Blairgowrie & Rattray Hub Magazine Winter 2023

Bendochy Church
The Church of Scotland, in it’s their planned
cutbacks, wishes to close Bendochy Church in
2026 and we, at Bendochy, are firmly against
this. It would be of great help for our cause
if we were to increase our congregation
numbers. Would you come and join us for
Sunday worship? We are hald a mile up the
road at the Bendochy crossroads on the
Blairgowrie/Coupar Angus road before the
river Isla.
This very old and charming church situated
down by the river Isla has been a place of
worship for 900 years. It is one of the oldest
ecclesiastic sites in Scotland. It has traditional
pews and a fine oak pulpit, one of only two of
their kind in Scotland.
We hold church services every Sunday at
10.00am. We are a very friendly and welcoming
group of parishioners. There is ample parking.
We have coffee or tea after service on the first
Sunday of the month.
We also have a meeting room, the Coach
House, with kitchen facility and toilet, which is
available to rent for up to 30 people.
We shall be opening a Community Cafe in
the Coach House every second Wednesday of
the month from 10.30am till Noon during the
winter, to which all are warmly invited.
Blairgowrie Evangelical
Church
In the last edition of the Hub magazine I
outlined what I understand the ‘Church’ bit
of our name means and promised I would
address the ‘Evangelical’ bit this time. So here
goes.
Nearly 40 years ago I was part of the National
Evangelical Church of Kuwait (yes there is
such a thing) and was involved in preparing
the induction service for a new pastor. It was
a long time ago and I can’t remember what
exactly it was that I had suggested but Pastor
Hilmi from the Arabic congregation (that exists
too) told me, “That’s not how Evangelicals
do things”. When I was in Germany, we
were required to state religious affiliation
for tax purposes and the choices were and
for tax purposes, we were required to state
religious affiliation the choices were Catholic,
Evangelical or nothing. Clearly ‘Evangelical’
means different things to different people at
different times and a degree of confusion is
understandable.
Even as a failed teacher of English I think a
dictionary is as good a place as any to start
when looking for a meaning. As an adjective “of
or according to the teaching of the gospel or the
Christian religion” and as a noun “a member of
the evangelical tradition of the Christian Church”.
As a noun, that definition sounds a bit circular
to me so let’s look at the adjective and that
refers us for context to “the gospel” or to “the
Christian Church”. Again dictionaries help. How
many gospels are there, could be a question
these days in a pub quiz. Fifty years ago
everyone educated in Scotland knew there are
four, but in truth that was the wrong question,
because Gospel just means Good Story or Good
News. (It comes from a composite Greek word
‘Euangelion’ hence the Evangelical tag.)
The four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and
John) tell the story of the historical Jesus of
Nazareth who lived and died under the Roman
occupation of Israel almost two thousand
years ago. So far so interesting. This Jesus gave
great moral teaching and even claimed to be
the Son of God. Had he stayed dead after his
execution it is unlikely that anyone other than
serious historians would have ever been aware
of his existence. But he didn’t stay dead. On
the third day he was brought back to life, just
as he had said would happen. Think about it.
This ‘good news’ is rooted in real historical
facts of the person and work of the man Jesus.
Not just a philosophy, not even his teachings,
good as they are.
So how does that help in the ‘evangelical’ bit
of our name? Basically we believe these four
gospels and the rest of the bible (no space
here for explaining why) to be the word of God.
Not just to contain the word of God as some
Christians would argue. For evangelicals the
Bible is the final authority. We take it, …errr,
as Gospel, and try to follow it as if our lives
depended on it, which, in the really long run,
they do – but that might be for another article.
BEC meets each Sunday, 11am, at Rattray Hall
Community Hub. The sign outside says all
welcome.
Alan McArthur (Secretary) 07745 700 916
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58 BRDT MAGAZINE - WINTER 2023