A church plant has launched in the new community of Tornagrain, near Inverness.
Tornagrain Community Church is being led by Innes Macsween (see photo with his wife Anna and their two children), who is the Assistant Minister at Smithton Free Church in Inverness. He is supported by a launch team of around 25 adults and 12 children.
Much ministry work has taken place over the past couple of years to get to this point.
Innes said: ‘Smithton Church has been planning a plant for years now, although Covid delayed us. A team began to coalesce in mid-2021 with a view towards the nearby development of Culloden West, but wisdom and opportunity changed our focus to Tornagrain. Many members of the team already lived in Tornagrain, and I moved there in April 2022. We began meeting for 3pm afternoon services in the local ‘community room’ from January 2022, before our launch.’
Tornagrain is a new town being built along the A96, near Inverness airport and between Inverness and Nairn, with plans for 5,000 homes and 10,000 people.
Innes said: ‘Unlike some new housing developments, Tornagrain is being built with a very clear vision of creating a ‘community’ rather than just new houses, something we are emphasising as part of our own vision for the new church, where our mission statement is: Sharing the hope of Jesus in the community, through community.
‘We are renting the nearby Petty Church of Scotland for a trial period of three months (interestingly, built as a Free Church in 1849!) and holding weekly Sunday services there at 10am.’
The church plant is part of the Free Church of Scotland, which has over 110 congregations including one in London.
