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MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF THE FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND MAY 2018 • £1.50
THE APOSTA FREE CHURC BY THE EDITOR
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themselves. We in effect have developed a form of morality and ‘Christianity’ which can be done without faith in Christ. Even in evangelical churches, ‘men may do what is morally good, and yet never do anything that is acceptable with God; for they may do it, but not for the love of God above all, but for the love of self.’ 6) we are at war. We seem to have forgotten that the holiness the gospel requires is a continual warfare – against Satan, sin and the world, which requires ongoing watchfulness and diligence. But instead there is a great backsliding. Why? Weariness of the flesh, indwelling sin wearying the mind, and ignorance of the true way of obtaining help from the Lord for the grace and supplies of the Spirit. 7) we do not know evangelical repentance. The reality is that the evangelical church in Scotland today, including the Free Church, is largely unacquainted with the true nature of evangelical repentance. Owen stresses the value of this repentance: ‘This is that grace which comfortably carries the souls of believers through all their failings, infirmities and sins; nor are they able to live one day without the constant exercise of it.’ Not only do we indulge sin, but we also approve of people and practices that are ‘unapproved of God’. When we indulge one sin we let in many others. When I think of the Church of Scotland decision to admit as ministers of the Word those who directly contradicted that Word’s teaching on sexual morality, I shudder. But I shudder also at the virtue signaling that goes on both in liberal and more orthodox churches. In an application that is right up to date, Owen talks about those who proclaim their own goodness. ‘The greatest moralists that ever were, whether Pharisees or philosophers, could never separate between their love and practice of virtue on the one hand, and their own honour, glory and reputation on the other.’ Whilst the liberals let everyone know what their right hand is doing (as well as their left), and their continual love for all things virtuous and progressive, those who long for a return to the good old days are just as keen to let everyone know how righteous and unlike others they are. We too are prone to self-love and the praise of others.
s we head towards another couple of important
it is time to see how the church is doing and how we connect and reevangelise the people of Scotland. Sometimes I find that going to the older writers really helps. One such was the 17th-century writer/preacher John Owen, who had a prophetic ministry in his own day and whose ministry continues today. His book on Apostasy from the Gospel has many things to say to our current situation in the church in Scotland. It seems apposite for the Free Church, the Church of Scotland and the wider church. 1) jesus warns us that churches will turn away. Owen’s observation is that the churches are in such a state because they have apostasised from the holiness of the gospel (2 Timothy 3:1-5). There is an outward profession of the gospel, yet people give themselves to the pursuit of the vilest lusts and the practice of the most abominable sins. But rather than be surprised at this, we should realise that it is what the Lord warned us would happen. general assemblies
2) we should not have any pretension that this cannot happen to us.
Any church is liable to this kind of backsliding and apostasy. Including the Free Church. 3) churches that start well often fade. The Gospel is a call to holiness. It is the Spirit who comes to convict of sin, righteousness and the judgement to come. When churches are planted they are often planted holy in doctrine and in practice, but there is often a fading away. Sometimes this is so severe that, as in Scotland today, we are compelled to cry out: ‘How has this come to pass? How has Christianity lost its glory, power and efficacy in the world?’ 4) christ is blasphemed in scotland today because this holiness is neither professed nor practiced in power.
Sadly, too often it is the church that is leading or following the nation into degeneracy. There is little spiritual freedom and liberty in the church – because we lack this gospel holiness. 5) it is possible to be religious/christian/calvinist/ free church without christ. The religious create a rule of obedience which is not the gospel but a system of peculiar laws and rules that they have framed for
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Church ministers and elders who, whilst speaking of the beauty of Christ, have been committing both spiritual and physical adultery. I have seen men agitate for the smallest of doctrines, whilst harbouring the seeds of atheism in their own hearts. I have witnessed brilliantly sound sermons preached by men who were living the opposite of what they preached. It’s not what is done in public that really matters — it’s what goes on in the heart and comes out first in private, and then in public, whether in this life or on the day of judgement. McCheyne argued that ‘my people’s greatest need is my own holiness’ and that ‘It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God. A word spoken by you when your conscience is clear, and your heart full of God’s Spirit, is worth ten thousands words spoken in unbelief and sin.’ prayerlessness: Above all there is to be prayer. ‘That ministration of the Word which is not accompanied with continual prayer for its success is not like to have any great blessing go along with it…for a minister to preach the word without constant prayer for its success is a likely means to cherish and strengthen secret atheism in his own heart, and unlikely to work holiness in the lives of others.’ If you want to know the state of our churches, just look at the state of our prayer meetings. If you want to know the state of our Kirk Sessions and ministers — check their prayer lives. 10) revival begins with the leaders. Owen argues that the renovation of an evangelical ministry and the proper discharge of that duty by those who are called to it ‘will be the cure of the lethargy that the world is fallen into’. Surely that is what we need today, in Scotland, in the Free Church? A renewal to gospel holiness amongst our deacons, elders and ministers. •
8) the primary cause of this is the leadership of the
— especially the ministers. It’s not the society. It’s not the people. It’s not the world. According to Owen the primary cause of this is the state of the ministry and leadership in the church. In other words, people like me. God has given us teachers to bring us Christ and to teach us holiness. It is required that these teachers keep ‘pure and uncorrupted’ the doctrine of the gospel because ‘Gospel truth is the only root where gospel holiness will grow’. The Scripture will always remain pure — but in an important insight Owen argues that this is not sufficient to secure the advance of the Gospel in truth and holiness. We need the power of the Spirit. The question for us then becomes: is the gospel being proclaimed in Scotland today in the power of the Spirit? church
9) ministers are to proclaim the gospel in the power of the spirit.
