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Ministry Opportunity: Smithton-Culloden and Nairn Free Church of Scotland, Inverness, Scotland

Ministry Assistant

Smithton Culloden Free Church is an active congregation in Christian ministry in a community on the eastern periphery of Inverness. The church is also a focal point in the communities of Smithton, Culloden, Cradelhall and Balloch. It comprises a gathered congregation of over four hundred people with a high ratio of young families and a membership roll of two hundred sixty.

The Session is looking to appoint a Ministry Assistant to support the existing work of discipleship and evangelistic mission for youth and emerging adults in the congregation and out in the local communities.

This is a fixed term appointment for two years from a mutually agreed date in the first quarter of 2014. An annual salary of £18,000 is offered for this post and some assistance may be available for housing support. Applications are invited from graduates in a relevant discipline who are aspiring to undertake further training and development in Christian ministry.

To receive your application pack please contact Mr Charlie Anderson, Church Manager, Smithton Church, Murray Road, Smithton, Inverness, IV2 7YU

Closing date for applications 28 February 2014

Tel: 01463 793191

Job is a tough book to read, the beginning and the end are the simplest to understand. It’s difficulty is compounded by the fact that the friends of Job talk such nonsense at times, their advice is not reliable and is often insulting and counter-productive hence we get the phrase ‘Job’s comforters’ widely used in English.
Overview – the purpose is to look at the nature and purpose of suffering in the individual’s experience.
Key truths
• God has a purpose behind all suffering, but the purposes of God are usually hidden from us and so we are baffled and often hurt by our providence.
• Conventional proverbial wisdom applies to many situations but falls down when we look at the suffering of Christians – God is supposed to be ‘for us’.
• Righteous sufferers must humbly link affirmation of God’s goodness and justice to their complaints and laments.
• As human beings our grasp of wisdom is limited and always begins with fear and respect of God and obedience to his commands.

Purpose and distinctives
• Conventional wisdom does not work where God is concerned.
• People say that God can be evil e.g. Dawkins – book of Job rejects this totally and defends the absolute goodness of God at all times, whatever appearances may suggest.
• We are human and we must face the fact that humans cannot ever fully understand God.
• It’s tough for Job, he gets the dubious honour of proving that the believer remains true to God, even when they suffer.
• All suffering is not a direct result of human sin, e.g. we don’t always suffer because of a specific sin in our lives. Job’s counsellors do not get this and so they constantly accuse him of specific sin.
• At times Job was sucked into this and conceded that his friends might be right. (42: 5-6)
• Job was always complaining to God in the fashion of a legal suit – not always a bad thing.
• Job always held to the fact that God was just and that one day he would provide a redeemer.

The RBT community group question sheet and also a full copy of the outline for Job can be found on the downloads page.

The first Porterbrook course in the north of Scotland begins this weekend in Inverness.

Led by Rosskeen assistant minister Rev Calum MacMillan, the Porterbrook course is aimed at Christians of all ages and stages who wish to develop their character, mission-focus and persuasive evangelism skills.

The Highland group will meet in Inshes Church of Scotland in Inverness on Saturday (5 October), meeting from 10.30am-3pm.

Calum said: “Porterbrook Learning is a tool to help equip ‘ordinary’ Christians for the mission God has given us. It’s a course of study aimed especially at those who wouldn’t normally consider theological training and is intentionally flexible to fit round our busy schedules. At its heart are two things – character and mission.”

He added: “We have used it for a couple of years at Rosskeen and have had a wide range of learners from 70-year-old elders to 17-year-old students. Mature in Christ or new to faith all have grown in their understanding of the gospel and how to live missionally in our modern world.”

There is still time for last-minute applications – please contact Fiona Doolan for more details at fiona.dolan@rosskeen.freechurch.org

The course is by distance learning and people are split into local study groups as well as gathering for four conference days throughout the year.

Calum will be supported in the Highland group by Rev Chris Smart, Joe Barnard and Pete Rennie.

Porterbrook was set up in 2007 by Steve Timmis and Tim Chester, and was designed as a contemporary way to serve the need for new gospel-centred churches to be planted, and existing churches to become more gospel-centred.

It is now a growing network of over 45 learning sites worldwide, serving hundreds of churches, many in pioneering mission contexts.

