When looking at the history of missions in Scotland, there are two areas to focus on. The first is the growth of churches during the Scottish Restoration Movement, looking at their missional focus, and the way they were able to reach vast areas of Scotland, and reach internationally from a grass roots movement. This movement also had very large implications on modern missions within the churches of Christ in Scotland, which is the second aspect of missions we'll examine.

There is rich restoration history within Scotland, history which has impacted mission efforts in many ways, both domestically on Scottish shores, and internationally as the gospel has been taken further afield. Two important figures in Scottish restoration history are the Haldane brothers, Robert and James, who were from an independently wealthy family. The Haldanes sold their estate in Stirling in order to fund their preaching tours in Scotland, and overseas, and they eventually made it across to preach and plant congregations in Nova Scotia, Canada, and New England. Though the Haldanes had owned their estate in Stirling, there was no missions influence in Stirling to speak of, neither were there any restoration movement groups, though the denominations were prevalent. Through the selling of their estate, the Haldanes were able to fund their mission efforts, training numerous preachers throughout Scotland, and funding preaching tours across the nation. They established a congregation in Leith, Edinburgh, which ended up having a large impact on our modern Scottish missions. Through the Haldanes, at one point there was an open air preaching event on Calton Hill in Edinburgh that had around 10, 000 in attendance!

In 1818, Alexander Campbell (right) distributed letters to Churches of Christ internationally to get a feel for each church's teaching, and the state of each church. The congregation on Leith Walk responded, stating that they had around 250 members, 3 elders, and 4 deacons, much of which can be attributed to the missions efforts of James Haldane.

Around this time, churches were also growing in the Central Belt, with much activity happening predominantly in the mining villages and towns. The area around Falkirk had many vibrant congregations, though this never impacted the Stirling area. One of the largest congregations at this time was in the mining village of Slamannan, which had around 250 members. Since this was a poor area, with the majority of the members being miners, they realized that they did not have the financial means to fully support an evangelist, so they came up with what was called “the Slamannan District,” which essentially funded district preachers for the congregations of the area. Since the majority of congregations couldn't afford a full time evangelist, they would pay into the Slamannan District fund, which funded the works of the district preachers. These preachers would travel to the congregations and spend a month or so with each of those congregations evangelizing, preaching, teaching, and equipping other men to teach and preach while the district preachers remained on their circuit. It wasn't ideal, yet it was an interesting way of using and pooling their resources in order to equip congregations in a regional area, without having to rely on support from elsewhere. This began in the 1800's and carried on for over 100 years. The training for these evangelists came from intense mentoring and discipleship with current respected preachers, rather than through a formal education at a Bible School. There have been no modern missions efforts in Falkirk, or the surrounding area, with these efforts being the last recorded within our brotherhood; meaning that it has been over 50 years since the last known work of the Church of Christ was functioning in Falkirk and the surrounding area.

1956 gave birth to the modern missions movement in Scotland supported by brethren in the United States. The 1950's saw a post war tide of missionaries coming from the United States to Europe, and Scotland was one of the fields that received those missionaries with open arms. One important lesson we can learn from the first missionaries that came into Scotland in the 50's is that they were able to come into a nation with already established congregations, and for the most part link up effectively with the Scottish brethren. This enabled a successful 50 years of mission efforts, with the co-operation of both Scottish and U.S. Brethren. In 1956, before American missionaries entered the field, there were less than 20 congregations, with only 2 Scottish preachers. Now, 50 years later there have been over 10 churches planted, with 6 American missionaries still serving, and 11 Scottish preachers operating in the country. Much of this is due to the successes of early mission workers integrating with already established works, and using their resources to proclaim the gospel and plant more congregations in Scotland.

Initially, the first U.S. missionary (Clyde Findlay) in Scotland came to Edinburgh, and working alongside the remnant of the church in Leith (mentioned earlier), and teaming up with a Scottish preacher (Andrew Gardiner), they were able to plant a congregation on the South side of Edinburgh, named Hyvot's Bank. They worked closely with already existing works in Scotland to establish that congregation, and Hyvots is still a vibrant congregation today, with over 50 members. In 1965, another missionary from the U.S., Claude Parrish came to Scotland, to work alongside Andrew Gardiner in establishing another congregation in the west side of Edinburgh, in an area called Sighthill. This congregation was the focus of many short term missions efforts, and long term, with the likes of Dean English, Mitchell Vick, and Adrin Fletcher initially coming to work with the congregation. Dean eventually moved to Hyvots Bank to work with them, while Mitchell Vick remained with the work at Sighthill. Mission work in Edinburgh was at its high point at this time, in the 1970's. Through these church plants, other churches were also planted, such as the congregation in Livingston, about 15 miles west of Edinburgh.

