Like many areas in Scotland, Orkney was included in the sweep of revival that God sent in the early 1860s. But after that, evangelical faith declined.
Into this background a small group of believers felt called to plant Grace Church Orkney. Constituted in November 2017 it opened for public worship in November 2018. The vision is to become a church that plants churches in the areas of gospel deprivation.
Due to its difficulty, church planting in rural areas has been recognised as a priority area by the Acts 29 Network. With support from the North of Scotland cohort and other supporting groups, the Grace Church leaders hope to establish connections to bring help to develop the work. Like many other planting situations it is clear that the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
The vision is to see conversion growth in the Orcadian population who will then reach other Orcadians. To that end, extensive refurbishment work has been carried out on their small building in the town of Stromness.
Now that the work is completed and Covid restrictions are easing, the leaders are keen to invest in people. Church leaders hope that believers who can see the vision and sense God’s calling will come to the Islands and strengthen the work.