If you wish to find out more you can visit the Porterboork website at http://porterbrooknetwork.org/

Irene Howat’s Story-a-Month Club introduces seven to thirteen-year-olds to real heroes and heroines, men and women who started life as ordinary children, but who grew up to be used by God in interesting, courageous and life-changing ways. It aims to set imaginations on fire. People such as the world renowned scientist James Clerk Maxwell and the missionary Mary Slessor are included.

None of those whose stories are told are perfect, but all are inspirational. None are glitzy, but all are truly great.

The web-based Club’s annual subscription is £12, however many children are in a family. On the first of each month members will receive their new story by email along with the same story in pictures to be coloured and an activity sheet based on that month’s character. If provided with an A4 folder, they can make their own totally unique illustrated books of heroes and heroines. Members will also be sent a birthday greeting.

Find out more at the Story-A-Month club website.

Overview of the Book of Leviticus

Purpose:
To guide the Israelites in the ways of holiness, so they would be set apart from the world and receive blessings instead of judgment as they lived near the special presence of their holy God.

Key Truths:
• God is holy, and he requires holiness from his people.
• God’s people invariably failed to keep the requirements of holiness, but temporary atonement could be found in the sacrificial system.
• God called his people to pursue holiness in every aspect of their lives out of gratitude for the mercy he had shown to them.
• God offered wondrous blessings and threatened judgment so that his people would repent and offer vows of commitment to him.

Purpose and Distinctives:
Perhaps no other Old Testament book represents a greater challenge to the modern reader than Leviticus, and imagination is required to picture the ceremonies and rites that form the bulk of the book.
1. The divine presence. Every act of worship took place “before the LORD” (e.g. Lev. 1:5)
2. Holiness. “Be holy, because I am holy” (Lev. 11:45) is the theme of Leviticus.
3. Atonement through sacrifice. Since no one was able to live in perfect accordance with God’s law, a means of atonement was essential so that moral lapses and physical failings could be pardoned.

The RBT community group question sheet and also a full copy of the outline for Leviticus can be found on the downloads page.

Ezekiel can be a fairly confusing book. It contains some wild sounding visions and symbolic actions. It also ends with a detailed description of the temple and the land of Israel. It can leave the head of a modern reader spinning.

This historical background gives important background for Ezekiel 1-32. These deported Israelites hoped that their captivity would be short, and dreamed of a speedy return. They assumed that Jerusalem would be safe, for it was “God’s city.” However, Ezekiel had a very different message. Their exile would not be brief or easy. And worse yet, their prized capital Jerusalem would be devastated. Thus, Ezekiel spends the first twenty-four chapters of his book addressing the sins of Judah and the coming judgment on Jerusalem. He then turns in chapters 25-32 to announce judgment against foreign nations.

For the setting of the rest of Ezekiel’s book, we must return and finish the historical background. After King Jehoiachin was exiled to Babylon with Ezekiel, his uncle Zedekiah was placed on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. When Zedekiah proved to be unfaithful to Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem and finally conquered it in 586 B.C.

With that as the “big picture” to Ezekiel, what can we say about modern application? Many things could be said here, but I will mention four:

First, notice the greatness of God and our need for repentance. Ezekiel describes God in ways that stretch our imagination. For example, in Ezekiel 1 we learn that God is incomprehensible to us. He is holy and transcendent, separate from sin and calling sinners to repentance. The same is true today.

Second, notice Ezekiel’s “remnant theology.” Although God is a Holy Judge, he is calling individuals to himself, creating a remnant that will endure through judgment (Ezek. 6:8;9:8; 11:12,13; 12:16; 14:22,23). God is doing this today as he calls men and women to himself.

Third, as with other prophets, we see that God is in control of all things. He is in control even of the bad things that happen to his people. Chapters 25-32 also tell us that he is in control of every nation, all of the world.

Fourth, we presently are living in the time of the restoration about which Ezekiel prophesied. Jesus has brought the restoration. It is not seen in its fullness yet, but it is breaking into the world in subtle ways now. For example, Ezekiel called for a time when there would be a “new heart” for God’s people (Ezek. 11:19; 18:31; 36:26). Jeremiah 31:33 tells us that this new heart comes under the New Covenant which Jesus inaugurated.

The RBT community group question sheet and also a full copy of the outline for Ezekiel can be found on the downloads page.