When looking at missions, and its effects since the 1950's, we see three stages in the work. The first missionaries came in the 1950's and their efforts carried on into the 1960's. These were part of the Post War wave of missionaries coming into Europe, and they laid a great foundation for mission workers following after them. They established a strong precedent of American missionaries working alongside the Scottish brethren, and helped establish strong congregations that in turn would be integral in later church plantings and mission efforts. With these missions efforts, the following congregations were planted: in Edinburgh Hyvots Bank and Sighthill and in Glasgow: Castlemilk. The initial work of these missionaries enabled additional resources and mission efforts to come into the country, thus reversing the trend of Scottish churches closing their doors.

In the 60's and 70's another missions thrust was seen in Scotland, with the congregation in East Kilbride being planted in a collaborative effort between Scottish natives Jack Strachan and Gordon Shields. This effort in 1972 would have been one of the earlier mission teams forming specifically for a church plant, with 4 families operating in EK by 1975. Another congregation in Glasgow was planted through the church in Castlemilk, as families from there started the congregation in Clarkston in 1976; 5 years later, a missionary from the U.S came across to work with that congregation until 2009, when he returned to the states.

The 1980's saw the missions efforts and evangelistic vigor propelled further with the Scotland for Christ movement to bring more workers into the country; it was initially started by Dean English, who was able to recruit more missionaries to commit to the field in Scotland, and through it plant more congregations. Through this effort, the work in Livingston was begun in 1982; a team came to Dundee from Sunset to restart the work there; the congregation in Glenrothes, though already planted in the 70's by Alex Strachan, had additional workers come to help mature the church plant; a church was planted in Perth, and one in Inverness, though they never gained a foothold in their cities and closed their doors shortly after the missionaries left. The church in East Kilbride was involved in planting the church in Cumbernauld in 1986, and the church in Aberdeen was planted by American oil workers who began worshipping in the city. All in all this was a highpoint in Scottish Missions.

Mission work in the 1990's and 2000's has primarily been focused on maturing the established works, and less on church planting. However, in 1990, there was a team of 3 families who were involved with planting the congregation in Stirling. Up until this point, there had been no known works of the Churches of Christ in this area, whether through the old restoration movement churches, or modern missions efforts. As a result of these 3 families (the Renwicks, Hendersons, Vicks), the congregation in Stirling was planted, and is still active today.

This brings us to the present era of Scottish missions. Many of our missionaries from the 1970's and 1980's are still faithfully serving on the field in Scotland, however there has not been a generation of missionaries to come in behind and strengthen the work, or plant new works. As a team, we have seen the opportunity to work alongside these established mission efforts, help them grow to maturity, and also empower them to plant other congregations in their area, and have a regional focus of disciple making. Through this we're focusing on the city of Falkirk, in order to work alongside the congregations in both Stirling and Edinburgh to help them plant churches in their surrounding areas. There has been no missions efforts in Falkirk in modern times, and other than the occasional Harding University campaign group, there has been very little missions activity in both Edinburgh and Stirling. We can learn from Scottish missions history that working alongside the native brethren in partnership with them has been fruitful in the past; the time is now to continue this partnership into the future. It's more than just history, it's living history that affects both the past, the present and the future, and we as a team are both honored and excited to be part of it.

Other Mission Efforts:

Regarding the denominational world, though there are many other denominations and religious groups in our target area, there have not been extensive mission efforts from out with Scotland to aid these efforts. The predominant religions have long standing roots in the nation, and thus their resources come from within Scotland. The exception to the rule of course are the Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons. The Jehovah's Witnesses have been operating in Scotland since 1890 and the Mormons have been operating in Scotland since 1838. The last 30 years have seen an increased presence in their mission efforts. Their efforts have impacted missions methodology in many ways, since many of the Scottish people have a negative view of these religious groups and their methods of reaching out. As a result, it can be difficult to have a fruitful response from methods such as door knocking, due to the negative responses in the past.

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Edinburgh Castle - Edinburgh	Wallace Monument - Stirling	Scottish Flag