Firm Foundations 2023

Last weekend, we held our second Firm Foundations weekend (the first one having been held in 2017).

10 young people from Northern Ireland came over for it, and we were joined by a couple of others from our own congregation, as well as another family from the region.

Our speaker was Rev. Kyle Borg from Winchester RP Church in Kansas. His topic was ‘How Christ the King rules in his church and leads in worship’.

Campbell, Shane, Hamish, Trinity, Heidi, Cameron, Chris and David arrived in time for dinner on the Friday evening.

Eleanor and Charis joined us late Friday night, in time for the first of Kyle’s four talks on Saturday morning.

On the Saturday afternoon we made use of the extra folk who were with us to do some open air psalm singing in the town centre, tying it in with the 70th anniversary of the Princess Victoria, which sank after leaving Stranraer on the last Saturday morning in January in 1953.

After the third talk, we had some Chinese food for dinner in the church hall. This was followed by the fourth and final talk, and then an extended question and answer time.

On the Lord’s Day our visitors joined us for worship, followed by a church lunch. After the evening service, there was another extended Q&A time (on all sorts of subjects) at the Frasers’ home.

On the Monday morning, we introduced the team to the classic Scottish ‘roll and sausage’ for breakfast before we said our goodbyes.

Overall it was a great weekend and we pray it will be a blessing in the lives of those who attended.

We hope to have video from the talks available at some point on our YouTube page.

First ever Firm Foundations weekend!

During the last weekend of October we held our first ever Firm Foundations weekend. Those signing up for it were promised a weekend of intense theological instruction, made up of both lectures and formal and informal discussion.

We were delighted to have seven guys attending - from both Scotland and Ireland, as well as inside and outside the RP Church. We were thrilled that David Whitla was able to join us to give the lectures.

David, a Scottish native and former pastor at Southside Indianapolis (RPCNA) is currently studying for a PhD focussing on Scottish Covenanter Theology and Spirituality at Queen's University Belfast in preparation to return to the States to teach at Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

David also helped pioneer the hugely popular and successful Theological Foundations for Youth programme, which has had a big impact for good in the RPCNA and influenced a future generation of ministers, elders and members.

Things began on Saturday afternoon (David had been speaking at the RPCS Presbytery on the Saturday morning) with a lecture on the Mediatorial Kingship of Christ - a topic on which the definitive book was written by former Stranraer minister William Symington.

After tea, David set the guys a 'Bible readiness' quiz, aimed at showing them how well we need to know our Bibles, but which also opened up many areas for discussion.

On the Lord's Day, the guys joined us for the prayer meeting and morning worship. Following this we had a church lunch, which provided a chance for the congregation to get to know our visitors.

After lunch, David gave a talk on where the RP Church came from, focussing mostly on the 17th Century Covenanters. We were glad that some of the congregation were able to stay around for it.

After evening worship, we had a 'Stump the Pastor' session where David answered questions the boys had submitted on topics such as Dispensationalism, God's regrets and Baptism.

On Monday, David gave two more lectures, on the Lord's Day and the Regulative Principle of Worship. After some more informal discussion, the guys headed for home.

We are grateful to God for a good weekend of fellowship and teaching, which hopefully gave those who came plenty to think about and work through, as well as giving them a taste of Stranraer!