21st century churches

FEATURE

Birse and Feughside Church

THE Parish of Birse and Feughside in Aberdeenshire began the millennium with a problem familiar to many rural settings. At the time, it supported three churches with services rotated every two months, the unity of these three parts of the parish represented by a banner made by members of the congregation bearing the words: “Walking in Pilgrimage – United in Faith.” At around the turn of the century, the Kirk Session agreed to unify its place of worship in the smallest but most central of the three churches at Finzean. A millennium grant and sale of other buildings enabled us to renovate and extend the church, including a new kitchen and spacious reception hall. Symbolically for a congregation seeking new guidance, the direction of worship was turned 90 degrees from west to north and the entrance moved from the centre to one end. The church pews were replaced with chairs and all fittings, including the pulpit and table, were moveable, allowing the space to be easily adapted to the size of congregation and other needs. As Churchill once remarked, “We shape our buildings – and then they shape us.” Birse and Feughside Church was reopened on September 22 2005 by the then Moderator of the General Assembly, the Very Rev David Lacy. This brought together the residents of Birse, Ballogie, Finzean, Glen Dye and Strachan to one place of worship. Our banner had a permanent home and pilgrimage a different meaning.

A bright, modern, warm and welcoming space has allowed us to open our doors to the wider community. Over the years, this has included exercise groups, exhibitions, concerts, recitals, talks and pastoral retreats. A Ukulele Group with over 20 players has been established and the ‘Boulers o’Birse’ use the carpark as their petanque terrain. Our partnership with a local dementia charity, Forget-Me–Not, has been running for over ten years with the club meeting weekly in the church for musical entertainment and tea.

We are blessed in having talented musicians to lead our singing, but services are also lifted by technology. Audio-visual equipment and a drop-down screen at the front of the church have allowed us to remove hymn books, lift our heads and sing! Having one place of worship has unified and focussed the congregation and formed a strong bond of faith, friendship and wellbeing towards each other. Worship is enjoyable, child-friendly and lively. The meeting hall off the main church allows all attending to have a chat over a cup of tea and a ‘fine piece’ after the service.

At the time, of course, we didn’t foresee a situation of church closure and remote worship but our actions at the start of the millennium certainly prepared us to cope with such a change. Moving from multiple to a single place of worship created not only a bond of unity but also a renewed sense of purpose. We also established two worship teams at around the same time made up of members of the congregation, partly to relieve our minister, but again this has made us more adaptable to new formats of worship.

Though initially trying to solve a practical issue, refocusing our parish in this way has reminded us of our church’s mission.

Embracing technology in our worship at an early stage has also made a move to video-linked worship each Sunday feel natural and seamless and, indeed, led us to consider how we should continue to reach the wider community as and when we return to regular worship.

At our church’s reopening in 2005, the Moderator based his sermon on Jeremiah buying a field in Anathoth (Jeremiah 23).

With the Babylonian army about to lay waste to Jerusalem, this small field represented hope of future restoration: “I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety.

They will be my people and I will be their God.” (v37). As we face very different challenges in our worship today, God’s promise continues to give us hope.

This article appears in the August 2020 Issue of Life and Work

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