GO Team 2023

During the last week of August we had a go team (short term mission team) with us. The team members were Ruth, Hannah, Rosaleen, Hamish, Trinity, Campbell and Matteo.

Some of the team’s activities are summarised below:

• Psalm singing in the town centre on the Lord’s Day afternoon, which led to a new contact being made.

• Almost 5,000 leaflets advertising our mission services were distributed in Stranraer, Castle Kennedy and Sandhead.

• On the Wednesday morning, some of the team did practical work at the church, while others helped run a drop-in. We were very encouraged to have 9 people come in over the two hours.

• The team also helped to set up for a congregational BBQ at the manse on the Wednesday evening, to which the congregation were encouraged to invite family and friends.

• On the Thursday, after a Covenanter tour to Anwoth, the team ran a One Day Bible Club. We had five church children in attendance, as well as two from outside the church.

• On Friday, the remaining team members (some left on the Thursday) did some cleaning up at Stair Park (home of Stranraer FC), which has resulted in some very favourable comments being made to Stephen (who serves as club chaplain) at Stranraer’s home match the following Saturday.

• All in all it was a really encouraging week, for which we give thanks to God.

Stranraer GO Team 2022

Having had to cancel a planned GO Team to advertise a ‘Let’s Talk about Drugs’ event in September 2020 due to Covid, we were glad it was finally able to go ahead on 14th-17th April (with the team arriving the night before and leaving the morning after).

While recent teams have carried out a variety of tasks, this one was focused on leaflet distribution. We gave out leaflets to the town of Stranraer as well as Castle Kennedy - and also gave out some in the town centre on the Saturday afternoon.

In the evenings, the team had the opportunity to spend time in the homes of various folk in the congregation, which proved to be times of great mutual encouragement. On the first evening, we also watched a video of a talk on ‘Understanding Addiction’.

The audio from the advertised talk on ‘What makes us human?’ can be found here, while Trevor Wills’ story of redemption from a background of drug abuse can be watched below:

GO Team 2022: Profiles

We are grateful for the help of a GO Team (short term mission team) who are arriving next week to help us give leaflets for the special meeting Let’s Talk About Drugs. You can read a little bit about the team members below:

Recent press coverage

Some reports in the Free Press about the go team and their activities:

2021 GO Team Report

From 11th-18th September we hosted a 7-person GO Team who helped us with various outreach (and in-reach) activities, particularly advertising four talks on the subjects ‘Is there more to life than staying safe?’ and ‘A tale of two sons’.

On the Saturday evening we welcomed the team - with Ross, Eleanor and Heidi returning to Stranraer, and Charis, Jamie, Labhaoise and Hannah coming for the first time.

The team had the opportunity to spend time with the congregation on the Lord’s Day at a church lunch following morning worship. After the lunch we headed into the town centre to sing some psalms. After evening worship the whole team spent some time with the Frasers, who were hosting go team members for the first time.

We began the Monday by going through the chapter Stephen had preached on the previous day (Nehemiah 9), and tried to apply the sermon by drawing out things from the passage for praise and prayer. Monday and Tuesday were largely devoted to leaflet distribution advertising special meetings to be held on the Thursday and Friday evenings (as well as the two services the next Sunday). We were thankful to have the help of Ian Gillies for leaflet distribution at the beginning of the week.

On the Monday evening the team enjoyed fellowship with the Halls, while on Tuesday Ari treated them to an Indian.

Wednesday afternoon saw some team members go to the church to help with a drop in (offering free tea/coffee and a chat), while in a new venture, the rest of the team put on a One Day Bible Club for the church kids.

On Thursday we headed off in the minibus to visit some local Covenanter sites at Anwoth and Wigtown. With four of the team members the same age as Margaret Wilson (the younger of the Two Margarets), the story of their love for Christ in the face of death was particularly powerful.

After checking out some bookshops and the coffee shop of our friends at Beltie Books, it was time to head home for tea and the first of the special meetings.

On Friday morning the team helped out at Stair Park, home of Stranraer FC, where Stephen serves as chaplain - and managed to clean every seat in the stadium!

Sadly the weather meant that another time of open air psalm singing planned for the afternoon couldn’t take place, and the drop-in was largely rained off as well. However team and congregation enjoyed fellowship together following the second mission service, knowing that a special week together was quickly coming to an end.

The next morning there were tearful goodbyes as the team left after a memorable week of worshipping and serving together, and the rest of us looked ahead to another day of worship in Stranraer and welcoming visitors to the remaining special services that had been advertised.

A busy week but one that will live long in the memory!

Audio and video from the special services is available here.