Three new churches are being planted this year in working-class communities in the West of Scotland.
The initiative is being led by the organisation 20schemes, which is committed to planting and revitalising churches in Scotland’s poorest areas, known locally as ‘schemes’.
In Glasgow and the broader West of Scotland region there was once a rich gospel heritage. Starting with the founder of Glasgow, St Mungo, who christened Scotland’s now-largest city in 540AD with the slogan ‘Let Glasgow Flourish by the Preaching of Thy Word and Praising of Thy Name’. That slogan was later shortened to ‘Let Glasgow Flourish’ and then recently rebranded to a safe and secular ‘People Make Glasgow’.
Now, however, very few people in this part of Scotland attend an evangelical church of any flavour. And a study in 2015 found that under two per cent of the city were regular church goers. This figure is reflective of an increasingly secular Scotland and is even more stark in the poorest communities of the West.
20schemes have therefore decided to focus their church-planting and revitalising efforts (not exclusively but especially) in the West of Scotland, for the next five years.
Three new churches are planned for 2023 in the working-class communities of Harestanes in the town of Kirkintilloch in North Lanarkshire, Govan in Glasgow city and the Inverclyde town of Port Glasgow, on the River Clyde estuary. Harestanes and Port Glasgow are revitalisation projects of churches that have dwindled in size over the years, with Govan a new church plant.
20schemes church planter and Director of Church Planting in the West, Pete Stewart, spoke of his excitement for the new focus:
‘It’s our aim to do two simple things: to find places (to plant) and to train people (to serve) and then pray that the Lord shines the light of the gospel on some of these dark communities once again.’
One of these new plants, Govan, is the partnership of 20schemes and Harper Church, an established church in the Plantation area of Glasgow, that saw the need for a gospel church in the heart of neighbouring Govan.
Pastor of Harper Church, Alan McKnight, spoke of the partnership and the gospel need in Govan at a recent 20schemes conference, saying: ‘The biggest need (in these working-class communities) isn’t physical, social or economic regeneration – although these things are all important things that Christians should be doing – the biggest need is spiritual regeneration!’
Director Pete Stewart added: ‘Our greatest need right now is for people to come and serve in the schemes and for established churches like Harper to partner with us in this gospel ministry.’
Find out more at 20schemes.com/west
