The 65th Free Church School in Theology met in Larbert, from 4 to 7 September.
With 2017 being a Reformation anniversary year, it was fitting that the first paper was ‘Luther the Reformer’ by the Revd John W. Keddie. Mr Keddie reminded us that Martin Luther was God’s man for the times. He was a man of courage, conviction and prayer. We were encouraged to cry out to the Lord with great urgency today for such a man of God for the Reformation of the church in Scotland and the Western world.
The Netherlands
The Revd Dr Pieter De Vries, minister of the Restored Reformed Congregations, gave an ‘Overview of the Church in the Netherlands’. Explaining the complex nature of the history of the Netherlands church situation, it was not dissimilar to the complexity of the history of the Scottish church situation, with its various splits and unions over the decades.
The theological paper on the ‘Pastoral Implications of Marriage and Divorce’, by the Revd James I. Gracie was helpful. It created much discussion, comments and questions.
Digital media
The Revd James MacInnes spoke on the ‘Use and Abuse of Digital Media’, which focused on social media. It recognised that social media presents a great gospel opportunity, but this must be used wisely so that the message is not compromised by the constraints of the medium. In the providence of God the development of the printing press was key in advancing the Reformation and allowed Luther’s writings to be ‘tweeted, liked and shared’.
