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MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF THE FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND JANUARY 2019 • £2.00
FREE CHURCH NEWS NEW MINISTER FOR FERINTOSH AND RESOLIS
A
fter an extended period of vacancy, ferintosh and
After graduating from ETS in 2003, Mr Macleod began his ministry in Barvas before moving to Back in 2010. Mr Macleod and his wife Dina have three grown daughters who currently study and work away from home. Details of the induction will be released soon. Please pray for Mr Macleod as he prepares to take up his new position. •
resolis free church of scotland will welcome rev. calum iain macleod as their new minister
after he accepted the call to serve the congregation.
Having spent the past fifteen years on the Isle of Lewis serving Barvas and Back Free Church, Mr Macleod said he is looking forward to his new charge in Ferintosh and grateful for the people in Back, "Dina and I are very much looking forward to moving across The Minch to Ferintosh in early January 2019 and beginning ministry in Urquhart and Resolis. " "We are sorry to be leaving Back after eight years of pastoral ministry in Broadbay. We will be forever grateful for the warmth, kindness and generosity of Back’s fellowship." Rev. Ewen Matheson (Cross-Ness Free Church) has been appointed as the Interim Moderator for Back. Mr Macleod, originally from the Isle of Scalpay in Harris had a Project Management career in Cultural Tourism before applying for the ministry eventually attending Edinburgh Theological Seminary (ETS) in 2000.
Dina and Calum Iain Macleod
25TH ANNIVERSARY OF ORDINATION
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and powerful ministry in Coatbridge. He remembered as a boy his mother giving him a coin which he had clutched so hard it had left an impression of the king on his palm, and that was the key characteristic of Ivor’s preaching – the impression it left of the King of Glory. Beatrice Burrows then presented a bouquet of flowers to Rosemary MacDonald. In responding with gratitude, Ivor gave thanks to God for his care and provision over the years, reminisced about his previous charges in the Hebrides and said how much he had come to love the people of Lanarkshire. He went on to say there was no greater thrill and privilege than to see people coming to understand the Gospel and to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
n 25th november 2018 the congregation of hope church coatbridge celebrated the 25th anniversary of the ordination to the christian
ministry of their minister, rev. ivor macdonald.
After a career as an agricultural adviser, Mr MacDonald was ordained and inducted to the Church of Scotland in Barvas, Lewis on 12 November 1993. He was later called to Staffin and Kilmuir in Skye, and after joining the Free Church of Scotland was inducted to Coatbridge on 6 July 2012. At the morning service Ivor preached powerfully and clearly on the four women mentioned in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus. After the service was over a presentation was made to him on behalf of the congregation by elder Rowan Robertson, who expressed gratitude for Ivor’s effective
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Ivor concluded by paying tribute to his wife Rosemary, who has been such a wonderful encouragement and support throughout his ministry. The congregation then enjoyed lunch together, enlivened by projected illustrations from Ivor’s life and a magnificent cake which alluded to Ivor’s continuing enthusiasm for the agricultural life. •
Congregation of Hope church with Rosemary and Rev. Ivor MacDonald (centre)
NEW YOUTH CAMP
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he free church of scotland moderator
designate,
rev.
