My church

David W McFie, a member at St Kane’s Church, New Deer, in northeast Scotland, explains why change does not diminish faith.

FOR me personally, growing up on the Isle of Bute, going to church regularly and leading a life grounded in faith seems a normal everyday thing which started with Sunday School, being in the Boys’ Brigade, and, as life progressed, becoming a member of Trinity Church.

I did drift away from the Church for a while but in time returned to regular attendance, something that happened with ease and discovered that the door truly is always open.

Twenty years ago, I became a member of the newly formed United Church of Bute, an amalgamation of several kirks on the island. There is often change in the world, but these changes made sense. Although meeting in just the one building to praise God seemed strange initially, it was certainly the way forward. We still had our faith and all that came with it, and the encouragement and support of like-minded people helped me to see the changes as part of God’s wish for us all to preserve our faith in the town where we lived.

During this time I started to explore my personal faith and calling. I was ordained an Elder and in due course went on to train and be set apart as a Reader of the Church of Scotland.

My view in life is to serve, and I do so in various ways. In 2018, I moved from Bute with my wife, who as a parish minister responded to the call to serve in a parish in Aberdeenshire. Of course, there are changes in our lives but wherever we go our faith is what drives us to be the people we are.

“ I did drift away from the Church for a while but in time returned to regular attendance, something that happened with ease and discovered that the door truly is always open.

In retrospect my view of the theme “My Church” is more “our Church.” I see the Church as a family of families and like all families we need the support of each other to continue our lives as one body, a family that is there to help each other and of course to be there and serves all people within our community wherever help is needed.

Church services are changing in the way they are delivered, in many ways brought about in response to lockdown restrictions and are now widely available online.

However, the basic ethos remains and the reality that the church is here to serve all people, reaching further afield with an online presence, making the world a smaller place as people congregate as one.

This makes me reflect on the closures and the changes I have seen, and I am sure there will be many more to come as our kirks and their people move forward in faith. But we are only moving the space we meet in. This does not diminish our faith, if anything it will simply make us a more close-knit family who will continue to serve wherever we end up.