Owen suggests that they are to do so diligently, urgently and with hard work. There are five sins that particularly harm the work of the minister. laziness: A lazy minister is an abomination; but there are too many. Whilst there are those who overwork, I suspect that underwork is as much of a problem. coldness: We also need passion. Coldness leads to powerlessness. Our preaching is not to be ‘the cold formal pronunciation of a well composed oration’. pride: I shudder when I hear young men talk about their pride at being ordained. Are they not aware of the difficulties and trials that await them? They are like those in 1914 marching off to war, full of pride because of their uniforms, unaware that those same uniforms would soon be spattered with mud and blood. Sometimes in the Free Church we have confused respect for the Word and those who preach it with placing men on a pedestal from which they are almost certain to fall. hypocrisy: As ministers we preach of the holiest, deepest, most beautiful and profound things. When our lives are in contradiction of that, it is little wonder that a powerlessness and apostasy from the Gospel eventually occurs. One of the things that has shattered many of our members is when they discover that their ministers have not only feet of clay, but hearts of stone. In 32 years of ministry I have known Free
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Let Owen have the last word: God needs to give ‘pastors after his own heart, to feed them with knowledge and understanding. When he shall revive and increase a holy, humble, zealous, self-denying, powerful ministry, by a more plentiful effusion of his Spirit from above; then, and not until then, may we hope to see the pristine glory and beauty of our religion restored unto its primitive state and conditions.’
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CAMPS CHAMPION I’m trying to get someone from every Free Church congregation to step into the role of Camps Champion. This person would have all the most upto-date knowledge of what’s happening with Camps and what help is required. He or she would be your local go-to person for Camps. If you could be a Camps Champion, let me know.
BY LAURA MACAULEY
HOW ELSE CAN YOU GET INVOLVED?
CATCH UP WITH CAMPS! Spring is the time of year when all the paperwork for Camps comes flying in. It’s all forms, forms, forms, from campers, cooks and leaders. Coaches, minibuses, activities and excursions are being booked, and leaders are meeting to allocate all the different tasks such as pastors, medical officers, photographers, games co-ordinators, squad leaders, bankers, etc. It’s a time of great hustle and bustle between myself, team leaders and their teams, and not forgetting the excited campers and their parents! Everyone is excited because, come the summer holidays, God willing, at least 333 campers will come to FCYC to learn about Jesus. They will be equipped to explore the Bible and the Christian faith for themselves daily. They will spend several days with enthusiastic leaders whose passion is bringing the Good News of the Gospel to young people in a meaningful and relevant way. If you went to camp as a youngster, cast your mind back to the way God worked in your life then, and how things were carefully woven together in your life to bring you to a saving knowledge of Christ Jesus. Now, wonder how you can pass on your experience, knowledge and love for Christ to the lambs of the church. Here are some suggestions:
PRAY! — This home mission must always be steeped in prayer – for the leaders and their talks, their organisation, their activities, their ability to make meaningful connections with campers. For the campers – that the Lord would prepare their hearts and minds to accept and respond to the Gospel, and that those young in the faith would be strengthened by the Word and emboldened to tell others of the goodness and mercy of Christ our Lord. Safety – we must never take safety for granted, and we pray for all those who will drive and chaperone the campers this summer. The Cooks – they are invaluable to our camps and play an integral role in supporting the leaders and campers, not only through their tummies, but by their own personal witness and walk with their Saviour. DONATE — you can make a donation to those in your own church who plan to come to camp, or by putting an envelope marked for Camps in the collection plate, or online: https://freechurch.org/donate/ All donations are gratefully received and enable young people to hear the Gospel for a whole week, as well as having the best fun of their summer holidays! DRIVE — If you are an experienced minibus driver, with D1 on your licence, and you have some free Saturdays in July, we’d love to hear from you.
