A NEW Erskine minister has vowed to bring a sense of hope to his congregation at a testing time for the Church of Scotland.

David Nicolson was recently ordained at Erskine Parish Church after the congregation had gone without a permanent minister for around two years.

The dad-of-three, who is taking up a post as minister for the first time, said he is delighted to be getting started after first showing interest in the role back in June.

David, 33, told The Gazette: “It’s been a challenging time for the Church as vacancies do bring a lot of uncertainty, especially when we’re getting more retirements and ministers leaving than there are ministers in training.

“There are challenges everywhere in the Church now. I suppose people feel the Church is becoming less relevant but I believe there is no great case to be despondent.

“On the outside, it can look like a bit of a doomsday scenario but, if we are going to be authentic to our beliefs, then we should be incredibly hopeful about the future.

“I hope to make sure that message of hope is at the centre of everything we do.”

Originally from Lewis, in the Western Isles, David first became involved with a church in Stornoway after studying for an English degree and spending a few years working in broadcast media.

After working with several churches in the west of Scotland throughout his training, David spotted the opportunity in Erskine once he was allowed to pursue his own path.

He is now settling into the area with his wife Victoria and three children.

“So far, it’s been about establishing contact with organisations, finding out who runs them and how I can help,” added David, who is studying part-time for a degree at Highland Theological College.

“I want to get used to the culture of the place. Every church is different.

“We get about 150 to 200 people on a Sunday and, by Church of Scotland standards, that is pretty reasonable but I think it can be difficult to measure the health of a church because, although it is about numbers, it’s not all about that.

“There are different types of growth and I think that, as well as trying to get more people to come to church, as we should always be trying to diversify the congregation, I would also like to deepen people’s understanding of their faith, what they believe and why they believe it.”

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