BLAIRGOWRIE

Finally, after a few wee delays,

that’s me here !!!!

It’s hard to fully articulate how excited and thrilled I am to be Minister here in Blairgowrie. The sense of calling has never diminished during the wait, to the contrary it has grown and also been affirmed.

I’m writing this article having had the privilege and honour to have now been fully Ordained and Inducted on Thursday evening.

I could fill up page upon page on my experience of the whole evening, but that’s best shared with you over a coffee sometime. Let me just thank all the team from the congregation who did such a marvellous job arranging everything, lots of it behind the scenes but so essential to it being such a special evening. Perth Presbytery were fantastic too, but what really made it such a life changing experience for myself was the attendance, both in person and online. To look around and see so many known and unknown faces was very humbling, and immensely exciting. I do hope that new and old relationships were made and cemented as a result of us coming together as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Now though the real work for myself begins.

The work which Brian, the Session, and the whole congregation have put in has really meant I am spoiled. Spoiled because I am not coming into a Church that is in decline or is simply treading water. No, I am coming into a Church that is alive !!!!

A big pull to follow my sense of call to Blairgowrie was the potential I feel that the town has. Potential for Mission, for outreach, for connecting with the community, for being what a “Parish Church” really should strive to be.

I would ask that you please pray.

Pray that our Church can engage with this potential, and over time be relevant again to people’s daily lives. We don’t just want Blairgowrie Parish Church to survive, we want it to flourish.

It shall not always be an easy journey, and at times we might feel like we are taking one step forward and two steps back, but we will be on that journey as a Church family, and like all good families we shall be there for each other in the bad times as well as the good times. It’s not about it being MY ministry, it’s OUR ministry, and I also look forward to encouraging and helping to nurture the untapped talents which I know this congregation has.

Be patient with me. In the next few weeks I might get your name wrong, I might ask you the same question I asked the last time we met, and I might get the surrounding geography a bit wrong too. But, that doesn’t mean I’m not listening, or that I don’t value your opinions and ideas.

I plan to be visible in the town, and to reach out to as many individuals, groups, and organisations as I can. So, if you see me out and about, dinnae be feart to give me a shout, and also please don’t be shy in suggesting to me people or places you think I might want to pay a visit to.

I look forward to getting to know you all better and let me finish by thanking everyone in the congregation for welcoming Yana and I in the way that you all have, and making us both feel so much at home.

God Bless

Michael