Over 40 delegates from all over Scotland are attending the annual Ministers In-service Training this week at Grace Church Leith in Edinburgh.
The theme of this year’s event is ‘The Church of Christ’.
Keynote speakers include: Rev Alasdair Macleod – ‘The Precious Church’, Rev Cory Brock ‘The Healthy Church’, Rev Thomas Davis ‘Catechesis for Preachers’, Rev David Meredith ‘Developing a Parish Mindset’ and Rev Paul Clarke ‘A Preaching focus’.
Rev Cory Brock reminded those present that the health of the church is rooted in the presence and power of God the Holy Spirit. Just as the Holy Spirit ordered and perfected God’s creative work in Genesis, so He establishes, empowers and nurtures the church of Christ today. As we pursue our vision for a healthy gospel church for every community in Scotland, the Bible’s rich theology of God the Holy Spirit is an essential part of that vision becoming a reality.
Rev Alasdair Macleod gave two outstanding addresses—one from Revelation 1-2 and the other from John 17. These talks were a timely reminder of the profound presence of Jesus within His church and the preciousness of the church to Him. We were reminded that, as the Father’s gift to the Son, the church is deeply loved by Christ. It is essential for us to know not only what He loves but also what He hates. One of the key blessings of his addresses was the reminder that the security God provides is not about being removed from danger, but about experiencing His protection and presence in the midst of it. It was a powerful and encouraging call to recognize the church’s enduring significance in Christ’s eyes and to embrace the security He offers, even amid life’s trials.
Rev Thomas Davis focussed on preaching and examined Larger Catechism Question 159, which explores how God’s word is to be preached. Thomas unpacked the catechism’s wonderful answer, that preachers must proclaim sound doctrine diligently, plainly, faithfully, wisely, zealous and sincerely.
The carousel sessions covered Rural Ministry, Church Planting and Complementarianism.
An innovation for this year is ‘Preaching Labs’. Ministers were given the opportunity to share feedback on recordings of each other’s preaching. Rev Andy Longwe developed this workshop and noted that while this was a challenging new aspect to the In-service Training it was really beneficial and ministers fond it a unique opportunity to gain insight to their own preaching.
We’re thankful to God for this excellent opportunity for ministers to meet together, pray, learn and have fellowship. The warm welcome from the team at Grace Church Leith also helped to make this a very positive and blessed experience.
The ministers inset runs until Thursday.
