John G. Paton in Stranraer

Well-known YouTuber (and adjunct professor at the RP Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh) Matthew Everhard recently posted a short biography of John G. Paton. Born just outside Dumfries, Paton was an RP missionary to the New Hebrides. His autobiography is one of the most inspiring missionary biographies ever written. Paton began his mission work as a city missionary in Glasgow, working alongside Rev. William Symington, who had moved to Glasgow from Stranraer.

In 1863, Paton came to our church in Stranraer to give and update on his work. The following report appeared in the Ayrshire Express on 7 November 1863:

“MISSIONARY MEETING.—On Wednesday last, the Rev John G. Paton, missionary from Tanna, one of the New Hebrides or South Sea Islands, in connection with the Reformed Presbyterian Church, addressed two meetings here, in the Rev. Thomas Easton's (R. P. Church), the one at half-past five and the other at half-past seven o'clock, on both occasions giving most interesting details of the mission work on these Islands. The afternoon meeting was principally composed of sabbath-school children, the lower part of church being completely filled by them. By interesting anecdotes of the difficulties and dangers of the missionary work, and the blessings which the introduction of christianity had conferred on many of the little heathen children attending his classes, Mr Paton succeeded in gaining the attention of the children, and at the close he earnestly appealed to them for assistance in raising funds to maintain the missionary ship. and also in filling a missionary box with clothing for the poor naked boys and girls of Tana. In the evening, notwithstanding the unfavourable state of the weather, the church was crowded in every part with a most attentive audience. Mr Paton spoke for about two hours, giving a detailed account of the mission to these islands from the day on which John Williams touched at Erromanga to the latest news just received of the landing of the Rev. John Inglis at Aneityum, with the New Testament translated into the native language. The New Hebrides is a group of thirty beautiful islands, having a population in all of about 150,000, and except some 3500 on Aneityum who have become christians, they are all savage cannibals—the consistent christian conduct, home comforts, and advanced state of civilization in Aneityum contrasting most strongly with the ignorance, misery, degradation and barbarism prevalent in Tanna, the scene of his own labours.”

Incidentally, Rev. John Inglis, mentioned in the above report, was born in Moniaive (the house still stands) and retired to Lincuan Cottage, Kirkcowan.

It’s World Book Day – have you read the all-time bestseller?

Today is World Book Day. While that might be news to some, it won’t be to anyone who has children in school. Children dress up as characters from books, are given book vouchers, etc. This year, we have decided to mark the day as a church by giving out free Bibles in the town centre. After all, it’s the bestselling book in the history of the world! If you’ve never read the Bible, there’s no better time to do so. If I can’t convince you, perhaps comedian Lee Mack can. Mack was interviewed on Desert Island Discs recently. He was asked which book he would take with him—you’re allowed the Bible, the works of Shakespeare and one other. He chose Stephen Hawking’s ‘A Brief History of Time’, but it was his comments about the Bible that intrigued me.

 He said, ‘I’m glad you get the Bible, because I would read the Bible. I think it’s quite odd that people like myself, in their forties, are quite happy to dismiss the Bible, but I've never read it. I always think that if an alien came down and you were the only person they met, and they said, “What’s life about? What’s earth about? Tell us everything,” and you said, “Well, there’s a book here that purports to tell you everything. Some people believe it to be true; some people do not believe it to be true.” “Wow, what’s it like?” and you go, “I don’t know, I’ve never read it.” It would be an odd thing wouldn't it? So, at the very least, read it’.

Many are happy to accept the opinions of others about the Bible (both positive and negative) without ever reading it themselves. Others feel let down by church, but are reluctant to read the Bible for themselves. Some are struggling with life and trying to get through by their own strength, unaware that the Bible has help to give. Even many churches have in practice abandoned the Bible – and it’s no surprise they’re declining and closing.

Perhaps you’ve tried reading the Bible before, but haven’t really known where to start. It’s easy to get bogged down. One of my recommendations is to begin reading The Gospel According to Mark – the second book of the New Testament. It’s the shortest of the four gospels and gets straight to the action – the life and death of Jesus Christ. We actually have 80 copies of Mark’s gospel to give away today, if picking up a whole Bible seems intimidating. We also have a leaflet entitled ‘What the Bible is all about’, which we’ll put inside everything we give out.

I’m also happy to meet up with anyone, either one-to-one or as part of a group, to read through a book of the Bible and discuss what it’s about. In fact, there’s a story in the book of Acts (which we’re currently going through in church on Sunday mornings – you can catch up on YouTube), where an evangelist called Philip meets a man travelling back home to Ethiopia. The Ethiopian is reading the Bible in his carriage. Philip asks him: ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ The Ethiopian replies: ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ He then invites Philip to come and sit with him, and the rest is history. There’s no shame in asking for help.

When the Bible was translated into the language of the common people, it scandalised many of the church leaders, but transformed this nation. The man who first translated the Bible into English, William Tyndale, was burnt at the stake. It is still a banned book in many countries. Why not read it and find out why its contents are so explosive?

