Townhill and Kingseat Church votes to merge with St Andrew’s Erskine
TWO West Fife churches will merge and create a new congregation in Dunfermline.
In an effort to best allocate its resources, the Church of Scotland has announced its plans to merge the Townhill and Kingseat Church, which comprises of two separate buildings of worship, with the St Andrew’s Erskine Church in the city to create St Columba’s Church of Scotland.
A spokesperson for the Church confirmed that all three existing buildings will remain as places of worship and will be served by one full-time Minister of Word and Sacrament who will be called early next year.
The spokesperson said: “It’s vital in these challenging times that the Church continues to serve local communities but it has to be realistic because the patterns of modern life and needs have changed.
“Fife Presbytery’s Mission Plan offers a robust structure for ministry, prioritising the allocation of resources to enable mission and outreach to support growth, sustainability and innovation.
“Congregations are being encouraged to be creative and collaborative in their communities, working together, sharing resources and opportunities.
“Jesus told his disciples to go out to the people and tell the Good News and this means we have to concentrate our resources on the right spaces in the right places.
“We are thankful that God is at work in our midst, and we trust that the Lord will lead us in the time to come.”
A vote on the basis of union between the two churches took place on Sunday (October 8) and the congregation voted in favour of the merger with a whopping 97 votes for the union and just 12 votes against it.
The interim moderator for Townhill and Kingseat Church, Reverend Arthur Christie, is coordinating the arrangements for the merger.
He told the Press: “There aren’t enough people in the churches, there aren’t enough ministers in the churches and even if there was enough, the Church nowadays couldn’t afford to pay them. What we’re doing is, we’re looking at it in areas rather than traditional parishes.”
Now that the vote has passed the two churches will move ahead and come together in the St Andrew’s Erskine Church building to become the St Columba’s Church of Scotland.
Rev. Christie continued: “Reverend Muriel Wilson is going to retire on December 31 and we’ve been getting along great, working together alongside the congregation. When she retires, in January we’ll begin the journey towards union, like joining finances - the practical stuff - so that by June next year we’ll stop worship in the two older buildings at Townhill and Kingseat Church and we’ll all be in St Andrew’s Erskine.”