Saturday 11th June was a good day.
Around two hundred people gathered at Dornoch Academy for the induction of Rev Al MacInnes to be the new Minister at Dornoch Free Church. It really was a joyful day, not just for the congregation at Dornoch, but for the Presbytery — and for that, we are thankful to the LORD.
Give thanks to the LORD for the quick settlement in Dornoch. Please commit Al and family to the grace of God for the task that lies ahead of them—undoubtedly full of challenges but equally undoubtedly nothing beyond the grace of God. His grace is sufficient. He equips those that he calls.
At the induction, Rev Ben Fiddian (Lairg & Bonar Bridge) preached a most appropriate sermon from 1 & 2 Kings, looking at three references to Elisha and the cloak of Elijah, and applying them to Al and Dornoch’s situation.
He opened with the following words: We often focus on ordinations and inductions as new beginnings. Of course, in one sense they are new beginnings – but ‘zoom out’ a little and you see that they are really transitions. No minister steps out of a vacuum or into a vacuum. Every Joshua has a Moses. Every Timothy has a Paul. The honour and glory of building the church belong to Christ and to Christ alone. Ministers of the gospel are his tools: picked up, used, laid aside, moved on, at his sole discretion. Paul plants, Apollos waters, God directs the whole process, God gives the increase. Every ministry is limited – limited by the gifts a man has, his health, age and so on. Christ alone is able to fulfil a continuous and unending ministry: he alone “continues forever” and is consequently able to “save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for us”.
We look forward to hearing what the LORD is doing in Dornoch through the congregation over the coming weeks and months.
[Main Image From L-R. James Mackay, Murdo Macdonald, Rev. Duncan Macleod (previous minister), Rev. Al MacInnes, Mark Robinson]