Stepping Out
The theme of this morning's service was "Stepping Out", chosen by Fiona Ogg, one of our members who is a second year student at Glasgow studying for the ministry. In the main message Fiona told us about her summer spent on the West Coast in Ardgour and the surrounding area in a huge parish stretching from near Fort William down to Kingairloch, a distance of some 25 miles along the edge of Loch Linnhe.
Fiona showed us some glorious pictures of which the above is one, showing a fishery with Ben Nevis illuminated by the evening sun in the background.
As with many rural churches, there are great difficulties in finding ministers, particularly those with younger families, to move to areas such as these where the facilities are lacking. The high school is a ferry journey away.
It was great to hear that Fiona's experiment at rural ministry over the summer has helped her determine that God's calling to her is to rural ministry. Wherever she ends up in the future, it will be a blessing to that congregation.
We also welcomed Willie Paul this morning to St Andrew's. Willie is a member at Uddingston Viewpark Parish Church and is involved in an enquiry process to find out more about the different ministry options in the Church of Scotland and we hope that his time placed with us in St Andrew's will help him to do that.