1 mins

My church

Jacqui Lindsay, Pastoral Assistant at Morningside Parish Church in Edinburgh, describes a community where people are encouraged to ‘play to their strengths’.

HAVING ended my previous employment, I gave myself a three-month sabbatical to think and pray about what to do next.

At the end of that time, I looked on the Church of Scotland website to discover that that day was the closing date for the job I am now doing.

I took up the post of Pastoral Assistant in Morningside Parish Church, (MPC) in October 2018 with a strong sense that this is where God wanted me to be. I came into a church that was itself a result of five unions over some six decades, the challenges of which must have been sizeable.

The resulting congregation, however, felt and feels a united one yet one that hasn’t forgotten its history and speaks fondly of its varied past. The church building boasts an enviable suite of halls, again built up over decades and the blood, sweat and tears, both actual and figurative, that went into their conception can only be imagined.

MPC has a lot going on.

People are encouraged to play to their strengths.

There’s a Wednesday evening club, weekly coffee morning, baby and toddler group, Sunday club, communications, social, outreach, flower, property, education and worship committees, the list goes on.

Into this thriving hub, part of my remit was to look at areas of need within the congregation and broader parish and how we might best meet them. Morningside has one of the highest percentages of retired people living within its environs of any neighbourhood in Europe and inevitably dementia is a growing issue.

"The older I get, the more it becomes apparent that without God being central to any plan or great scheme we are on a hiding to nothing.

Unless the Lord builds the house they labour in vain that build it. Ps 127:1

The older I get, the more it becomes apparent that without God being central to any plan or great scheme we are on a hiding to nothing. The reverse is also true. When God is at the heart of our plans seemingly chance meetings occur, doors open, letters of invitation appear. And that is how it has felt with Morningside Hope, the umbrella name for the group of dementia friendly activities that we have developed. ¤