Talking Ministry: New Culloden minister looks forward to making north connections

A background in education will help one of the North's newest ministers make connections across the generations.

Rev Pamela Kennedy, who was ordained as minister of the newly united parish of Culloden and Ardersier in June, said that her previous career as an educational psychologist and before that as an English teacher had made her passionate about ensuring young people can find a space in today's Kirk.

Speaking as part of the Talking Ministry series, Mrs Kennedy said: "As a Church, we have to be thinking about our young people. We have to create a space where young people feel they belong and that is not just tokenistic.

"I think we have an imbalance to redress because the majority of what the Church does is aimed at the needs of older people. What would it look like if we were to really get to know our younger people and try to build things around where they are coming from?

"That's not about saying they are more important than anyone else. It's about trying to level things out in order that they do feel they have space. That is something I am quite passionate about."

Mrs Kennedy's ordination also celebrated the union of Barn Church in Culloden and the congregation in the coastal village of Ardersier.

Although the two communities to the east of Inverness are quite different in character, one suburban and the other more rural, Mrs Kennedy sees the union of the two as bringing new opportunities for the congregation and a chance to learn from each other.

"There is no other church presence in Ardersier, but they have a primary school, and there are huge opportunities for us. They are currently leading Godly Play in the school, and the Barn Church in Culloden have a lot of experience in working with children and young people, so there are ways that each can learn from one another," she said.

"The issue is not so much whether there are opportunities, it is which are the ones for now. We need to ask the Lord to help us identify which are the opportunities for this season and which might be for later. I still feel I am trying to get to know the lie of the land and how things operate, but I'm very enthusiastic."

Building relationships

Originally from Linlithgow in West Lothian, Mrs Kennedy is married to Dougal and the couple have two teenage sons, Roderick and Struan.

After completing her probation at Loanhead Parish Church in Midlothian under the supervision of minister, Rev Graham Duffin, she was ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament at Innerleithen, Traquair and Walkerburn Parish Church in the Scottish Borders, where she worked alongside Rev Fraser Edwards.

This saw her working in pioneer ministry in the village of Cardrona, building new links with the community.

"There was no church building and virtually nothing by way of community facilities apart from a village hall," Mrs Kennedy said.

"The other challenge is that it is effectively a commuter village. People drive off to work and when they come back in the evening, they go into their house and close their doors. The question is how do you engage with people in a community like that?"

One way was to host American Football training sessions on the village green, something Mrs Kennedy describes as great fun, but also an attention-grabber.

More significantly, she also became co-ordinator of the lunch club which was suggested by local residents.

Mrs Kennedy added: "I was only there for 20 months, but in that time, we built relationships and helped the community recognise we were for them.

"I think that quite often, people believe the Church is not there for them, so there is a lot of work to do just to convince people that we want to care and demonstrate love practically. It's a very soft, gentle start, but I think that without that gentle start, we can't then do the other things we might like to do. You have to first have a relationship with people before you can share Jesus in a meaningful way."

The lessons she learned about community engagement in the Borders will help inform what Mrs Kennedy does in her new charge in Culloden and Ardersier.

"Our next thing to do, as a united charge, is to work out what our priorities are across that charge, to listen to our community and try and get a sense of what to do there" Mrs Kennedy said.

"I would also really love to make connections with the other churches in the area because there are a lot of them and there is potential for us to do a lot of exciting things together."

You can read Rev Pamela Kennedy's full interview and access resources for August on our Talking Ministry page.