donnie g. macdonald, is to
lead a newly formed youth camp in summer 2019 for secondary school
- s3 pupils. The newly launched 'Renfrew Juniors' camp is a result of The Free Church Youth Camp's own successes in providing popular Christian summer youth activities year on year. Places are always in high demand with spaces often filled as soon as booking opens. Mr MacDonald, Minister of Portree and Bracadale, will be leading the new team along with Portree's Assistant Minister Duncan Murchison and his wife Lydia. Free Church Youth Camps Administrator, Laura MacAulay, said, "We're very excited about offering an alternative to Oswestry for this age group. Donnie, Duncan and Lydia will make an excellent team. They'll be based at the Bible Centre just west of Glasgow, and pray they have some amazing adventures ahead of them." How do I book a place at camp? Once you have read through the brochure, go online and register for your preferred camp: www. freechurchyouthcamps.org You will receive an automatic confirmation once your form has been submitted. Please note that registering for camp does not mean you have booked a camp place, as there is very high demand for some of the camps. Allocation of camp places s1
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will begin at 1 p.m. on Monday, 14th January. When camps are oversubscribed, i.e. more people have registered than there are places for, there is a draw of the registration forms. Places are then allocated, and remaining registration forms are transferred to the waiting list for that camp or allocated a place
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on the camper’s second choice of camp, where possible. Once you have submitted your registration form, please be patient and wait for FCYC Admin to contact you. January is a very busy time and it may take a week or two to inform you of the outcome of your application. •
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So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27
BY DR ANTONY LATHAM
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e live in an age when darwin’s theory of
despite great efforts, no idea of what the process entailed. A few facts are helpful: • DNA, the molecule that holds the genetic code of all life, does not simply arise if you put energy into a soup of organic chemicals. To make DNA the cell uses enzymes, which are proteins. The proteins themselves are coded for in the DNA, so if there are no proteins, there is no DNA. Proteins require very sophisticated molecules to produce them. But to have proteins you must have DNA to code for them. You can see the problem. • To have a functioning cell that holds the DNA, and all the stunning molecular machinery that even the humble bacterium contains, requires a cell membrane. The membrane is itself an immensely complex arrangement of molecules that allows the right chemicals to enter and leave the cell. The membrane is coded for in the DNA, so you cannot have a membrane unless the DNA already exists with its information for making the membrane. This is another ‘chicken and egg’ problem for the Darwinist. • It is imagined by the theorists that the first DNA had to be very short and simple. However, for a functioning DNA to have even the most basic reproducing cell, it must have a minimum number of genes which require ‘proofreading’ enzymes to ensure mistakes are corrected. All DNA is constantly monitored by such enzymes to correct mistakes in the coding. Without this system life could not have got going. Again, we have the issue of which came first; the DNA or the enzymes which cannot be manufactured without the DNA. • Even if DNA exists within a cell, it is the information it contains which makes it completely unique in nature. Purposeful, specific information does not occur anywhere in the universe without intelligent input. This is true for your computer software just as it is with DNA. You cannot get purposeful information by just applying energy to chemicals. Purposeful information is variously called ‘semantic’ or ‘specified’ and is contrasted with purposeless information, such as that in a snowflake.
evolution is the predominant narrative of how we came to be on the earth.
Most scientists seem to have made up their minds about this and the prevailing view, filtered down to us, is that life arose by accident and that every form of life since then has appeared due to random mutations (errors) in DNA, acted on by natural selection. In this scenario there seems no place for divine input or design. There appears to be no purpose. If we accept this theory lock stock and barrel, then, as Richard Dawkins loves to point out, we are mere vehicles of DNA which blindly competes to survive. If we look honestly at this bleak picture, we could very reasonably despair. We certainly would have reasons to rule out an active Creator who has made us in his image. The question is: is it true? Darwinism has formed a worldview that has caused many people to simply give up on God. I was one of them. God seems to have been pushed out of his creation and for many, Darwinism gives licence to be, as Dawkins puts it, ‘an intellectually satisfied atheist’. This is why we need to engage in the debate about our origins if we want to give hope to a lost world. The problem is that even amongst Christians there is a multiplicity of views on the subject: those that accept current evolutionary theory, those that reject it outright and believe in an earth about 6,000 years old, those that believe in a much older earth, and others who concentrate on the scientific evidence for design in nature (intelligent design theorists). There is of course some overlap amongst all these. Such views are held sincerely. In such a divisive, and sometimes bitter, debate, we have a duty to respect and listen to one another. The danger too often is to interpret and even twist science according to our own particular scriptural preference, such as the age of the earth. To do so risks alienating Christians from scientists, the majority of whom have no axe to grind. Science, the study of God’s creation, is neutral. It is how we interpret scientific facts, along with the light of scripture, that is the key. The study of this area of science has been close to my heart for many years. It has become clear to many of us that Darwinism is not at all a done deal. Let us look, far too briefly, at just a few of the flaws in current evolutionary theory.
