problem' to have but don't want to create additional unnecessary work by fetching extra chairs if there are still empty seats in rows.
After morning service...
BAKING ROTA
We know that people like a nice treat with their cuppa and we have been spoiled over the last while with nice home baking...so if you would like to contribute and be on a rota (hopefully there will be a few people on this and it won't be a burden on people.)
Speak with Margaret Boyd about this if you are interested.
Saturday 22nd March
This weekend is the Coffee afternoon in aid of the Haven.
Tea and coffee will be served between 2pm and 4pm and you are very welcome to come and go as you are able, or stay for the whole afternoon.
All donations at the Coffee Afternoon will go to the work of the Haven which really needs to expand its reach in view of Scotland's spiralling drug problem.
Find out more at www.havenkilmacolm.com
more details in last week's magazine.
Ladybird Book of Mearns Free Church
The Loving Intolerance of God
Melissa Kruger
TOLERANCE: The modern, cultural elite praise this virtue in every school setting, media outlet, and job training workshop. There seems to be no truer way to love another person than to fully accept everything about them. Christians have often joined the tidal wave of this mainstream value and often long to be known for their acceptance of others’ opinions and lifestyles. On the surface it seems to be a positive virtue, one that exemplifies the life of the Christian.
But have you ever considered that tolerance is never encouraged in the Bible?
The fruit of the Spirit includes love and kindness, but missing from the list is tolerance. In fact, Christians aren’t called to tolerance, because we serve an intolerant God.
Just consider a few stories from the Old Testament:
The Garden: God didn’t tolerate Adam and Eve’s sin. He didn’t accept their lifestyle choice to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He banished them from Eden and left an angel with flaming swords to guard the entrance so they couldn’t return.
Noah and the Flood: While the sanitized version of this story is pleasantly detailed in children’s storybooks, we cannot forget this story is about immense judgment. Picture a tsunami of destruction instead of a nursery filled with smiling stuffed animals. The flood involved terror, suffering, and death. It was a catastrophic event that only one family survived.
We could go on and on throughout the Old Testament...He did not tolerate their sin; he punished it.
Greater Judgment
Lest we somehow think Jesus represents a different God than the one of the Old Testament, though, consider his teaching to the disciples in Matthew 10:14-15:
And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the Day of Judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.
Jesus claims a greater judgment than Sodom and Gomorrah for those who reject the message of the gospel.
Both the Old and New Testaments display a God who doesn’t tolerate sin. Yet there is one story in Scripture that demonstrates most clearly the intolerance of God.
It is the story of the cross.
Take a fresh look at the terrifying and uncomfortable reality of the cross. Here is an innocent man—whipped, beaten, nailed to a tree, bearing the sins of the world. For you. For me. Is this the picture of a tolerant God who ignores evil? No, this is a gruesome picture of divine wrath and judgment. The story makes no sense if God is a tolerant God.
The cross demonstrates God’s character in all its complexity. It shows his love, kindness, and mercy united with his justice, holiness, and wrath. The Lord is giving us a glimpse into the immensity of his love for us. The love of God is not a tolerant love. It is much better. It is a redemptive love.
Tolerance Is Unloving
Sin must be paid for. To tolerate evil is to deny justice. God unleashes his full wrath on evil because he’s good. If good tolerated evil, it would cease to be good. Refusal to tolerate sin, then, is an essential part of loving others well. It might be tolerant for a mother to let her children play in a busy street or run with scissors, but it’s not loving in the least.
We also should hate sin because it’s harmful, even if we don’t always understand the harm that may be caused. As a child is unaware that a car may quickly appear, we must understand that we’re unaware of all the dangers of sin. Life outside the revealed will of God doesn’t ultimately fulfil; it leads to misery and emptiness.
As his people, then, how should we live?
Romans 12 provides helpful insight:
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. . . . Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honourable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
God calls us to abhor evil, while at the same time warning us against being agents of his wrath. Loving people well doesn’t mean we must embrace the choices they make. It means we openly welcome and embrace all who come into our lives with a heart of understanding and the message and hope of the gospel.
(Full article is here)
Astronauts
There was quite a bit of news surrounding the return of the Astronauts' nine month extended business trip this week.
When asked what he would take away from such an experience astronaut Butch Wilmore talked about his faith and being able to be content knowing God was working things out for His glory and our good. (Hebrews 11, Romans 8)
Watch it here.
"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them."
Assisted Suicide
News from Affinity - Gospel Churches in Partnership
Friend, join us on 25 March to pray against assisted suicide
On Tuesday 25 March, please join us in a national day of prayer against assisted suicide.
MPs are currently discussing and debating a matter of life and death. A Private Member’s Bill to legalise assisted suicide is going through Parliament. If passed, this would mark a significant shift in our culture and its attitude towards suicide.
