NINETY year-old the Rev. Robert Sinclair of Wick has become the
fourteenth Free Presbyterian minister to separate and join the new
Associated Presbyterian Churches. It is a move which will shock many
Free Presbyterians.
Mr Sinclair, a First World War veteran and minister at Wick since
1931, says: ''I am out -- away, I am separated. Yes, I said last week I
was too old to fly. But as the scripture says 'they that wait upon the
Lord shall mount up with wings and eagles.'''
The former synod clerk and Free Presbyterian Magazine editor's
departure follows an extraordinary weekend. Separate services were held
in Inverness, with 200 hearing APC Moderator, the Rev. Malcolm Macinnes
of Toronto in Millburn High School, while only 45 were in the Chapel
Street church. The small FP gathering were stunned by a letter read out
by the Rev. Neil Ross from their retired minister the Rev. Angus F.
MacKay. Mr Mackay wished his former people well but said that after the
synod's treatment of Lord Mackay he could never associate with them
again.
Similar scenes took place around the country. Only five attended the
''official'' FP service in Edinburgh, conducted in an elder's flat. By
contrast Lord Mackay's own minister, the Rev. Angus Morrison had a large
congregation. In Dundee both the congregation and the minister, the Rev.
Donald MacAskill, were in tears at an emotional evening service. The
Rev. Donald Maclean of Glasgow, the synod clerk and the man seen as the
architect of Lord Mackay's suspension, had an alarmingly low attendance
-- 100 instead of his usual 300.
There was trouble in Lochcarron where a retired minister led 12 people
in a walk-out after the Rev. John W. Ross read the official APC
statement. A large crowd attended ''family worship'' at the home of the
Rev. Alex Murray of Lairg, suspended by the synod last week and who will
soon be restored by the APC.
A number of office bearers resigned from the 400-strong Stornoway
congregation, among them two elders, a deacon, and the church treasurer.
One elder, Mr Donald J. Macleod, who resigned, said: ''I would be very
surprised if more did not go.''The other elder who resigned, Dr Neil
Gillies, is well known in the church as an outstanding lay preacher.
The minister at Stornoway, the Rev. John Macleod, said he was sad to
lose the two elders, but echoed the words of synod clerk Mr Maclean, who
last week claimed that those who left the Free Presbyterian Church were
the losers and not the Church.
Mr Macleod said that on Sunday he had appealed to his own congregation
to remain faithful to the Church of their fathers and mothers and not to
be influenced by others.
He said: ''Our Church's constitution has remained intact since 1893.
It is a strange reason for anyone to leave our Church when an elder has
been censured for attending a requiem mass. Our testimony against
Romanism is exactly the same today as it was in the days gone by.''
So far five ministers have signed the deed of separation. But they
will be joined by a further nine -- and more may separate.
The Rev. John Tallach of Aberdeen, the Rev. Fraser Tallach of
Kinlochbervie, the Rev. Hamish Mackinnon of Oban, the Rev. Alex Murray,
the Rev. Donald MacAskill, the Rev. George MacAskill of Dumbarton, the
Rev. Archie MacPhail of Loch- inver, and the Rev. P. Lloyd Roberts of
Applecross are determined to separate once they have consulted their
con- gregations.
Congregational meetings were held by many of them last night, and the
APC Presbytery is to meet tonight in Inverness to decide the next move.
Apart from restoring Mr Murray, they will consider how to hold the
property they already possess -- such as their manses -- and whether to
initiate legal action against the Free Presbyterians.
But they are playing down talk of funds and law suits. The Rev. John
Ross of Tain says: ''We are not bothered about money and buildings. We
are interested in the Gospel and the freedom of the Gospel and that's
why we're out.''
Mr Morrison of Edinburgh agrees but insists that the APC has a good
legal claim to the entire funds of the Free Presbyterian Church. ''But
we will do a deal -- we'll take a fair share of the Church's funds. We
want a fair, peaceful settlement and we have no desire to go to law with
our friends.''
But synod clerk Mr Maclean dismisses talk of an ''olive branch'' from
the APC. ''They have signed a deed of separation. I don't see how you
can call that an olive branch.''
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