Knockbain Free Church is currently vacant

We are currently a vacant congregation which means we do not have a minister for the time being. However, our church is one of many churches in the Inverness, Lochaber and Ross Presbytery of the Free Church of Scotland and as such we have a minister appointed to help us during this time of vacancy. The minister, who is temporarily assigned to us, is called an 'interim moderator' and our one is the Rev Dr Malcolm Maclean, recently retired from Greyfriars Free Church in Inverness. The role of our interim moderator Rev Dr Malcolm Maclean is to ensure that we have a supply of preachers each Sunday and sometimes he takes the service himself. He also chairs the Kirk Session meetings and the Vacancy Committee meetings as we seek a new minister for Knockbain.

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What happens in a vacancy?

During a vacancy the congregation nominate and appoint a number of people to a Vacancy Committee in order to represent the members and adherents of the congregation. The Vacancy Committee do not have any special powers but rather they are responsible for gathering the views of the congregation and recommending potential ministers to come and visit the congregation and preach with the possibility of one of the preachers being the next minister. Every member in the congregation will have a vote on who the next minister will be. 

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What happens at our services?

As already mentioned, during a vacancy we will have a number of different ministers, supply preachers and lay-preachers taking the services each week.

 

At the 12 noon service we all gather to start worship together and we usually start by singing a Psalm and we stand to sing, if able. There are Bibles and Psalm books available in the church seats so you don't need to worry if you don't have your own. We sing Psalms unaccompanied which means without musical instruments. A precentor leads the praise to a tune and the congregation join in.

 

After the first singing the minister will pray and then following that he will usually give a short children's address or story. After that the babies and toddlers can leave for the creche. The creche is on every week and is run by parents in the congregation who have obtained a PVG certificate. There is also a Sunday School on during the service and is on during term time.

 

After the children leave for creche and Sunday School, the minister will read from the Bible and we will have a couple more singings before the main part of the service which is the sermon. The sermon is a talk delivered by the minister which usually focusses on the part of the Bible that was read from. We believe that God speaks to us through the preaching of the Bible. After the sermon finishes there is a final prayer and singing before the benediction. The benediction is a special prayer which the minister prays and blesses the congregation.

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After the 12 noon service we have tea, coffee, juice and refreshments served at the back of the church and everyone is welcome to share in a time of fellowship together. Visitors are especially welcome.

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The evening service at 6pm follows a similar format except there is no creche or Sunday School during the evening service.