This Bill is now at the committee stage, where MPs will consider possible amendments before the crucial vote at its third reading, expected in April.
Similar Bills have been rejected in recent years, but the challenge now is greater than ever.
We have joined with The Christian Institute, CARE, the Christian Medical Fellowship, and the Evangelical Alliance to pray that Kim Leadbeater’s Westminster Bill and Liam McArthur’s Bill for Scotland do not become law. Vulnerable people need protection from these reckless, callous Bills. They need help to live, not help to die.
More details about the Bill and the Christian Organisations involved are available here.
This new MFC magazine feature doesn't necessarily need to involve holding a tea in your hand but it does involve stopping for a few moments to consider a short video which will encourage, challenge, inform and help deepen faith.
This week, as we approach Easter and read the accounts of Jesus' interactions with the Pharisees and leaders in Jerusalem, the identity of Jesus becomes a crucial factor - ie Is Jesus really God's Son...is He actually God?
Gavin Ortland talks through some of the questions that arise. Watch it
HERE
Prayer : Fundamental ?? or Supplemental ??
Being too busy is nothing new ! The leaders of the early church also experienced the pressure of time, thus they felt compelled to set priorities. Acts 6:3-4 recalls how they delegated important but lesser tasks to others, so that they themselves could “give attention to
prayer and the
ministry of the word”
In his book
Prayer: A Biblical Perspective, published in 2011, Eric Alexander suggests that the contemporary church today needs to re-assess its priorities in order to mirror those of the early apostolic churches. This is necessary because over the years the church has somewhat
lost sight of the true significance of prayer, to the extent that we frequently speak of
‘praying for the work’. The implication is that prayer is
‘an additional ingredient to our Christian service’
But the Biblical evidence makes it clear that ‘the spiritual work’ to which we as Christians are called, is not our work but
‘GOD’s work’ ! It is
GOD alone who convinces people of their need of salvation, it is
GOD alone who transforms lives. If our Christian service is to be spiritually fruitful, it follows logically and theologically,
that we MUST ask GOD to act. Like the leaders of the early church we too must recognise that prayer is:
fundamental rather than supplemental
In recent months our own Session has felt that it might be beneficial for us as a church to re-assess our personal and corporate prayer life. There will be a
short series of sermons during our Sunday morning services where we will examine the New Testament’s teaching about prayer. Please
pray that GOD might speak on these occasions, that He might help and encourage us with something that if we are honest we all find difficult – the discipline of prayer.
It will be good to
reflect on our prayer life, but
reflection without action is pointless. In addition to Pulse, our regular weekly prayer meeting on a Wednesday evening, Session have agreed that it would be good to commence a regular monthly prayer meeting where we specifically focus on praying not only that GOD would
lead us in and
equip us for our life & ministry as Mearns Free Church, but that
He himself would make our service fruitful by
His actions. These monthly prayer meetings will be initially be held at 9 am on the second Saturday morning of each month starting in April.
Mearns Free Church Monthly Prayer Meeting
9am Saturday 12th April
Martin & Elizabeth Smith’s home - contact office or see church directory for address
Passion Play
Monday 14th April (7.30pm)
At Belmont House School
We have invited “LAMPS” a Christian organisation, to perform a version of the Easter Story at Belmont.
They will be in Scotland touring with this production.
They say: The life, death and resurrection of Jesus are recreated in this moving, memorable and ultimately joyful retelling of the Easter story. Told from the perspectives of Peter, Mary Magdalene and a Roman centurion named Marcus, this powerful contemporary drama leads us up to and through the events of Holy Week, to the cross and beyond.
This is a great opportunity to invite friends and family to an Easter event at Mearns Free Church and to hear the Gospel message as dramatized by these actors.
So often, Easter provides an easy way to invite friends and family to a church event. Please do make use of this opportunity.
Here are some reviews:
-
"The Passion by LAMPS is an utterly compelling retelling of the Easter story with actors whose talent is beyond words". Rev Nathan Ward St Margaret’s, Rainham
-
"We watched and listened in complete silence for over an hour as the Easter story was told… The audience responded with a lengthy standing ovation – it was a great evening". Eleanor Jenkins Bury Green Chapel
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"A life-changing experience for me and my understanding of the scriptures… Like many others no doubt I shed a tear or two". Roger Dennett St James the Great, Radley
Dear Friends,
Govanhill Free Church is holding a fundraising Afternoon tea on Saturday 29 March from 2.30-4.30pm to raise funds for Women For Mission.
Women for Mission are linked with the Free Church of Scotland and each year choose different projects to raise money for.
This year they are supporting:
-Blythswood Care (India)
-The Kerusso Trush (Malawi)
-The Tumaini Fund (Tanzania)
- Patty & Manuel Reano (Colombia).
More information about these projects can be found here -
Women for mission link
We would be delighted if you could join us.