FOSSILS Darwin very honestly wrote in his book On the Origin of Species that there were huge gaps in the fossil record that needed to be filled. His theory depends completely on very gradual changes over long periods of time. One of the gaps he knew of was the long period preceding the appearance of multi-cellular organisms. In the fossil record the first organisms with bodies, eyes, guts and nervous systems appear dramatically and suddenly in the what is known as the Cambrian period, about 530 million years ago. Scientists call this the ‘Cambrian Explosion’, for good reason. It is an explosion of life from singlecell organisms to fully complex sea-dwelling creatures occurring without precursors in the fossil record. They are seen in rocks around the world, and though strenuous efforts are made to link them all in some evolutionary story, such efforts have failed. We see the first vision – that of the wonderful Trilobite with amazing
THE START OF LIFE Life, in the form of bacteria, is believed to have begun at the earliest opportunity on the earth. The current view of the age of the earth is 4.5 billion years old. Darwin imagined some warm pond in which the right chemicals were present and somehow amalgamated to form life. Bacteria, however, are not simple – anyone studying molecular biology knows that they are far more complex than any man-made machine. The earliest fossil bacteria are seen in rocks about 3.4 billion years old and are identical in form to current bacteria. No one knows how these first reproducing cells arose. It has never been achieved in a laboratory and there is,
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our ambitions are achieved, it’s still ultimately meaningless. Oliver Cromwell, who took the British throne away from Charles I and established the Commonwealth, said to a friend, ‘Do not trust to the cheering, for those persons would shout as much if you and I were going to be hanged.’ Cromwell understood crowd psychology! The crowd that shouted for Jesus to be made king as he entered Jerusalem was the same one that a few days later shouted for him to be crucified! What is the point of all this? Mark Twain summed up his view of what it means to be human: ‘We are on a plodding sad pilgrimage, this pathetic drift between the eternities.’ Solomon seems to be on the same wavelength. If we find oppression and injustice in the law courts, if we find envy in the workplace, if we find loneliness in our lives, and insecurity even when we reach the highest position — what is the point? Solomon’s point is that ‘under the sun’ (meaning ‘without God’) there is no point. But with God…
eep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground .’
President Roosevelt’s wise saying still resonates today and would certainly have resonated with Solomon. After considering the question of loneliness, Solomon now turns to politics — the two are not unrelated. Sometimes our politicians look as though they are very alone. Occasionally I feel sorrow for our Prime Minister, Mrs May, who looks as though she is wondering which of her colleagues is going to be the next one to stick the knife in — ‘et tu, Boris?’! I love the way that the Bible speaks directly to our contemporary situation in the politics of Westminster and the White House, as much as it did in the palace of Solomon. I guess that it is because human nature (and therefore politics) doesn’t really change, and because the Bible is God’s Word for all humans everywhere in every time. Ecclesiastes 4:13-16 is a difficult passage to translate and understand. It speaks of a king rising to power. He becomes complacent and foolish because he is alone — or at least acts on his own and does not listen to his friends. Solomon again draws attention to the folly of the lack of companionship. His place is taken by a young man who has climbed up the ladder of success — from rags to riches. But he too finds that popularity is fleeting. In effect Solomon is warning us that even if we make our way to the top, the only way is down. Even if all
YOU CAN FIND JUSTICE. ‘I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants
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GOSPEL FOR TODAY’S SOCIETY ECCLESIASTES 4:13-16 THE RECORD
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all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.’ (1 Timothy 2:1-6, NIV)
Chapter 4 has dealt with the oppressed having no comforter, a man without the companionship of family and friends, and a lonely king. Christ is the solution to all. Strength is gained from human relationships, but the greatest relationship and friendship of all is found in Christ. He is the one who provides meaning. He is our friend — and he is our reason for working. Everything we do we do for the Lord. The reason I pray for our political leaders to become Christians is not that they will then, Constantine-like, enact legislation that is favourable to Christians. It’s just that I want them to know peace and to find fulfilment in recognising that they are fulfilling their tasks as servants of God. I suspect that the Queen, with her lifelong service to her country, is far less lonely because of her committed Christian faith, than those politicians whose ambitions, like their ‘friends’, are here today and gone tomorrow. The world would be a better place if our political leaders knew, loved, served and obeyed the King of Kings. They wouldn’t need to fear their allies, despise their foes or bribe their rivals in order to achieve their ambitions. Nor would they need to purchase people to cure their loneliness and demonstrate their power. They would be able to keep their eyes on the stars and their feet on the ground.•
YOU CAN FIND CONTENTMENT. ‘I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.’ (Philippians 4:12, NIV) YOU CAN GET OUT OF THE RAT RACE — WITHOUT BEING LAZY AND USELESS. You can get away from ‘envy and selfish ambition’ (James 3:16) and find real peace. Peace does not come from hard work, nor does it come from laziness. ‘What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?’ (Mark 8:36-37, NIV) YOU CAN HAVE THE FRIEND WHO STICKS CLOSER THAN A BROTHER. Perhaps the biggest question here is the question of companionship.
