Grace church's first decade
Grace Church first met in Scout Hall on Sunday 16th August 2015.At that time, we had no idea what the future would hold.
It was, however, with confidence our great God was leading us, that we stepped out seeking to be a new bible believing fellowship and witness in our communities.
The name Grace Church, incidentally, wasn’t a random choice. It was chosen as a statement of who we are and what we believe. Without grace, we are nothing. We are each saved by the grace of God and sustained by the grace of God as individuals and as part of the wider body of Christ’s church.
When Douglas Swanson was putting together the flyers for this weekend, he included the verse from 1 Samuel – (which many will remember having learned from the authorised version of the bible) “Thus far hath the Lord provided”. The context of that verse was quite different from our situation, - we are not fighting battles with Philistines. And yet, the essential truth has indeed been our experience over these last ten years. God has provided in every way necessary. I’m not going to give an alliterated list of how that provision has been experienced, but… From the very start, God provided us with partners and a parent congregation.
Before we started out, a group of us met with David Meredith, who is now the Mission Director of the Free Church. He was a great encouragement, as were David Court and Ivor Macdonald. Kenny Macleod, with his typical generosity, offered to help in any way he could. And so, Dowanvale became our parent congregation, encouraging us, helping us build connections within the wider Free Church, administering our finances and so much more.
Our friends at Dowanvale were appreciated more than ever during covid. The Guide Hall is a shared space and so was closed for many months. How grateful we were for the great blessing of being able to share the Dowanvale Sunday worship on line. We are thankful for the ministers, Kenny Macleod and now also Iain (Cheeks) Morrison, for our many friends in the Dowanvale congregation and for the elders and successive treasurers for their ongoing friendship and support.
God has provided us with a place to worship. We began with a six month let in the Scout Hut. (some can still remember the smell of damp canvas and sleeping bags hung up to dry which fragranced some mornings)
When that came to an end, we were offered the Guide hall. As you can see, nowadays we sometimes have to borrow seats and burst at the seams, but the Guides have been very kind to work with. We did have a problem one Sunday. We had invited some of the men from The Haven, our local Christian Rehab ministry, to worship with us and share some testimonies of God’s work in their lives over a nice hot buffet lunch. Halfway through the service, the keyboard stopped working. We had so many slow cookers plugged in at the back of the hall, that we had fused the electrics!
As the Guides use this hall most evenings, our bible studies and prayer meetings initially squeezed into Mum’s house, with the under 60s on the floor. And now God has provided more space at the Else Jacks’ home.
Actually, we have met elsewhere too. John Fairful has never recovered from the Christmas worship at the farm. We gathered round a real manger in the byre one evening as Iain shared the account of the birth of Jesus. We prayed and all sang Silent Night accompanied by some wee heifers and a few sheep. There were a few damp eyes as we shared a poignant reminder of the incredible humility of our Lord Jesus. We have been trying to find a larger, more central space, with extra room for children, and our prayer now is that the right location will be provided in God’s timing.
The Lord has provided us with excellent preaching.
Last week I heard Sinclair Ferguson quote an old friend of his who reminded him that “The Holy Spirit loves to exalt the Lord Jesus through preaching.” We have been so privileged to have many faithful men who have helped us to exalt the Lord Jesus through their preaching. Robert Morrison has done a great unseen job in arranging our pulpit supply and now has a long list of ministers’ contacts, - and I haven’t yet heard of anyone blocking his number.
In our early days, we enjoyed support from ETS students (including one Duncan Murchison), and existing friends– including Alex Bedford and Iain Morrison who took our first service and will preach again on Sunday.
We recall with gratitude so many faithful men who preached regularly, including our two Johns, John Sharp who has brought God’s word to us over many years, travelling considerable distances to do so, and John Fairful. After covid, John Fairful offered to preach for us for three or four months to help us get back to normal. We managed to keep him for four years! It was a provision for which we are grateful to John and to the Lord.
We have been blessed too by men who have preached at Holy Week Services and friends who have come. Not least David McAdam, who not only shared the gospel - but gave half of us covid!
Now, in God’s perfect timing, Duncan, who first preached for us as a student, has come back to lead us and we thank God for so many wonderful blessings.
The Lord has brought us people.
Many will recall with gratitude the Christianity Explored course held in the Village centre and led by our good friend the late Iain R. Morrison. God chose that as a means of bringing to faith our brother Tom. Later, at a communion service led by David Parker, Tom was the first person to be baptised at Grace Church. God has been so gracious.
Many friendships have been made and strengthened with ladies from the village and from other churches, particularly the Greenock Girls, through the Tuesday Ladies Fellowship, as we enjoy worship, and speakers as well as some fun social times.
One of our highlights has been the Bible Explorers group which began 2 years ago, led by Alex Bedford. The utter joy and privilege of studying God’s word with our precious teenagers is such a blessing. At the other end of the age scale, we are also thankful for the monthly services which we share with residents at Campbell Snowdon Care Home.
Some of those who were part of our fellowship, or who came to join us, have passed into glory, and we thank God for each of them. We rejoice that our God has also drawn others, of all ages and stages to take up their own unique places and play their own part in the fellowship, and it is hard to imagine that we have not always known and loved each other.
We are a mixed bunch of ingredients, but we have a wonderful God who can use us (even those who might have thought they were past their “best before” date) and equip us, to work together to be salt and light, to obey and exalt the Lord Jesus in our communities in all we say and do.
And so, as we look both back and forward, we do so with profound gratitude.
xThe past 10 years is not about a list of events or of individuals.
We have learned, as many other fellowships can affirm, that our Heavenly Father will provide and that He knows how to give us good things.
The Lord has never let us down.
The God who knows the end from the beginning is faithful, forgiving, kind, patient & incredibly good at details.
Our story is of a gracious Heavenly Father, a wonderfully loving Saviour and a constantly present Holy Spirit.
And so, we are thankful for ten years of the faithfulness, not of a wee fellowship, but of the faithfulness of our great and gracious God.