Focus On... Cross (Ness)

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:13:50 +0000

FOCUS ON CROSS (A.K.A. NESS)
The congregation of Cross Free Church (Continuing) actually meet in the village of North Dell, just south of Cross village, in the district of Ness. Ness is the most northerly area of the island of Lewis and has a population of between 1800-2000 souls.

The congregational name comes from pre-2000 when the place of worship was (and still is for the majority) in the village of Cross. In fact, the Continuing congregation have their roots pre-2000, when two elders of Cross Free Church were put under discipline by the then Kirk Session of Cross for attending services in Stornoway Relief Free Church.

From this beginning the Lord has honoured the stand of these men and others, and shortly thereafter they began to meet in the North Dell Community Hall. The congregation grew steadily at the beginning as more people came to the point where they could no longer remain in Cross FC congregation.

Having worshipped in the hall for more than 3 years the congregation completed their own building on gifted land once part of Dell Farm. The new church has cemented the permanence of the congregation and is testament to the Lord supplying all our wants.

For three years following 2000 the congregation were guided by Rev JA Gillies as both Interim-Moderator and long term resident supply.

In 2004 Rev G MacDonald accepted a call to his first charge in Ness.

The congregation now numbers about 50 on Sabbath morning and 65 in the evening. There is a weekly Prayer Meeting on Wednesday and a monthly one on the first Monday of the month. Sabbath School meets shortly before the evening service. All services are recorded and are available as digital recordings from our new web site:
www.nesschurch.co.uk

Work has recently begun on a new manse adjacent to the church which we are sure will be of great use to the congregation when it is completed.

With four Presbyterian congregations in the area some might wonder what scope there is for growth. Plenty! At the most only about 20% of the population of Ness attend services regularly. As well as many local people who have no live church connection, the Lord has brought many other people from out with the island into the district.

Points for prayer

• That the Gospel would impact on their lives and that they would enjoy not only the peace and safety of island life, but the peace of God and the love of Christ.
• That the unconverted souls who attend services would be arrested and converted.
• That families in the district would be preserved from Satan’s attacks.
• That homes where there is now one Christian witness would be united together in the gospel.
• That baptised people who have cast off the claims of Christ would be convicted of their neglect and sin, and return to the Saviour.
• That the ministry would be blessed to build up the saints in their faith.
• That the manse building would be an opportunity for adherents to get involved with the congregation, not a cause of distraction from spiritual things.
• That the upcoming communions would awake the dead and assure the doubting.
• That those who would like to attend prayer meetings would be given the strength to do so.

Thank you for your interest in our congregation and for taking the time to read this. May the Lord bless us with a lively interest in the work of his Kingdom across the globe!

Focus On... Bracadale

Wed, 5 Dec 2007 22:45:42 +0000

FOCUS ON BRACADALE/DUIRINISH
Bracadale is a Parish on the north west side of Skye. It covers an area from the River Caroy through Ose, Struan, Satran, Carbost, Fernilea, Portnalong to Fiskavaig.
Early days
Bracadale is especially notable, spiritually, for the early ministries of John Shaw (1812-1823) and Roderick Macleod (‘Maightir Ruairi’)(1823-1839), before Disruption times (1843). Of Shaw it was said “He was a holy, humble man, of retiring disposition, and much given to prayer.” Times of awakening were associated with Maightir Ruairi’s ministry, both at Bracadale and afterwards at Snizort. “His ministry in Bracadale,” it was said, “… had many trials, but he also had great encouragement in his work. His church was crowded with eager hearers Sabbath after Sabbath … and Bracadale became famous as the birth-place of souls.” The Church where these men ministered is still there, occupied now by the Free Presbyterians. Shaw and Macleod are buried in the graveyard at the back of the Church.
More recent history
As far as Bracadale is concerned, the minister in the Free Church at 1900 went in to the union that year of Free and United Presbyterian Churches. There was subsequently no minister settled in the congregation before 1930. Since then there has been more or a less a continuous succession of faithful ministries and many people have been converted to Christ in the congregation over the years.

Current services
Presently there are Church buildings used at Carbost and Struan. Lord’s day services are held in Struan at 11am (with a Sabbath School beginning before the service from 10.30), and at Carbost at 6pm. There is a prayer meeting on Wednesday at 7.30pm, alternating between Struan and Carbost.

Duirinish
Effectively the Duirinish congregation is attached to the Bracadale congregation, though not formally so. The Bracadale minister is Interim Moderator and bears the main weight of the preaching ministry. The congregation meets in the Waternish Hall at Hallin on the Lord’s day at 2.30 and midweek on Thursday at 7.30pm. This was the one congregation on the Island in 2000 in which the resident minister did not adhere to the ‘continuing’ part of the Free Church.
Communions
Communions are held around the first Lord’s day in April and the second Lord’s day in July in the Bracadale congregation. There is a communion held around the third Lord’s day in August in Waternish.

Prayer requests
May the Lord come again in our day with such spiritual blessing which has been known in the past! Here are a few items for prayer:
• Pray that we may be guided about the development of the congregation at Waternish, both in terms of supply and location
• Pray for health and strength for the present Bracadale minister that he may be helped in the ministry in both Bracadale and Waternish
• Pray for the small Sabbath School at Struan that the Lord may touch the hearts of the children and bless the young families we do have connected with the congregation
• Pray for a resolution of property matters which in Bracadale remain still unresolved and are consequently unsettling