THE WAITING IS OVER!<\/p>\n
In my June message I commented as follows:<\/p>\n
It is my privilege to journey with you over the coming months as you continue to await the arrival of a new full-time minister. Waiting is never easy and, if you are anything like me, you will be impatient for your new minister to arrive.<\/em><\/p>\n Your vacancy committee were not idle as they waited. In fact, I can\u2019t recall ever having seen a more creative, active and dedicated team as they visited congregations Sunday by Sunday, handed out leaflets at the General Assembly and maintained a positive outlook throughout. They are to be commended and their efforts have borne fruit, which is wonderful.<\/p>\n Well here we are a few months later and your waiting is over! You are getting a new minister, Stuart Love, and he will be in place within a few weeks. He was worth waiting for and all along God had a plan to prosper you and now you have a new minister with youth, energy, great gifting and bags of enthusiasm coming your way, so you have much to thank God for.<\/p>\n Given that you have a new minister coming in a few weeks, I thought it might be helpful to give you some ideas on how you might support Stuart\u00a0when he arrives.<\/p>\n 1. Give him a great welcome<\/strong> 2. Tell him who you are a number of times<\/strong> 3. Respond positively and publicly to the messages he brings<\/strong> 4. Put your total commitment and enthusiasm behind him<\/strong> 5. Encourage him in any new initiative and support his ideas<\/strong> 6. Give him and his wife Ruth space<\/strong> From my point of view, I have greatly enjoyed working with you as a congregation. You made me very welcome and I have appreciated your kindness over the last few months. I am so glad that you have found a great new minister and you will always have a special place in my heart. I will remember you in my prayers and don\u2019t be surprised if you see me in a pew near you some Sunday in the future.<\/p>\n May the Lord richly bless you as you enter this new stage in your congregational life.<\/p>\n Iain MacLeod<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" THE WAITING IS OVER! In my June message I commented as follows: It is my privilege to journey with you over the coming months as you continue to await the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8z2vw-en","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":858,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/message-from-our-locum-iain-macleod-june-2016\/","url_meta":{"origin":891,"position":0},"title":"Message from our Locum – Iain MacLeod – June 2016","author":"admin","date":"20 June 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"It is just three weeks since I started at ClincarthillParishChurch and there are a few things that instantly stood out for me: The beautiful stain glass windows, particularly on a sunny day The attentiveness of the congregation to the spoken word The many talented leaders and musicians in the congregation\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1494,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/ministers-letter-nov-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":891,"position":1},"title":"Minister’s Letter – Nov 2017","author":"admin","date":"5 November 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here! (2nd Corinthians 5: 16-19\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":903,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/letter-from-our-session-clerk-oct-2016\/","url_meta":{"origin":891,"position":2},"title":"Letter from our Session Clerk – Oct 2016","author":"admin","date":"3 October 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear Friends in Clincarthill, The month of October is a busy and exciting month for us here in Clincarthill. This will be the last time I write this \u2018Letter from the Session Clerk\u2019 to the congregation during our\u00a0 vacancy. Harvest Thanksgiving is on Sunday, October 2nd\u00a0 with our gifts going\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":537,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/message-from-our-locum-joan-kilpatrick\/","url_meta":{"origin":891,"position":3},"title":"Message from our Locum – Joan Kilpatrick – Dec 2014","author":"admin","date":"10 December 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear Friends Advent has arrived!\u00a0 Christmas trees are already appearing in windows and thoughts are turning to who\u2019s coming and what there will be to eat and how everyone will be entertained over the festive period \u2013 so many things to think about and prepare for!\u00a0 How will we ever\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":886,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/new-minister-announced\/","url_meta":{"origin":891,"position":4},"title":"New minister announced","author":"admin","date":"28 August 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"We are delighted to announce that the congregation has voted for Stuart Love to become our new minister. We wish God's blessing upon Stuart and his wife Ruth and look forward to them both joining us this autumn. Arrangements for Stuart's ordination and induction will be announced in due course.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":617,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/message-from-our-locum-joan-kilpatrick-march-2015\/","url_meta":{"origin":891,"position":5},"title":"Message from our Locum – Joan Kilpatrick – March 2015","author":"admin","date":"6 March 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear friends I can\u2019t believe we\u2019re into March!\u00a0 Seems no time since it was Christmas and here we are in Lent, heading rapidly towards Easter! During this time of Lent we\u2019re running a Bible Study called Words from Calvary and it\u2019s great to see so many people coming along, we\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=891"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":896,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891\/revisions\/896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nKnowing what I do about you as a congregation you will provide a great welcome for Stuart\u00a0and Ruth. Let that spirit of hospitality remain with you during his entire ministry, and let it spill out into the local community. Introduce him to people who you know who might make his entry into the wider community easier.<\/p>\n
\nYou only have one name to remember but Stuart\u00a0has well over a hundred names he will have to learn. Think about ways to make this easier for him and keep telling him your name, as its easier for you to tell him than for him to have to ask again.<\/p>\n
\nStuart’s\u00a0main role is to point you to Jesus through his preaching and as he seeks to do this give him your full attention and respond to the challenges he brings you. The message will first challenge him before it gets to you!<\/p>\n
\nYou are very talented and committed people so together you will be able to accomplish great things. Get prayerfully behind the new ministry and a one great way to do this is by attending the prayer meeting on Wednesday. I look forward to hearing about your adventures with God in the coming days.<\/p>\n
\nThere will inevitably be changes that Stuart\u00a0will introduce. None of us like change but please be supportive of Stuart\u00a0as he makes changes in a whole range of areas, in the worship, activities, outreach efforts and many others. All of the changes will be motivated by a desire to see the church grow and the name of Jesus glorified.<\/p>\n
\nStuart\u00a0and Ruth will need time to themselves and as Stuart\u2019s week will be different to many of yours, as he is busiest on a Sunday. Give them time to relax, rest and recharge their batteries during the week.<\/p>\n