TEN TYPES
WHO TROUBLE THE CHURCH OF GOD
Did you enjoy the booklet 'Listen Up' that Scott encouraged us to read. If it is lying around unread then definitely worth giving time to. We find in there a group of people who, like us, respond to hearing sermons in different ways...you might see yourself in there...or in more than one...or 'occasionally' one might resonate.
Professor Tommy MacKay an elder, Dumbarton Free High Church of Scotland has written in a similar way about the sort of people we can meet in church...or we can actually be, in church.
He points out Ten to be aware of...I will highlight some here over the next few weeks. The booklet is available here.
THE HEDONIST
Hedonism is literally what its Greek origins proclaim it to be. It is the pursuit of pleasure. It is the doctrine that drives the godless world today. It stands in direct opposition to the Lord’s eternal decree, as taught to us in the opening words of our Shorter Catechism, ‘What is the chief end of man?’, and its answer, ‘Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever’. Thus, by relegating our own pleasures to a lower place, we find the highest pleasure of all, the enjoyment of God.
But alas! The hedonism of the world has invaded, even pervaded, the Church of God. It has emptied our Christian youth groups and other works of their leaders. Who is left to labour faithfully and sacrificially in the Lord’s vineyard, to be there week in, week out, year in, year out in the service of others, to give over the time that others have for their pleasures and personal pursuits? Our Christian Sabbath has ceased to be the Lord’s day, and has become a family day, or whatever other kind of day most pleases, and attendance on the means of grace is strictly for a Sunday morning, when it suits, and preferably for as short an intrusion into it as may be possible.
The Hedonist bases all of his actions on his carnal lusts. In ‘choosing a church’ his question is not, ‘Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?’ (Acts 9.6), but, ‘Where does my fancy take me?
Do my type of people go there? Do they have a programme of social events?’ All things considered, there are, of course, many practical considerations which may be relevant to our quest for a church when, for example, we move to a new area. However, in dealing with these considerations, pleasure is the Hedonist’s yardstick, and if by that yardstick it falls short then it is discarded. He seems altogether unaware that his spiritual choices are carnal. And like the Wanderer and the Indisciplined, if his carnal whims are not met where he is going, he will wander off to somewhere else. There is no sense of sacrifice, of subjugating his preferences to the costly service of God.
As a young Christian I was connected with the local parish church. It was all of a buzz with events and activities and plenty of young people ‘of good class’. But what it lacked was the Gospel. Following prayer, the Lord in his grace led me, by strange means, to a mission hall attended mainly by down and outs. Its activities were its evangelistic services, its monthly all night of prayer for revival and its weekly open-air meetings, where if we were at times spat upon we at least had the protection of our Gospel sandwich boards. Everything a young person could look for! The only person who came even decades within my age range as a sixteen year old was only half my age, a girl of about eight, the daughter of the mission superintendent. So, with the rigid thinking of a teenager I concluded that if this was God’s will for me I would probably never meet anyone I could marry or have a family with. However, it was the path of blessing, indeed the only path in which blessing can follow, the path of ‘Not my will, but thine, be done’ (Lk. 22.42).
Here is the Lord’s condemnation of the Hedonist: ‘For men shall be lovers of their own selves … lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof’ (2 Tim. 3.2-5). And here is the Lord’s call to his people: ‘I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God’ (Rom. 12.1,2).
Each Wednesday we meet to pray for the church- local, national and worldwide.
you should try and get along - 1 hour flies by and it's such a important time of fellowship too.
7.15-8.15pm
At the Coopers this week.
LARGE PRINT -
SONG WORDS
If you find viewing the song-words on the screen in Sunday worship a problem, we currently print a limited number of large-print song sheets for specific people.
We don't want to print unnecessary copies so please speak with the door team and we will begin to make these available for you each week.
Mearns Free Church has a What's App Group for Prayer -The "PRAY NOW" Group
Purpose: A platform to share information regarding a sudden and crucial need for prayer.
How to connect: Speak to Margaret Boyd if you would like to be added to this group or email Margaret at: mandmboyd@hotmail.co.uk
What tech do I need?: You need to have a Smart Phone with WhatsApp to get set up.
Emailing The Minister
Please be careful when emailing Scott that you are using the correct current email address minister@mearnsfree.org. A number of emails continue to be sent to accounts no longer in use. Please be doubly careful when sending from a device that is not your normal communication device (like a phone) or if you use “reply to all”.
Email Addresses For Mearns Free Church
Please make sure you change your email address list now we are part of the Free Church.
Tom Brown (Office): office@mearnsfree.org
Scott Kirkland (Minister): minister@mearnsfree.org
Sandy McDougall (Treasurer): finance@mearnsfree.org
Pauline Forster (Children and families worker): children@mearnsfree.org