Moray minister’s pioneering mission

A Moray minister is helping redefine the way people worship and think about their faith.

Rev Stuart Finlayson is a pioneer minister within the Church of Scotland.

Rather than traditional church-based parish ministry, pioneer ministers are commissioned by the Kirk to be a part of the wider community.

In Mr Finlayson's case, this involves the planting of a new church in his home town of Forres: Forres Community Church.

Speaking as part of the Church of Scotland's monthly Talking Ministry series, Mr Finlayson explained: "The strapline for the church would be: ‘A disciple making network and new worshipping community'.

"That means our focus is about making disciples, forming a network of disciples, who then become disciple makers.

"We are not focussed on buildings, we are not focussed on denominationalism. In fact, my core leadership team is made up of people who have come from many different denominations."

Mr Finlayson, who lives in Forres with his wife Siân, daughter Lowri (9) and son Gethin (5), is also chaplain to his home town football team Forres Mechanics.

However, it was an encounter with another type of chaplain which began his journey into ministry.

He was working for a local removals company when he was asked to help a British Army chaplain relocate from Catterick in Yorkshire to his new posting at Fort George with 2 Scots (the Black Watch).

Mr Finlayson asked why he had decided to become a chaplain, and the chaplain revealed that he had joined the army as a young man, but it had not worked out for him and he had left soon after, but after accepting a friend's invitation to join him at church, he had become a Christian. That led to his studying for the ministry and later rejoining the army, this time as a chaplain and an officer.

"To hear how he had changed and made things different for him was really inspiring. I had been married for three years by that point, but I was still searching for something," Mr Finlayson said.

He and Siân had already been attending church and, as he became more involved with his local church at Dyke and Edinkillie, he began contemplating ministry and applied to begin training towards a ministry post with the Church of Scotland.

A place to ask questions

This included studying at Highland Theological College in Dingwall and placement with parishes in Moray, but it was while he was attending a conference with fellow trainees that he received the first indication of where his calling would take him.

Listening to Rev Alan McWilliam, co-director of Forge Scotland, talk about pioneering ministry and Forge's church planting course about how to create and nourish new congregations was something which had an impact on all those attending, but most significantly Mr Finlayson.

"At that moment, there was a definite shift for me. My ministry was not going to be traditional parish ministry. God had something else for me," he said.

He had practical experience of this side of ministry when he joined Rev Scott McRoberts at St Columba Church in Inverness.

The original St Columba building in the city centre had been sold and Mr McRoberts was replanting a new church of the same name in the expanding southern outskirts of the Highland capital.

With no building of its own, the St Columba congregation met, and continues to meet, in Drummond School in Inverness.

"I was blown away, because first of all, I didn't know you could have church in a school," Mr Finlayson said.

"But also, it was full of young families. I was just struck by the newness and the excitement of the whole thing – lots of kids and lots of people who were ready to stand up and support the minister and wanting to share the load."

Following further placements at St George's Tron in Glasgow, most of which was carried out remotely as Covid struck, and then closer to home supporting congregations in Elgin and Forres, Mr Finlayson was ordained as a minister of the Church of Scotland in October 2022.

The following June, he was granted permission by the Presbytery of Inverness, which had expanded to include West Moray, to plant a new worshipping community, Forres Community Church, which is now his main focus.

Rather than the old pattern of expecting the community to come to church, this new church goes out into the community with Mr Finlayson and his fellow members sparking conversations at events or in shops and cafes which lead to invitations to learn more at the church's discovery group meetings held in people's homes.

Mr Finlayson explained: "By forming discovery groups, we can invite people who have been asking themselves the big questions to gather round the Bible and help them discover for themselves what the Bible is saying. Through that, we know that lives can be changed, and the community can be changed as well.

"The wonderful thing about our discovery groups is that no-one is teaching or telling you that this is what the Bible is saying. You are asking questions and over the 12-week course, the hope is that you are left with some knowledge you can then go and share about our faith."

It is also an environment which faith explorers, many of them young and searching for meaning, can find less intimidating than going to their parish church.

"People can be reluctant to go into a church because they think it is for fully formed Christians," Mr Finlayson said.

"We offer them a way to come in and be assured that they don't need any answers. They just need a willing spirit."

You can read more about Mr Finlayson on our Talking Ministry page.