Activities
The Church of Scotland Guild is a movement within the Church of Scotland which invites and encourages both women and men to commit their lives to Jesus Christ and enables them to express their faith in worship, prayer and action. With around 23,000 members, the Guild is one of Scotland's largest voluntary organization. Although women make up the bulk of our membership, increasingly, men are becoming members and taking active roles at local and national levels. The Guild's motto which is taken from Acts 27, verse 23: 'Whose we are and Whom we serve.'
Church of Scotland Guild Website
Click here to download the Guild Theme
Blantyre Old Guild Committee
President: Elizabeth Leadingham – member of the church for two years before which she was a member of Hillhouse Church. She is a dispensing technician. Elizabeth has settled in well and is a supporter of Messy Church as well as taking part in other parts of church life.
Vice President: Ann Johnstone – a new member of the Church, joined after Hamilton North Church closed and has been warmly welcomed to Blantyre Old. Last year she was the Guild President, and has swapped places with Elizabeth for the new 2017/18 session.
Secretary: Isobel Jack. A recent Guild member who has taken on this role and has hit the ground running organising the syllabus and keeping the congregation informed about the Guild.
Treasurer: Margaret Cunningham, who has a lot of experience in finance and is the Church Gift Aid Convener has taken on the role of Treasurer for the 2017/18 session.
The Tea Committee is Anne McNulty and Helen Rodmill who have been members of the Church for a long time. The refreshments are very essential to each and every Guild meeting.
Thursday 1st June 7.30pm Summer Rally Bothwell Parish Church
New Syllabus will be out shortly for 2017/18 session starting in September 2017.
For a couple of hours once a month, we take over the church halls and we explore bible stories and themes through games, crafts, challenges, competitions, science experiments, drama and more. Although there is some structure to the evening it is a very relaxed forum and allows families to share time together and explore faith in gentle and provocative ways. It is definitely a messy experience so please don’t wear posh clothes. We welcome all people with or without children, though we do ask that children are supervised and they are your responsibility. We start every Messy Church with a simple dinner, often served buffet style – usually two courses with a mixture of child and adult friendly options including vegetarian. If the weather is good, then the children often end up squeezing in a game of football in the garden especially as they eat dinner faster than the adults! Messy Church meets monthly on the first Monday in the month except for January, April and July where we take a break (usually because everyone else is!). We start with dinner at 6pm (doors open 5.45) and guarantee to be finished by 8pm. This is truly an all age event and if you visit our Messy Church Facebook page you can see just how varied. You don’t need to be a member of our church and it is an open group for people wanting to explore faith and Christianity in a different context.
Team Leaders: Rev Sarah Ross (Co-ordinator), Elizabeth Freer, Emma Hay, Susan Henderson, Sara MacIntosh, Margaret Moore, Lesley Sheridan and James Taylor.
Catering Team: Julie Nicholson (Co-ordinator), Helen Gallacher, Elizabeth Leadingham, Anne McDade, Doris Thompson, Mary Trussler plus others.
Messy Church programme
Nov 13th - Remembering
Dec 4th - Christmas Preparations
Jan 15th - Royal Adventures
Feb 19th - Friendship with God
March 19th - Holy Love (Easter)
April 30th - Unity in Community
May 21st - The Great Escape (Moses)
June 18th - All our Favourites.
The Sunday Club – 11.00am-12.00noon With a team consisting of Susan, Stuart, Helen, Emma, and Mary, along with others, the children go through to the halls for a variety of activities – games, craft, competitions, videos, story-telling and more. Each week there is a theme or story which the children explore together. Children are also encouraged to participate in worship, and are able to take part in baptisms and Holy Communion, as well as taking part in special services.
Sunday – 11.00am-12.00noon. There is a creche space in the church for those who like to be on the floor with toys. Young children are also able to move around the church and, as long as they are safe, then we don’t mind if they explore. We are planning on giving our creche room, (and small meeting room) a face lift and having a safe space for young children to go, if appropriate, during morning worship.
The Leisure Group – Mondays 1:45pm-3pm (approximately)
The Leisure Group is for members of the community, overseen by the Kirk Session but run by its own committee, meeting weekly on Mondays from Autumn to Spring. It has a strong social ethos, with devotions, speakers on a variety of topics and refreshments as part of the regular programme. The new syllabus for 2017/2018 should be available soon.
At Blantyre Old we know that coming alongside people in their daily life, not just in Sunday worship is very important. Therefore, we have our Prayer Co-ordinator and Convener of our Pastoral Care Team as Kathryn Freer. She is an elder, and very gifted in pastoral support and prayer. We invite congregation members to put up prayer requests on our prayer tree, for anyone to pray over and Kathryn ensures that all prayer requests are acknowledged and held in prayer. Our pastoral care team covers the housebound, those in care homes, those in hospital, short term or longer, and anyone else who might benefit from a visit. Visits are regular and all of the team are experienced and able to chat or listen. If you have a loved one who would appreciate a church visitor, do let us know, or you can send us an email requesting prayer.
ABC of Discipleship – This is a four week course about developing faith in a church family looking at acceptance, belonging, commitment and discipleship. It is based around the vows of membership and you can join the church through this course if you wish or just come along. It is a supply and demand course so runs at different times of the year, and in a time slot to suit participants.
