Introducing Gracie!

Gracie Rabon is arriving on Saturday for an 8-week stay in Stranraer out of a desire to experience the church in a different culture. While here she will be involved in all aspects of the life of the church, particularly helping out with re-starting Toddlers, a Scripture Union group in Rephad (with Amy & Stephen), a mini-GO Team and more. You can learn a bit more about her below:

‘My name is Anna Grace Rabon, but most people know me as Gracie. I am 18 years old and graduated from high school last June. I am from a town called Lexington in South Carolina in the States. I have a passion for the church and have most of my experience is in youth ministry. I want everyone of any age to hear the gospel and know that Jesus loves them. I heard about Stranraer through Matt Filbert who works at RP Missions based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who connected me with Pastor Steele. I have heard such wonderful things about Stranraer and am excited to come do ministry alongside my brothers and sisters in Christ. I am so very thankful to be welcomed by the Stranraer community and to come and experience a different culture of ministry’.

How patients' prayers for a doctor were answered

This week’s Free Press reported on the Fraser family’s move to Stranraer:

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Stranraer’s newest GP began work recently – and he’s literally an answer to prayer! James Fraser, 29, has moved to Stranraer from Glasgow to take up a post in Lochnaw practice that had been advertised for 5 years without a single applicant. He and his family have made the move for an unusual reason – a prayer request sent out by some of the existing doctors. In June 2018, with the GP crisis in Wigtownshire continuing to worsen, two of the existing GPs sent out a prayer letter to local churches outlining the precarious situation in primary care in the area, and particularly the lack of GPs. The letter noted that hard work being done to try and recruit GPs to fill the vacancies, but without success. Rev. Stephen Steele, the Reformed Presbyterian minister in Stranraer, forwarded the letter on to others in his denomination, and James and his wife Katie, then members of the RP Church in Glasgow, read it partway through James’s GP training. They felt led to answer the call, and having finished his training in Glasgow, James, Katie and their two young sons have now moved to Stranraer. James is originally from Inverness and Katie from Glasgow, and they are enjoying life in Stranraer so far. James said: ‘After visiting and after prayerful consideration, it became more and more apparent that a move to Stranraer would be the right thing to do, both to help the GP staffing issue and also to get involved in the RP congregation here’.
James and Katie are both keen Parkrunners, have already taken part in Agnew Parkrun, and say they are looking forward to getting involved in the wider community here.

John G. Paton

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In Sunday evening’s sermon, Stephen mentioned John G. Paton, who was a Scottish RP Missionary in the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) in the 19th century.

Paton, brought up near Dumfries, was initially and elder and city missionary in the Green Street congregation in Glasgow, planted by William Symington’s Great Hamilton Street congregation, after Symington moved there from Stranraer.

An excellent overview of his life is available in the form of a biographical talk given at a pastor’s conference twenty years ago by John Piper: You Will Be Eaten by Cannibals! Lessons from the Life of John G. Paton.

In a summary of the message, also available at the above link, Piper gives some background to the mission:

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‘on the Island of Aneityum, John Geddie from the Presbyterian church in Nova Scotia (coming in 1848) and John Inglis from The Reformed Presbyterian Church in Scotland (coming in 1852) saw amazing fruit, so that by 1854 “about 3,500 savages (more than half the population threw away their idols, renouncing their heathen customs and avowing themselves to be worshippers of the true Jehovah God”’

Paton arrived at the island of Aniwa in 1866. In the next 15 years he saw the whole island turn to Christ. Years later he wrote, ‘I claimed Aniwa for Jesus, and by the grace of God Aniwa now worships at the Saviour’s feet’.

Piper’s talk was later published as an ebook, which is available to read for free.

The classic book on Paton is his autobiography which is introduced in the video below by Ian Hamilton:

A Global Church

Although the RP Church of Scotland is a small denomination, one of our great advantages is that we’re part of a body of believers that spans the globe. Recently Stephen represented the RPCS at two days of meetings of the RP Global Alliance.

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Having previously met in Ottawa in 2018, this time the meetings were held in Belfast. Also present were delegates from the RP Churches of North America (which has a Presbytery in Japan and mission churches in Central & Southern America and Asia), Ireland (currently overseeing mission work in France and Spain) and Australia.

One very practical benefit of meeting face to face is having men from other countries preach in each other’s pulpits - such as Kyle Borg preaching in Stranraer.

You can keep up-to-date with news from RP Churches around the world on the RP Global Alliance website.