Lochgilphead Free Church
of Scotland
No.1
10th May 2026
Hello ,I am Martin Boyd and a member at Mearns Free Church. I have responsibility for creating an online magazine each week for Mearns Free Church. Your Interim Moderator, Scott Kirkland has asked if some of the material we include in our weekly magazine might be shared with the congregations of Lochgilphead and Tarbert.
We are hoping to have a regular magazine which can be accessed on this webpage (or sent as an email) The result may not be a weekly magazine and will not be online to begin with. However, the hope will be that it can either be accessed by link to the Mearns Free Church Website or attached to an email sent to the congregations of L+T.
I do hope you find it of benefit to your walk with the Lord, prayerful interest in the wider church and actually enjoy it (it is not all heavy reading and there is a wide range of areas covered.) I'm always encouraging our own folk to send in things they think others might enjoy reading, or links to something they have read which they want to share.
We meet in the suburbs or Glasgow but we do want to lift our heads too and see what can be prayed for across the nation and the world. This week at our midweek prayer meeting we remembered those who are persecuted for their faith in the Lord Jesus - there is a link to Open Door material to stimulate prayer. One of our members, Murray is involved with Nazareth Hospital...you can imagine some of the stories they will have from that area in these troubled times. He has given an update and some prayer points as they seek to be faithful in Nazareth
Enjoy the mag.
MB
(Mearns Free Church)
Sunday Worship - 10th May, 2026
Tarbert: 10am-11am
Lochgilphead: 11.30-12.30
Worship will be conducted at both Tarbert and Lochgilphead by Mark McKillen (minister in training from St Andrews FC)
Let us pray that the Lord would be glorified in both congregations.
Midweek Prayer meeting:
We meet again this Wednesday, 22nd April at ? and at ?pm
It would be great if you can join us in person. However, if this is not possible, you can join us online using Zoom.
Speak with Calum McPhail if you would like details of the accessing the Zoom call.
Do you have a set time each day when the kettle goes on...is it on the hour every hour!?
The 'Tea Break' part of the magazine is just a way to introduce some good quality, relevant and helpful things to think about - sometimes a link to a video or something to listen to, or a passage to read.
Here are a couple of suggestions for your Tea Break this week on similar themes:
1. Have a read of Andy Bannister's reflection on the recent Artemis II journey"To Infinity and Beyond - Why a Moon Mission and a Very Big Rocket Changed How I See Humanity." Click here
2. God vs Science: Which explanation is correct?For a few moments reflection on how being Christian doesn't mean you can't be 'scientific' here is 10 minutes with Professor John Lennox: video here
Letter from Scott
(Interim Moderator)
Dear Congregations of Lochgilphead and Tarbert,This magazine might become valuable in fifty-years time as a "first edition". Make sure you save it safely just in case!
We hope this digital magazine might become useful for communicating upcoming events at L+T. However, we also plan to include information about the Free Church more generally along with some biblical / devotional material which we trust will help you in your own walk with the Lord. Some of the material will be created uniquely for the church life of L+T. However, some will be drawn from our own church magazine at Mearns Free Church because it is of value to all Christians. Some of it may be a good basis for prayer.
We will be delighted to consider including any articles or information in the magazine you think would be helpful.
Scott
Each week's magazine normally has one or two posts gleaned from social media. Sometimes they are quite thought provoking, sometimes just something to make you smile...this week we have one of each - make sure you know which is which!!
Walking through Romans
Scott Hamilton the Associate Minister at Mearns Free Church, who has spoken at Tarbert and Lochgilphead recently, has been walking our young people (some of whom are new believers) through Paul's letter to the Romans...here is an overview of their thinking this week - these are great truths, pray that the seed of the Word finds good soil.
Scott writes...
“You, therefore, have no excuse”
This is how Paul begins chapter two of his letter to the church in Rome. It’s the chapter which the young adults studied on Thursday evening of this past week at our monthly Bible study.Paul has spent the second half of chapter one explaining the lost state of humanity and helping us to understand how desperate our situation is without the Lord.
We exchanged God’s glory for the glory of this world. We exchanged the truth about God for a lie. We know that what we do is evil, but we continue to do it and approve of others who practice it. We fully deserve God’s judgment for what we have done.Chapter two then raises four possible excuses that humanity might try and use to exonerate themselves.“But other people are more evil than I am!”
