New Elder at North Edinburgh!

After over 10 years of praying, God has given the North Edinburgh congregation a local elder alongside the pastor, Rev. Peter Loughridge. On Sunday 14th August, Rev. Archie McPhail—a retired minister—was inducted as an elder. Archie and his wife Margaret have been a great blessing and encouragement to our church since they began attending when they moved to Edinburgh after his retirement. His preaching has been appreciated in the other congregations of the denomination too.

Rev. Loughridge preached on the theme “Pray Without Ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17), highlighting how God’s answer to our prayers in this matter (and so many others) should spur us to pray even more. Following the preaching of God’s Word: Mr. George Rodger (interim elder from Airdrie) and Rev. McPhail came forward; a narrative of the procedure was read; Rev. McPhail was asked the relevant questions from the Book of Government; and, on receiving satisfactory answers, Session extended the right hand of fellowship to Rev. McPhail, who then signed the vows before Rev. Loughridge led in prayer. Following the service, the congregation enjoyed supper and fellowship together to cap off an evening of great rejoicing and thankfulness to God.

With great gratitude to God and to their home congregation and to the men themselves, we also recognise the enormous input over many years from Mr. Sam Bell and Mr. George Rodger (interim elders from Airdrie) and we pray that Rev. McPhail’s induction, as well as our prayerful longing for more local elders, will ease their workload.