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Around 90 people from congregations in the Glasgow and Argyll Presbytery of the Free Church of Scotland have attended the first ‘Healthy Church Gathering’ organised by the Free Church of Scotland.

Two main sessions were held. The first session focused on what it means to be a healthy Christian and what a healthy church looks like. Andrew Giffen, CEO of the Free Church of Scotland, spoke about these topics, with opportunity for discussion around tables.

Around 70 delegates attended the ‘In a Big Country’ conference about rural ministry held at Dingwall Free Church in Scotland.

The conference, which was organised by the Free Church of Scotland, was a great opportunity for delegates to study God’s word, to hear what He is doing in rural Scotland, and to encourage each other.

The Free Church of Scotland will facili-tate a focused outreach initiative called ‘Generation19’ which aims to encourage local churches to reach out to their com-munities with the gospel.

In 2017 a census of Scottish churches was carried out by Brierley Consultancy which indicated a sharp decline in church attendance and engagement. The report showed that ‘some 390,000 people regularly attended church, being 7.2% of the Scottish population, down from 17% in 1984.’ This decline was the equivalent of ‘losing ten congregations per month’.