Knightswood Free Church of Scotland
(Continuing)
(Previously called Thornwood Free Church)
New
Church Building
I was very surprised to receive a phone call on Wednesday
1st
October
offering us a church building – the Gospel Hall, 361 Fulton
Street, Knightswood Cross, Glasgow
G13 2SP. The
congregation who worshipped there had become small and
elderly and their leader feels he cannot continue due to
ill-health. Services ceased a month ago. All the local
members of the church wish us to have the church as a gift.
Because of the form of the trust it will be at least 6
months before we can get the title deeds and there may be
legal snags but meanwhile they have given us the keys and
we hope to move in next Tuesday (21st October) for our
midweek meeting. All services will be held there from now
on. The church is of an ideal size for us (seat 200, with a
hall that will seat 40) and is in excellent condition,
well-maintained and smartly decorated. Seating, sound
system and everything is included. We just have to walk in,
begin services and change the notice board. What a
wonderful God we have! Please spread the word. Thornwood
Free Church (Continuing) will be meeting in our own church
at Knightswood Cross. We are calling ourselves Knightswood
FCC though technically for the time being we will have to
stick with the old name till we can get it changed.
With
great thankfulness
William
Macleod
Inside
Some
of our own elders with Mr Bell the Brethren elder the day
we were being shown around
Church Hall
Kitchen
Facing church
The Gift of a
New Church
Rev
William Macleod
People say
there is no such thing as a free lunch but they are wrong.
With our loving God all is free. He gave us His Son to be
our Saviour. Daily He pours down upon us His gifts and
mercies. We in Thornwood congregation of the Free Church of
Scotland (Continuing) have recently been amazingly reminded
of this in God's provision for us. We had been without a
church building since the division in the Free Church in
2000, and had worshipped in the assembly hall of Thornwood
Primary School. We were thankful for this convenient
location, the low rent charged by Glasgow City Council and
the courtesy and helpfulness of the janitor. But there were
times when we longed and prayed for our own church
building. However with the high price of property we had
become more or less reconciled to the impossibility of
owning our own building. Then, out of the blue, we were
offered a well-fitted and highly suitable church building
just ready for us to walk in. If we had been given several
million pounds to spend in building a church for ourselves
this is exactly what we would have desired. God knows what
we need.
The
school where we had been meeting had the disadvantage of
being very close in location to the other Free Church
(Continuing) congregation in West Glasgow, Partick, on Crow
Road. But the new church is over two miles away in the
Knightswood area, an entirely distinct part of Glasgow, but
one where many of the congregation already live, and where
in the providence of God much recent outreach work has been
carried out. The congregation had already made arrangements
to start a Wednesday evening outreach Bible study in
Knightswood Community Centre for the winter, and has done
extensive leafleting and visitation to reach local
residents with the Gospel message, particularly in the
high-rise council flats. The new church is eminently
suitable for this work, being only an easy ten-minute-walk
from the flats.
The new church building has flexible seating for over 200,
a back hall seating 40 which is suitable for prayer
meetings, a kitchen and two additional rooms which could
serve for a Sabbath School. The whole building is in
excellent condition and has been extremely well maintained.
Sited at Knightswood Cross, just off Great Western Road, it
is easily found and is on a busy bus route.
The building had been a Gospel Hall owned by a conservative
Brethren assembly. Sadly, this group had been in numerical
decline for some years, and has decided to disband as their
leading brother has been forced to give up the work due to
ill health. The Trust under which the Hall was held stated
that the building or its sale value must be used for the
furtherance of the gospel in Knightswood. The local members
generously decided to offer it to us for the work of the
Lord. We hope to change our name to Knightswood
Free Church (Continuing).
When
our congregation were informed at a meeting on Tuesday 14th
October, they readily agreed to accept the offer. Our first
service in the new church will be a prayer and thanksgiving
meeting on Tuesday 21st October, with a formal opening
service to follow in a few weeks time. The congregation has
been greatly excited by this remarkable provision from the
Lord, who has done “exceeding abundantly above all that we
ask or think,” and we ask for prayer that the Lord will now
help us to reach out with the gospel in this new location
and that many souls will be saved for His glory. All our
services from now on will be held at Knightswood
FCC, 361 Fulton
Street, Glasgow, G13 2SP (Sunday 11am and 6.30pm &
Tuesdays 7.30pm).
