Remembering the Lord’s goodness over the past 40 years has been the aim of celebrations at Dunblane Free Church of Scotland.
A special service has been held, followed by lunch, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the congregation of Dunblane.
We were encouraged by the excellent sermon preached by Rev. Professor John Macintosh, now retired from his post as lecturer in Church History at Edinburgh Theological Seminary. He spoke of Jeremiah and the rebuilding of the temple. We were encouraged to continue our journey of faith together as a congregation, seeking to continue to reach out to Dunblane and the surrounding area, as the Lord will enable us, going forward.
We were also delighted to have Professor James Fraser, former Principal of the University of the Highlands and Islands, share some thoughts about the early days of Dunblane Free Church. Both men were elders in our church in the early days.
Rev. Allan Shearer updated us regarding our present position and spoke about our vision as a church, which is summed up in the phrase “Serving God and Transforming Lives”, which we hope to do by Knowing God, Growing Together and Loving Others. All in all, a most encouraging, and indeed, uplifting occasion, remembering the Lord’s goodness to us as a congregation over these forty years.
Looking back, there had been a Free Church presence in Dunblane from 1843 until around 1900. In 1979, church services of the Free Church resumed in Dunblane. The minister of Cumbernauld Free Church, Rev. – now Rev. Dr – Fergus Macdonald, met Dr John Gray, the minister of Dunblane Cathedral, who offered a room in the cathedral in which the Free Church were welcome to hold services. This kind offer was accepted, and the church plant was duly made. The new congregation then moved to Dunblane Primary School, where it was located when Rev Kenneth Larter became the first minister in 1985.
Our early ministers were Rev. Ken Larter (1985-1988) and Rev. Allan Macleod (1989-1997) – both served us very well indeed – and our church moved into permanent premises in the middle of Dunblane in 1993. Rev. Alasdair Macdonald was our minister for fifteen years, from 1999 until his retirement in 2014. We were so blessed to have Mr Macdonald as our much loved and greatly appreciated minister over these many years.
Our Interim Moderator during the ensuing vacancy was Rev. Iain McDonald, retired minister of Cumbernauld Free Church, who arranged excellent supply for us over this period, and his help was always greatly appreciated by the congregation. We were also greatly helped between 2016 and 2017, when Mr John Caldwell was our part- time church worker with preaching responsibilities.
In 2019, Rev. Allan Shearer was inducted on a five-year ministry. During this time, we have been greatly encouraged as our numbers attending and finances improved and the work in our congregation has been much blessed in terms of faithful preaching, and new members and adherents and families joining us. We have goodly numbers at our morning and evening services on the Lord’s Day and Thursday Prayer and Bible Study meetings. We have three House Groups meeting once a month, led by our elders. We continue to meet with others from neighbouring churches at our monthly Men’s Prayer Breakfast and Women’s Bible Study Group. We also continue to reach out to young and not so young in various ongoing community activities, such as our monthly Rejuvenate Lunches and Crafts for Kids about Christmas time.
Our prayers over the last year especially, regarding improving our finances, more families to join us, and a good future for our church in Dunblane, have been wonderfully answered by the Lord, and a new five-year ministry has been approved by the General Assembly. We look forward to continuing our witness in Dunblane under the excellent ministry of Rev. Allan Shearer, as the Lord will lead us going forward for the next five years, and, hopefully, beyond, God willing.