Culloden: the new battle | David Meredith

Culloden Battlefield is where the last battle was fought on British soil, between the armies of Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Hanoverian Duke of Cumberland in 1746.

In 2002 the modern housing estates of Smithton and Culloden in Inverness are the scene of another struggle which has nothing to do with flesh and blood!

The congregation of Smithton-Culloden is part of the Free Church of Scotland and is a vibrant and growing congregation which aims to be both contemporary and Reformed. The church was started in the late 1970s when the area was booming with many jobs created in the oil rig construction industry. At first services were held in an old and very uninspiring local hall. In the early days there was little growth and the clear potential of the area was not being exploited. In 1983 the Free Church designated the congregation as a 'Church Extension Charge' which meant that the denomination was prepared to fund a full-time minister, a manse and also a church building. A year later David Meredith was appointed as the first minister of the congregation.

This was crucial as a regular and systematic preaching ministry was developed. The leadership team was made up of several young and gifted men who were prepared to leave a larger town centre church to help with the new work. These same men are the backbone of the existing leadership team of today.

Gradual growth

The growth of the congregation was gradual but consistent. The church moved from the old hall to a modern school complex and the congregation gradually grew out of a series of smaller rooms until they eventually filled the Assembly Hall. In 1990 a new church building was opened which seats 200 in the main worship area with an additional overflow facility seating a further 100. The provision of a modern, well-equipped building greatly helped in the development of the congregation. In a remarkable way the main church was filled within a matter of months and children had to be seated on the floor and within two years the main worship area plus the overflow was filled and the children were still sitting on the floor! Today the church has dealt with the space problem by starting an additional morning service at 9.30 am as well as the normal 11.00 am service.

From 'New Age' to Christ

In the Free Church of Scotland the practice is that new Christians are admitted into membership at the main Communion services which are held twice a year. In the last 18 years the congregation has been blessed by professions of faith at every communion. The stories of how God has dealt with people have been remarkable testimonies to the grace of God. One young woman who was a nursing tutor in a local hospital was disturbed by increasing 'New Age' teaching methods within the system, but was not sure why she was uneasy. She began to come to the church and realised that her awareness of what was wrong had led her to seek what was true and she came to faith in Christ. A local teacher announced that he was a confirmed atheist but then came to faith through reading Basic Christianity. Another man swore as he left the church one evening but returned the next week a new person in Christ! It is quite common to have adult baptisms within the congregation and even the baptism of entire families.

Congregational life

Congregational life at Smithton is based round Sunday worship where the preaching attempts to be lively, biblical and applied to where people are in today's society. The Free Church of Scotland has suffered from a perception that it is antiquated, quaint and designed for Hebridean Scots. At Smithton the leadership team has tried to dispel that image, the view being that the only stumbling block which should be put in people's way is that of the cross. In the congregation young teenagers dressed in the latest skateboarding gear will happily sit beside tweed clad octogenarians as both worship God together.

Ongoing mission

There is a full programme of youth work which includes Sunday school, clubs and detached street work. The church also runs a lunch club for older people. It is a feature of the congregation that 'special' missions are never held. The church is committed to a philosophy of ongoing evangelism.

During March they hosted a 'Come to Church month' was hosted where everyone was encouraged to bring friends and family to church. Each person in the congregation was given the CFP book He Found Me and they were encouraged to give it away to an unconverted friend or member of their family.

The Kirk Session has developed a vision for the future which involves both expansion of the church premises and staff. The church has a minister, pastoral assistant and youth worker, and hopes to appoint an assistant minister and an administrator this summer.

The congregation has now outgrown its present buildings and is looking to expand the premises to allow more worship space, teaching areas and kitchen facilities. A recent 'Gift day' was held which raised £35,000. This is an unusual model for the Free Church and it is hoped that other churches within the denomination may catch this vision. Already a number of other congregations have experienced encouraging growth in the last few years, the common factor being that all have departed from the traditional paradigm.

God-centred future

Plans for the future include the development of house groups and adult Sunday Schools. It is hoped that extra staff and facilities will make these possible.
The congregation is theologically conservative, with each office bearer being committed to the doctrine contained in the Westminster Confession of Faith. The worship follows the usual Free Church practice of unaccompanied Psalm singing, and preaching is given a key role in corporate worship. The people at Smithton are convinced that the way forward is not to copy the outdated and in many areas extra-biblical traditions of the past, nor is it to slavishly follow the latest seeker-sensitive fad coming from the USA. The way forward is in a God-centred programme where the real spiritual needs of men and women are considered.

To the market place

In the last 50 years there has been a welcome return to a more robust and biblical evangelicalism but this has also brought a degree of complacency and even myopia. The time has come for the Reformed church to move from its conferences and sub-culture and take the truth on to the streets. The Reformation marked the movement of the gospel from the monastery to the market place. Jesus of Nazareth spoke the truth in the streets of his day and shared the good news with pimps and prostitutes, the high and the low, the great and the good.

In Smithton-Culloden the church has only just begun. The battle of today is the Lord's and our weapons are not of this world.

You can check out the church website: www.smithtonchurch.com