|
Beliefs
and Aims of the Church
The PRAYER
VISION of the Church is that the people in this part of Scotland may
hear clearly the gospel of Jesus Christ, see the life of His Spirit among His
people and come to know the love of God the Father.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The basis
of faith of the Church is summarised in "The Apostles' Creed", of
which James Packer has written: "If life is a cross-country journey,
then the million-word long Holy Bible is the large scale map with everything
in it, and the hundred-word long Apostles' Creed is the simplified road map,
ignoring much but enabling you to see at a glance the main points of
Christian belief".
THE APOSTLES' CREED
"I believe in
God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son,
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
Born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, dead and buried;
He descended into hell;
The third day he rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
And sitteth
on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost,
the holy catholic (universal) Church,
The communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the
resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another summary
of the Christian faith is found in the statement made at services of
ordination (of ministers and elders): "The Church of Scotland affirms
anew its belief in the Gospel of the sovereign grace and love of God, wherein
through Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, incarnate, crucified and risen,
He freely offers to all, upon repentance and faith, the forgiveness of sins,
renewal by the Holy Spirit and eternal life, and calls them to labour in the
fellowship of faith for the advancement of the kingdom of God throughout the
world.
The Church
of Scotland acknowledges the Word of God, which is contained in the
Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, to be supreme rule of faith and
life."
History of
Macduff Parish Church
By James
McPherson
|
Two
buildings in Macduff dominate the skyline - the war memorial erected in
1921 to commemorate those who gave their lives in the 1914-19 war and Macduff Parish Church
built during an earlier war in 1805, the year of the Battle of Trafalgar.
|
|
Adjoining
the Church stands the Town Cross, erected in 1783 by the second Earl of Fife,
who named the town Macduff when King George III granted the Charter declaring
the village of Down or Doune a Burgh of Barony. In 1972, the Town Council, in
an imaginative stroke, placed a large 18th century ship's anchor in an open
space beside the Church and Cross.
Prior
to 1768, the kirk-going inhabitants of Down walked each Sunday to the Parish
Church of Gamrie, a distance of some 8 miles. In that year, a building in Schoolhill
was fitted out as a chapel. This was the first church building in the town.
Interesting details are recorded regarding the erection of a steeple at the
cost of £1.15 and the provision of a bell at a cost of 8 guineas. Prior to
1768, the kirk-going inhabitants of Down walked each Sunday to the Parish
Church of Gamrie, a distance of some 8 miles. In that year, a building in
Schoolhill was fitted out as a chapel. This was the first church building in
the town. Interesting details are recorded regarding the erection of a
steeple at the cost of £1.15 and the provision of a bell at a cost of 8
guineas.
By the end of the 18th century, a larger
building was needed to accommodate the increasing church membership and in
1805 the Church on its present site was built with the support and
encouragement of the Earl of Fife. He also generously donated an organ but
those were the days when an organ would not be tolerated in a Presbyterian
place of worship. The congregation declined to use it and, after standing in
a corner beneath the gallery for some time, it was presented to a Roman
Catholic Church in the district where it remained in use for over a century.
|
|
Within
50 years, the steady growth of the town and its population and
corresponding increase in church membership made a larger building
essential. In 1864, an important step was taken in the history of the
Church. Until then it had been a Chapel of Ease under Gamrie Parish
Church but that year,
with the generous support of the 4th Earl of Fife who contributed more than
half the endowment, Macduff was raised to a Parish quoad sacre. Only then
did Macduff have a permanent Minister competent to preside at communion,
baptisms and marriages without special dispensation of the parish minister
at Gamrie. At the same time the churchyard was enclosed, the first burials
having taken place in 1808.
|
|
In
1865, the church building was altered and enlarged to form the church as we
know it today with seating to accommodate 1100 worshippers. The original steeple
of the 1805 building was replaced by a three storey square tower with lead
domed roof and cupola in which was installed the town clock, which is the
property of the Burgh.
In
1903 the organ, which is still in use, was installed. Other noteworthy items
of church furniture are the handsome communion table of polished oak and
the alabaster baptismal font presented in 1895 by Mrs Hunter, in memory of
her husband, the Reverend Andrew Hunter, who was Minister of Macduff for
more than 20 years.
In
1922, the two stained glass windows were installed and dedicated in memory
of those who fell in the 1914-1918 war. The window on the right of the
pulpit, appropriately called "The Children's Window", is
especially fine, a masterpiece of the creators, The City Glass Co. of
Glasgow. It had the distinction of being shown in the Royal Academy,
London.
|
|
|
|
Apart
from improvements in lighting and heating and other minor works, no
significant alterations occurred until 1980, when several pews on the east and
west sides of the pulpit below the gallery were removed and the areas
enclosed to form two rooms and toilet facilities.
After
the reunion of 1929, the United Free Church in Macduff became known as Gardner Church and the established Church as
Doune Church. On 1st August 1989, following the
vacancy at Gardner
Church, the two
congregations of Gardner and Doune were united to form Macduff Parish
Church, with the
Reverend David J Randall as minister.
|
|
|
|
|
In
1992, the accommodation and facilities at the Church were considerably
increased and enhanced with the completion of an extension at a cost of
£72,000, providing three additional rooms, together with modern kitchen and
toilet facilities, which are now in regular use by the Junior Church,
the Kirk Session and other Church organisations.
Ministers
in Macduff in the 19th and 20th Centuries
|
Doune Church
|
|
Gardner Church
|
|
|
James Milne
|
1831-1854
|
William Leslie
|
1843-1867
|
|
Gordon Ingram
|
1854-1859
|
Joseph Gardner
|
1867-1907
|
|
Walter Gregor
|
1859-1862
|
William Niven
|
1907-1910
|
|
Hugh Fraser
|
1862-1868
|
George Campbell
|
1910-1918
|
|
Robert Forrest
|
1868-1872
|
William Kirk
|
1919-1928
|
|
William Hunter
|
1872-1893
|
William Brownlee
|
1928-1957
|
|
Robert Coupar
|
1894-1900
|
James Hamilton
|
1957-1967
|
|
John Duncan
|
1901-1907
|
Donald Barron
|
1968-1972
|
|
J Logan Ayre
|
1907-1910
|
Leslie Steele
|
1973-1988
|
|
William Milne
|
1911-1915
|
|
|
|
James Eadie
|
1916-1919
|
|
|
|
Wilson Leslie
|
1920-1928
|
|
|
|
LE McVicker
|
1929-1945
|
|
|
|
John Wilson
|
1946-1949
|
|
|
|
DS McAlpine
|
1950-1959
|
|
|
|
Graeme Walker
|
1959-1971
|
|
|
|
David Randall
|
1971-1989
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Macduff
Parish Church
|
|
|
|
|
David Randall
|
1989-2010
|
|
|
After
the Union of the Doune and Gardner Churches
in 1989 David Randall became the first minister of the joint charge.
|