CAMPS ADOPTION SCHEME This is an idea we rolled out gently last year. The basic premise is that a congregation ‘adopts’ a camp. Leaders liaise with the congregation’s Camps Champion to request specific points for prayer and establish ways the congregation can help the camp. Perhaps the camp might be able to visit for their Sunday service, or send photos and letters so that the congregation has a clearer idea of who and what to pray for. This allows for congregations to become more closely linked and involved with Camps and its ministry. In turn, this should facilitate greater support of the campers after the summer, and generally strengthen the bonds between churches and Camps. There are 12 camps this year, and each camp can be adopted by more than one congregation, so get in touch to discuss this further. Young people today, perhaps more than ever, need to be supported and encouraged in their faith. If you are able to help through prayer to our heavenly Father, we’d love to hear from you.
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CHAPERONE — Are you planning to be travelling from Lewis to Ullapool, or visa versa, any Saturday in July? Again, we’d love to hear from you, if you’d like to accompany campers on the ferry journey. • From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4.16
Laura A MacAulay Camps Administrator E-mail: camps@freechurch.org Facebook: Camps Fcyc or Free Church Youth Camps Twitter: @FCYouthcamps Tel: 0131 226 5286 www.freechurchyouthcamps.org
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I
n general, in western society we are money-rich and time-poor.
That is as true for the Church as it is for the rest of society — indeed it may be even truer. Whilst the world just has work, family, friends and leisure to use up the fixed resource of time, we add church. It’s little wonder that those who are maxed out with normal living find that they are stressed out when it comes to adding church. Something has to give — and too often does. That’s one issue with time; there isn’t enough of it! Another is that at any given time we sometimes struggle to work out what is going on. This is especially true if we are the type of person who is always living in the moment and is unable to set the present in the context of the past and the hope of the future. Solomon deals with these issues. Last month we saw that how we understand time and eternity is fundamental to how we live. Now in chapter 3:1-8 Solomon goes on to explain how we can understand time and the times. They are beautiful verses that I often read at funerals. Why? I disagree with the view that this is a depressing passage because it so stresses
the sovereignty of God and the helplessness of man. We cannot control time, and we cannot control the seasons, no matter what our skills, efforts or riches. So many say this is a counsel of despair. It would be if it were teaching that everything is futile or that God is some kind of capricious deity, the cosmic chess player moving us around like pieces on a board. But this is not the case — indeed this passage is an extraordinarily beautiful summary of the optimistic view of the Christian life. EVERYTHING HAS A TIME. There are times and seasons. There are rhythms — and there is a rhythm to life. We instinctively know this and our life basically demonstrates it. When you have two young children your times have changed. As an empty nester there is a different season in your life. But it’s not just in the major events. We all have our biorhythms. I’m a morning person (must have been the farm upbringing!). I get far more done in the two hours between 6 and 8am than I can do in the four hours between 2 and 6pm. And there are seasons. One of the problems with modern life is that we like to think we can
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change these — that we can live 24/7 lives 365 days a year — with all our gadgets and artificial stimulants enabling us to overcome the natural rhythms and times. We can have strawberries in and out of season. But ignoring the rhythms and seasons never works. It only results in burnout. Ancient Near Eastern wisdom taught that real wisdom was in understanding our limits and knowing the times. As the poet/prophet Robert Zimmerman sang, ‘Come gather round, people, wherever you roam, admit that the waters around you have grown. …O you’d better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone, for the times they are a changin’.’ Incidentally, notice again how the Bible has been used to inspire culture. Pete Seeger wrote a beautiful song based on this passage that became one of the surprise iconic songs of the 1960’s — the Byrds’ Turn, Turn, Turn. The fourteen couplets in this Ecclesiastes poem cover every range of human activity. It begins with the two most momentous events in our life, birth and death (v.2), and moves on to three creative and destructive activities (v.2-3) before dealing with human emotions both public and private (v.4).
Solomon then moves on to friendship and enmity (the stones refer to filling up your neighbour’s field with stones or gathering the stones they throw and using them to build something) and a time to say hello and a time to say goodbye (v.5). The next two are to do with possessions and our resolutions concerning them (v.6), before we finally return to the various creative and destructive activities of man (v.7-8). I take great comfort from the fact that our times are in God’s hands. It is not fate. I take great comfort that there is a time for everything. You may be going through a hard time just now – that will change. You may be going through a spiritual springtime – it will turn to summer and perhaps to winter, before it turns to spring and summer again. God is in charge of it all. Our lives are meaningless ‘under the sun’. They are not meaningless with The Son. We need to turn (return) to him. In the paraphrase of Pete Seeger’s song: To everything – turn, turn, turn There is a season – turn, turn, turn And a time to every purpose under heaven.
TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGING
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MEET THE SEMINARY BOARD BY REV. THOMAS DAVIS
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hen we think of the people connected to ets, we tend to think
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of the staff and students who work and study at the seminary.
However, while the day-to-day running of ETS is taken care of by the teaching and administrative staff, the overall governance of ETS as an institution is the responsibility of the Seminary Board. This Board is appointed by the General Assembly, and that is very important, because it highlights the fact that ETS is accountable to the Free Church of Scotland. The role of the Board is to oversee the life and work of the Seminary. That involves various areas such as identifying members of staff, maintaining the ETS building and facilities and planning ahead for future developments in the Seminary. So who is on this Board? Here is a brief profile of all the members:
MALCOLM MACLEAN (CHAIRMAN)
FERGUS MACDONALD (VICE-CHAIRMAN)
The Principal of ETS is always a member of the Seminary Board. However, prior to becoming Principal, Iver was the chairman of the Seminary Board, so he has had a longstanding involvement with the Seminary and played a key role in the rebranding of the Free Church College as Edinburgh Theological Seminary. JOHN ANGUS MACLEOD
Malcolm is the minister of Greyfriars Free Church in Inverness. He has been the chairman of the Seminary Board for the past six years, and all being well, he will continue in that role for a further two years. (Usually someone will remain as chairman of a board for either four or eight years, although there are exceptions to this.) Malcolm has often represented ETS at conferences, both in Britain and overseas. He has also regularly given guest lectures at the Seminary.
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Fergus has supported the work of ETS for many, many years, and currently is serving as a member of the Board and as ViceChairman. Fergus is a former Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland and has served as the General Secretary of the National Bible Society of Scotland and of the United Bible Societies. He is also currently a member of the Board of Directors of the World Reformed Fellowship. He has helped to build up contacts between ETS and other networks around the world.
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One member of the full-time teaching staff at ETS (known as the Senate) is also appointed to the Seminary Board. This role is currently held by Vice-Principal John Angus MacLeod. John Angus has a key role in the dayto-day running of the Seminary, so he plays an important part in informing the Board about needs that arise in the life of the Seminary and have to be addressed by the Board.
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ANGUS MACRAE
MURDO MACPHAIL
THOMAS DAVIS
There is a very close link between ETS and the Board of Ministry. In terms of Free Church candidates for ministry, it is the Board of Ministry that selects them and approves their application, but then it is the Seminary that provides the academic training they will need for ministry. Because of these close links, the Chairman of the Board of Ministry is also always a member of the Seminary Board. At present, that position is held by Angus MacRae, minister of Dingwall Free Church. He helps the Seminary Board and the Board of Ministry work together in order to provide training for student ministers.
Murdo is a former chemistry teacher at the Nicolson institute, Stornoway, and is an elder at Stornoway Free Church. But he is not just a scientist; he is also very experienced in financial matters and is currently the treasurer in Stornoway Free Church. Both Graham and Murdo play an important role in ensuring that ruling elders are involved in the governance of the Seminary.
Thomas is minister of Carloway Free Church and is the newest member of the Board, having been appointed last year. However, he has also been involved with the Seminary Board for the past four years as Convener of the Marketing and Fundraising sub-committee of the Seminary Board.
ROBIN GRAY
GRAHAM KEITH
Two elders also serve on the Seminary Board. At the moment one of these is Graham Keith. Graham is a former teacher and is an elder at Ayr Free Church. He has a lot of experience in theological education and has written and lectured widely on theological and historical topics.
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It’s not all teachers, ministers and elders on the Seminary Board; there is also always a student. Every year, the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) elects a president from among the Free Church candidates studying at ETS, and it is usually someone in their final year. For the 2018/19 session, the new SRC President is Robin Gray, and he will help to ensure that the Seminary Board are kept up to date with how the students are getting on.
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Alongside these official members, the Seminary Board is also helped by Mrs Catriona Cazaly, Free Church Finance Manager, and Mrs Heather Watson, the Seminary Secretary and clerk to the Seminary Board. Both Catriona and Heather attend every Board meeting and make an essential contribution to the functioning of the Board. The Board meets every three months or so, and the meetings usually last two to three hours, as there are often numerous matters to be attended to. Sometimes board members who live far away from Edinburgh use Skype in order to attend the meeting electronically In recent years, the Seminary Board has been encouraged by growing student numbers new opportunities, such as the Mission Centre, being introduced. However, there are also challenges for the Board, particularly regarding the financial needs of ETS. So please remember the Seminary Board in your prayers as they seek to continue helping the Seminary train and equip people to go out with the good news of Jesus Christ. •
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