A gospel party was held at Cornerstone Free Church, Edinburgh to mark the ordination and induction of Rev Colin Ross as assistant minister. The congregation also took the opportunity to commission and pray for Jo Hulks, their new pastoral worker.
It comes at a time where Cornerstone is looking to church plant in the Gilmerton area of Edinburgh, which will be led by Colin and a group from the church.
Friends, family and the congregation met together to feast on Burritos, to spend time with one another and to go through the formal process of Colin’s ordination. Celebrations continued marking Jo Hulks role as pastoral worker at Cornerstone and Israel Guerrero’s recent ordination as church planter for the Spanish speaking congregation.
Rev Neil Macmillan said: “Welcome to the gospel party! We are gospel people at Cornerstone. The gospel is the good news. The good news is that, out of love, God sent his son, Jesus, into this world to rescue us, renew us and restore us to himself so that we could both know him and worship him. We are all about the gospel. But this is a gospel party. We are party people because we have more to celebrate than anyone else in this world because out of love God sent his son to rescue, renew and restore us.”
Rev Derek Lamont, of St Columba’s Free Church, spoke about the meeting, saying: “It’s a real celebration of what God has done and what, I believe, God is still to do. I believe that not only for Cornerstone, the plant in Gilmerton or Leith or anywhere else but there is a rustling in the leaves, and I believe that God is working in this beautiful city of ours to bring people to Jesus Christ in all kinds of fun things and all kinds of traditions. We are very grateful for that.”
During the evening, Donna Macleod gave a reading from Numbers 13, about a group of Israelites exploring Canaan – many saw the giants in the land, but Caleb saw the grapes.
Derek said: “What do you see in your Christian journey? Do you see grapes, or do you see giants? Our vision and perspective make a great deal of difference.”
He said Caleb remembered who his God was. He remembered all these things that God promised.
“The greatest giants of all – sin and death – have been defeated by the risen saviour Jesus Christ, in whom we put our trust. It’s great, and significant and important that God gets all the glory,” he added.
Following the formal process of Colin’s ordination and induction, the congregation welcomed Jo as pastoral worker.
Neil said to Jo “We see in you a heartfelt devotion to Jesus and a deep and genuine love for people with a God-given desire to come alongside people to help and serve. It’s been a joy and pleasure to see you grow into this work over the past few years through your studies, your training as a biblical counsellor, through the work you’ve done amongst us and we see that God has equipped you for the work you are now doing.” Maretta Campbell then prayed for Jo in her new role.
