By Rev Joe Hall
This Sunday past, we had the joy of announcing a new church plant from Bon Accord Free Church, Aberdeen.
Planting has been something the congregation has been praying about for a long time, and there has been talk of it for roughly 15 years. However, the Lord has everything planned perfectly, and it’s become clear that he’s been saving it for now!
Over the last few years, huge needs and opportunities have opened up for new healthy gospel churches to be planted all over Aberdeenshire and the North-East. Decisions taken by the Church of Scotland have led to the decimation of local parish kirks, which has left lots of Christians spiritually homeless. We’re very blessed to have several families come into Bon Accord from the surrounding Shire, and we’re delighted they’ve found a home with us. But the fact that they have needed to settle in a city-centre church simply to hear the gospel and belong to a healthy church body, often driving 30-40 minutes to do so, is a tragic sign of the health of gospel ministry in our region. The task we are faced with is nothing short of the re-evangelization of the North-East.
We have prayerfully decided that the place to begin is in an area called Garioch (pronounced Geerie) to the north-west of Aberdeen, which has the town of Inverurie at its centre. Inverurie has a population of around 14,000, with the wider Garioch area taking that up to roughly 40,000. We envision the plant being formed initially of members of Bon Accord who live in that direction, plus hopefully others too. By nature it will be a “gathered church”, centred in Inverurie and drawing people in from the wider area.
We are also delighted that Ben Traynor, who has been a Minister-in-Training with us since the summer, will be Church Planter (should all his requirements be met). Ben and Sarah have five children, and a long connection to the North-East, with Sarah having been raised in Aberdeen and Ben having come to study and then teach in Aberdeen before beginning ministry training.
Ben said: “We’re grateful to God for this opportunity to plant a new church in the Garioch area. It’s been a privilege to see God at work in laying the path to bring the new church plant to this point. Please pray that God will be pleased to build his church in Garioch, so that many people will come to trust Jesus for the first time and all will grow in their faith and love for God.”
Between them, Aberdeen and the Shire are home to half a million people. We’re so thankful for the gospel churches that exist here and celebrate their witness. But it’s clear that many, many more churches are needed to reach the people of the North-East over the coming decades. Our prayer is that Garioch is the first of many churches we’re able to plant in the coming years, in the Lord’s strength and by his grace.