"But God is kind, patient, and hasn’t judged my actions so far!”
“But I don’t come from a context where I’ve had God’s Word in my life, how am I to know any better!”
“But I’ve come from a context where I’ve had a real religious pedigree and heritage, surely that has to count for something!”
I wonder if we’ve heard any of these excuses recently. I imagine we probably have. People will say that they’re really not that bad. People will presume upon God’s kindness and patience. People will protest that they’re not from a household or a country where God’s Word is known. People will lean on their spiritual ancestry or acumen, how they “know the stories from the Bible”, how they attend church from time to time, or even how involved they are in serving around their local church.These are the sorts of things that humanity could use as excuses.
These are even the sorts of things that Christians might occasionally think count towards our salvation or might mean that God will go easy on our sins. Do they somehow let us off the hook before a just God?Paul knows the human heart’s tendency to self-justify. Unsurprisingly, his answer is “no”. However, Paul will go on to talk about the wonderful, liberating freedom of assurance that we are no longer condemned because we are in Christ Jesus. In order for us to lean entirely on the Son of God, our weight needs to shift off anything that we might want to lean on alongside Christ Jesus.
I know my own temptation to think “surely the fact that I have done X or Y, or not done these things, must mean something?”.We will do good works as those who are saved. We will be transformed to sin less as those who are saved. These things do not save us to begin with.We reflected last night that this grows our appreciation for Jesus’ work, that He was sinless and blameless, and we were grateful for God’s Word taking our weight off our own performance and resting us in the welcome arms of Jesus once more.
I hope that’s something we all know, something for which we’re all grateful, not just this week but every week of our lives as we follow Jesus, our Saviour and our King!
THE NAZARETH TRUST
A rare opportunity
- will you play your part?
All week, colleagues in Nazareth have been expressing
optimism about the ceasefire and asking us to pray for a
lasting peace in the Middle East. It may be a rare and
precious opportunity - will you play your part?
Ongoing talks between the United States and Iran, alongside the possibility of negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, have emerged against the backdrop of war, regional realignment, and deep exhaustion with conflict. For the Nazareth Trust, these moments are not merely geopolitical; they are profoundly spiritual. We yearn to experience the ‘year of the Lord’s favour’ announced in Nazareth two thousand years ago.
The present conflict has paradoxically produced new regional dynamics. Iran’s actions have driven Arab states into closer cooperation with Israel and the United States, weakening support for militant proxies such as Hamas and Hezbollah across much of the Arab world. This has reshaped alliances and created cautious momentum toward de‑escalation. Even so, there is a real danger that negotiations will settle for expedient ceasefires driven more by economic pressures than meaningful transformation, leaving underlying wounds and injustices unaddressed. In the Holy Land, any lasting peace will require more than security arrangements or diplomatic declarations. It must include healing - psychological, social, and spiritual - for communities scarred by over a century of recurring violence.
This is where prayer is urgently needed. Christians are called to pray not simply for an end to fighting, but for outcomes from Israeli‑Lebanese talks and Iran‑US negotiations that produce enduring, systemic peace. Only such peace can create space for confession, lament, forgiveness, and restoration to take root.
As the Nazareth Trust seeks to embody reconciliation and healing in the Galilee, we need the sustained prayer and support of the global Church. This may be the most promising moment in a generation. Faithful, persistent prayer for wise leadership, courageous compromises, and God‑given imagination remains essential if true healing is to begin.
Email Addresses For Lochgilphead and Tarbert Church
Here are a number of key email addresses for the church and presbytery:
Interim Moderator Scott Kirklandminister@mearnsfree.org
Mobile 07526116726
Session Clerk Calum McPhailfreechurchlochgilphead@gmail.com
Mobile 07305324754
Safeguarding Officer Elaine Taggart.
Reporting any concerns
If you want to raise any concerns about an experience in the congregations of Lochgilphead and Tarbert please contact the Minister Rev Dr Scott Kirkland (minister@mearnsfree.org) or the Session Clerk Calum McPhail (Mobile 07305324754)
If you have a serious concern about the conduct of any office bearers, these should be directed to the Free Church Conduct and Complaints Committee. To reach this committee, in the first instance you can email offices@freechurch.org or call the central office at 0131 226 5286.
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