RP Mission Team – Week Two

Our second week of work began with more distribution of parish newsletters to the areas nearby the RP church in Airdrie. You can read the parish newsletter here. We also worked on finishing some of the deep cleaning and organizing in the church building. On Monday afternoon, the team went out to several primary schools in the area and handed out leaflets to parents outside the school gates about the upcoming Holiday Bible Club at Airdrie RP that will be on July 3-7th. 

On Tuesday, we went to the town of Hamilton and the areas surrounding Bothwell Bridge to ask businesses if they would be willing to put up posters about another upcoming church event. These posters advertised the upcoming conventicle (outdoor church service) on July 1st in the afternoon. The conventicle is to be held at Bothwell Bridge, the site of an important battle in Covenanter history. Before delivering the posters, Stephen took us to Bothwell Bridge itself, and gave us more background on the battle and the need for conventicles in the 1660s-1680s. Ministers and congregants who refused to be part of the state church where the king was deemed to be head of the church, rather than acknowledging Christ as the head of the church, were driven out of their church buildings. After a time, these people could be arrested, and killed for participation in coventicles. A significant number of Covenanters rallied to Bothwell Bridge and were defeated by the overwhelming number of the king’s soldiers. The upcoming conventicle service commemorates what happened in this place, but more importantly is simply a worship service to preach the gospel. Lord willing, this will reach nonbelievers who come out of interest or are passing by on that Lord’s Day afternoon.

On Wednesday, our team left Airdrie for the North Edinburgh congregation where we received a warm welcome from many different members of the congregation who were hosting us during our time. Some major goals of our time in North Edinburgh are to distribute leaflets about the congregation’s upcoming evangelistic services on June 26-28th, to be present for those services, and to be an encouragement to the church members in any way that we can.

The fervency of prayer meeting on Wednesday night for people to come in, hear God’s Word, and know Christ, set the tone for the rest of the week. Things did not go exactly as planned, and yet we began to see God’s hand in all of these events and we had even greater opportunities for prayer and seeking the Lord’s help during this part of the week. We distributed about 2,500 leaflets to the neighborhoods near the Drylaw Neighborhood Center, where the North Edinburgh congregation meets. However, the rest of the leaflets that were scheduled to arrive for us to distribute on Friday and Saturday were lost in transit. We ended up needing to wait out the morning on Friday without distributing. When the leaflets arrived on Friday afternoon, we were able to put in a good long stretch of slipping these invitations through letterboxes that afternoon and evening. We were just a little bit behind where we were supposed to end for the quota that day. 

One of the greatest encouragements this week in being in North Edinburgh has been seeing how much all of the church members and even some of the new attendees are willing to give of their time and labor in love. Between hosting us, making meals for us, and distributing leaflets with us, their love for us, and for the many unconverted people in their community was so evident.  A church member who was away on holiday had even prepared our team food ahead of time, despite knowing she would not be physically present with us the whole week we are planning to be here. 

On Saturday, after distributing newsletters, we participated in a church BBQ (picnic) and had beautiful weather to enjoy good food, fellowship, and games, in a park near the congregation. The Lord’s Day we met for worship and we enjoyed a fellowship luncheon following the morning service. We had a good afternoon of fellowship as a team hosted by a member in the church. We ended the day with the evening worship service and fellowship over teas and coffees. It has been another wonderful week. We’ll be in North Edinburgh until this coming Wednesday before returning to Airdrie.
Rachel Mack