What many people – even churchgoers – can miss about the Bible is that it’s all about Jesus. That’s what Philip showed the Ethiopian, who was struggling as he read a 700-year-old prophecy from the book of Isaiah. ‘Is he speaking about himself or someone else?’, the Ethiopian asked. Philip gladly took the opportunity and ‘beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus’ (Acts 8:35). ‘The Scriptures’, Jesus said, ‘bear witness about me’ (John 5:39). The Bible is all about who Jesus is, why he needed to come, and how he can transform our lives.

 There are many good – even life-changing – books you could read on this World Book Day. But why not read the all-time bestseller?

Published in the Stranraer & Wigtownshire Free Press, 6th March 2025

Just Enough Religion to Get By

One of the albums that I remember buying on CD – back in 2001 – was the Stereophonics’ ‘Just Enough Education to Perform’. The title is taken from a track called ‘Mr Writer’ – a response to a journalist who toured with the band, and then gave them negative reviews. Kelly Jones would later say that the song was the biggest regret of his career, because every journalist thought it was about them: ‘It took me 10 minutes to write and 10 years to explain’. 

I was reminded of the lyric recently in an unexpected place – a book on prayer, written in 1843 by Stoneykirk man James McGill, who went on to become minister in Hightae, near Lockerbie. In the book, McGill comments on those who want ‘Just as much religion as will satisfy their consciences’.

Thankfully, this phenomenon is not as common as it once was – and yet it has caused untold damage to the cause of Christianity in Scotland. Many people went to church – not because they had any great love for the things of God – but because it was the socially acceptable thing to do. Or else their church attendance was little more than an insurance policy – ‘I’ll live however I want, but I’ll go to church, so that if there really is a God, I’ll be ok’. At the same time, theological liberalism in many of the mainline churches meant that when people did go to church, they often heard a ‘social gospel’ – be a nice person, and you’ll be ok. Few were confronted with the reality that ‘all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23), or the call of Jesus himself: ‘Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God’ (John 3:3).

Painting in broad brush strokes, that has left us with an older generation who still go to church, or at least did so for many years. Some were deeply committed to their congregations, others not so much – but few had followed Jesus’ first recorded instructions in Mark’s gospel: ‘repent and believe in the gospel’ (Mark 1:15). Many found excuses to stop going. After all, as John Owen once put it: ‘Unless people see a beauty and delight in the worship of God they will not do it willingly’.

Their children – perhaps those in their 50s or 60s now – were in many cases brought up going to Sunday School. However, they saw that what their parents did on a Sunday morning had little relation to their lives the rest of the week, and they stopped going when they could. One lady – who’s now a member in our church after years going nowhere – got a job in a café on a Sunday morning at the age of 14 precisely for that reason. There’s a generation who had seen just enough of church to conclude that it wasn’t relevant to them.

All this is significant for a number of reasons. Firstly, the rapid decline in church attendance over the last 50 years likely hasn’t resulted in a drastically smaller number of Bible-believing Christians. The biggest decline has not been in belief, but in nominalism. Second, there’s a younger generation today who may not go to church, but are not as opposed to the idea as their parents were. It isn’t that they have opted out – they simply haven’t yet ‘opted in’. Given that we seem to be entering a time where the cultural tide is more in favour of Christianity – eg prominent atheists like Ayaan Hirsi Ali converting to Christianity, and the world’s most popular podcaster recently spending 3+ hours interviewing a Christian apologist about the reliability of the Bible – this younger generation may end up being more receptive to Christianity than their parents, grandparents or great grandparents combined. 

It's also been our experience as a church that some of those in their 50s, who went to Sunday School and then walked away, are coming back. They’ve gone their own way, but it hasn’t brought them happiness. And when they’ve decided to go back to church, they’ve gone to the one they remember from Sunday School.

In short: while those who remember churches being full are often gloomy, there hasn’t been such as great a falling away as many imagine. As a minister, I’d rather a smaller congregation where most people are there because they want to be, than a bigger one where people come out of habit or duty. I don’t think I could get on the pessimism train even if I wanted to!

Published in the Stranraer & Wigtownshire Free Press, 6th February 2025

200 years in our current building

The second of January 2025 marked 200 years since the construction of our current building. (The congregation is older, with a previous building having stood on the same site - the church hall was added in 1898). A brief note about its construction is found in the Memoir of the pastor at the time, Rev. William Symington.

Symington first preached in Stranraer - in the original building - when the congregation was vacant and he was newly available to receive a call. Here are a few relevant extracts from his diary for January 1819:

January 8: “…The chapel is neat and compact, though rather small”
January 17.—”Had a large and respectable audience. House quite packed”.
January 31.—”House immensely crowded, the day being very fine”. 

The need for a new building was already apparent. The following account is written by Symington’s sons:

“In June of 1824 the old building was taken down, preaching being kept up on the green while summer lasted, and in the Relief or the Antiburgher Meeting-house when autumn came; and on the 2d day of January 1825 he entered the pulpit of a new and handsome church, adapted to the size of the audience.”

200 years on we are grateful for God’s provision and particularly for the work he has enabled us to do to the building recently due to the generosity of his people. On Saturday we held a church clean-up morning, some pictures of which are below: