Melness & Tongue

For almost a year now, I have been trying to hear from the Lord Jesus, where it is that He wants me to become Minister. There have been many possibilities.

Each month, congregations which have a vacancy for a minister publish their adverts in the Church of Scotland's magazine, the Life and Work. Once I had completed my Final Assessment in August 2008, and received my Certificate of Completion, many congregations sent me their Parish Profiles. For other vacancies, I was able to download their Profile from the internet. I also telephoned and emailed some places to ask them for their Profile.

Gradually we narrowed down the number of places we felt we might be called to, from more than 100 to start with, down to 30 or so rural vacancies, down to half a dozen or so that we researched more carefully. Eventually we came down to three vacancies that we thought we might apply to, and once we had visited them all, I sent off my CV and covering letter and waited.

Well actually, with it being only one week to Christmas, it was rather frantic, and so I wasn't hanging around waiting for the post! I was due to start a temporary position at the beginning of January, so there were preparations to make, and then the initial busy few weeks.

Eventually, we began to engage with each of those three congregations, and over the first few months of 2010, we hosted groups of listeners, and went to preach for Nominating Committees. Until at last we reached an agreement on where I would become the Sole Nominee - the one applicant to be recommended to the congregation as their next minister.

It was a tremendously exciting and somewhat nerve-wracking period. The results of the decision-making would determine not only where I would be working for at least the next five years, but would also determine where my wife and I would be living during that same period.

Once we had all decided, there was a delay of more than a fortnight before we could speak openly to our friends and supporters where it was that we hoped to end up. Finally, during this past week, I was able to announce that it was the parish of Melness and Tongue, in Sutherland, where I had been appointed as their Sole Nominee.

The Melness Church is shown in the above photo. It was built by the residents of that crofting community around 100 years ago. St Andrews, Tongue, is shown below. It was built in 1724 and is surrounded by the village's cemetery.

I will lead worship in both of the churches next Sunday, April 25th 2010. Immediately afterwards the congregation will vote Yes or No to decide whether they will accept the recommendation of their Nominating Committee and appoint me as their minister-elect. If they do, then it will be over to the Presbytery of Sutherland to approve the appointment and make arrangements for the ordination, probably sometime during the summer.

It has been a long journey since early 2004, when I applied to train for the ministry. Only a few hurdles remain, which if successfully cleared, will result in me reaching that new beginning that lies ahead.

I hope that those of you who have journeyed with me along some or all of the route will have taken inspiration from the way in which God has led me along the way.

May you also know the calling of God on your lives, and reach your destination too.