News

Each of us can struggle at times. As a Christian church, we believe that God – The God of the Bible – greatly cares for those who are facing hard times. We believe that God wants us to support one another, including those who are struggling in our communities.

This fund provides small grants for practical support for individuals and families where there is no other support available. The help provided will often have a short term focus to support those who are in crisis. It is aimed at supporting those who are living in the immediate community of the church including Smithton, Culloden, Balloch and Westhill. All referrals come through Health, Social or Education Services. For further enquiries please e-mail: compassionincrisis@outlook.com

We recently had a short talk from Stephen Hutchison at Smithton. Dr Hutchison is a palliative care consultant at Highland Hospice and Raigmore Hospital. Read his briefing paper here on the Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill which is currently being considered by the Health and Sport Committee who are holding a public consultation on the Bill.

In his paper, Stephen outlines the background to the Bill, describes proposed legislation, presents the arguments against Assisted Suicide, and provides information on how everyone can take part in the public consultation, which is open until 6th June 2014.

Says Stephen ‘You must feel free to respond in whatever way captures your views on this. You may or may not share my views. We must think for ourselves,’ but he adds ‘I hope you will take the time to respond to this as a very significant issue for our society.’

We’re very grateful to Stephen for giving us such a detailed and thoughtful analysis of the proposed measure based on his vast experience of working with people at the close of their lives. Stephen is correct, we need to be informed about this issue we need also to reflect on it in the light of our Biblical convictions and respond appropriately.

http://hiltonchurch.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Stephen-Hutchison-on-the-Assisted-Suicide-Bill.pdf

Smithton-Culloden are offering a programme called Prepare Enrich to help prepare couples for marriage but also, as the name suggests, to enrich existing marriages, a kind of MOT for couples.

Research from Seddons the solicitors, in their Separation Regrets Survey, shows that those experiencing separation (either from marriage or a cohabiting relationship) primarily wished they had known:
– The kinds of difficulties couples experience (28%)
– How relationships grow and develop over time (28%)
– More about each other’s characters, values, or interests (35%)
– More effective communication (24%)
– More constructive handling of disagreements (20%)

84% of respondents did not have relationship education – for two main reasons – they never thought about it (44%), and/or they didn’t know there were such courses (37%).

These are just the sort of things that are dealt with in the discussion sessions.
Couples are first invited to meet the counsellors for a coffee and a chat to explain how it works and to see if it is for them. If they think it is, then they will fill in the questionnaire (online or as a paper copy) and they will have the next meeting over a meal where we will start the discussion process based on the results of their questionnaire. There will then be a further three or four meetings as the couple work through any issues that arise.

There is a £25 fee to cover administration costs which the couple pay but they get a few good meals out of it!

The programme website can be found at www.prepare-enrich.co.uk which fills in more of the basics.

Please contact Laurie and Tina Chancellor or Ali MacDonald for further information.