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FOLLY OF ©Aleramo - stock.adobe.com
OF AMBITION AND
ACHIEVEMENT 2019
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GET TO KNOW CITYALIGHT (AND THEIR NEW ALBUM) BY TIM CHALLIES
F
or the past few years i’ve been enjoying the
Most churches around the world aren’t large. Some figures tell us that the average number in Australia is about 70. That means these are churches without large music teams or complicated sound equipment. These are churches with one guitar, or no guitar, one organ, one trombone, two singers – something like that. And we want to partner with those faithful congregations. Our vision is to resource them with simple songs. There is nothing on earth like the sound of a church singing, big or small, ancient or modern, skilled or not. The sound of a church singing has preceded almost every great revival in church history. The Church is God’s witness and representative on earth. And is there any wonder that a tremendous power comes about when the representative voice of God in the earth is singing? We have been writing songs together for about five years. The band isn’t fixed. It’s made up of whoever is available when the request comes in! We really see ourselves as a local church, first of all writing for our people, and also praying that God might take these songs out to any of his churches that might be helped by them.
music of cityalight both on a personal and congregational level
(as
we’ve added several
of their songs to our worship services).
They have just released a new album and, to mark the occasion, I asked band members Richard Thompson and Jonny Robinson a few questions. The album is available now wherever good music is sold or streamed. Who or what is CityAlight? What can you tell me about the band and the church behind it? CityAlight is a music ministry from a church in Castle Hill, Sydney, called St. Paul’s Castle Hill. The vision of CityAlight is to write songs with biblically rich lyrics and simple melodies for the Christian church to sing. We’re very pleased to admit there’s nothing particularly groundbreaking in what we do. There’s nothing especially new or unique or fashionable. We’re not on the forefront of anything and don’t pretend to be. (It’s probably better to be three hundred years out of date than three…)
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I don’t think most people associate Anglicanism with modern worship. How does your Anglicanism factor into your songwriting? This will inevitably be an over-simplification, but the Diocese of Sydney, of which we are a part, is an evangelical form of global Anglicanism with a commitment to the authority of Scripture, a personal relationship with Jesus, and a focus on mission, sharing the gospel both at home and abroad. To the question, yes, it’s fair to say, quite broadly, that the Anglican Church has a very different relationship to modern worship than the Pentecostal church, for example. In large part this stems from the Anglican Church’s long history of supporting choral and traditional music, an engagement that’s run over hundreds of years, and it can’t (and probably shouldn’t) be shaken off immediately. There’s a great beauty in those styles of music and we lose something when they get left behind. But on the whole Anglican churches in
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Sydney no longer reflect that sort of worship, even if our reputation hasn’t yet caught up. On the average Sunday you’ll see the minister in a suit or a shirt and tie (occasionally shorts and a T-shirt in the Australian summers), the words of modern congregational songs projected onto a screen, a band with drums and guitars up front, and you’ll rarely see a prayer book. In saying this, though, it does not mean we suddenly have a deep or familiar relationship with modern worship, if by that you have in mind songs with a vaguely pop/soft rock sound and a verse/chorus/bridge structure. The Sydney Diocese is immensely careful to protect the truth of the gospel in its preaching and teaching. It values clarity of expression and faithfulness to Scripture. And that very often admirable caution has extended to music in the Diocese, too. We haven’t seen the easy acceptance of every hit congregational song going around or every development in musical style or the implementation of each technological advance >>
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