Final Message from Neil

If you weren’t the minister, is this a church you would choose to be part of? If you weren’t required to lead worship here on Sunday, would you come?

These are the kind of searching questions ministers are challenged to ask.

In the case of St Andrew Blackadder, I would say an unequivocal ‘yes.’  And Helen’s response would be equally clear.

I arrived in August 2003 with a degree of trepidation. What I’d learnt about St Andrew Blackadder was all positive. It seemed like a great congregation, which was eager to share in God’s mission and who wanted me to help them work out what that would look like. I was at an age of life and stage of ministry where I believed I could offer what was needed.  I sensed God’s guidance in all of this. It all looked good on paper.

Church life, though, is much more than promising words. Did the reality of St Andrew Blackadder match the words?  Was I really the right minister for the congregation at this time?  How well had I discerned God’s guidance? That’s why I arrived in August 2003 with a degree of trepidation.

That trepidation vanished almost at once. For more than 20 years I have had the sense of being the right person to be minister of this congregation at this time. In the providence of God we have been such a good fit for each other. I hear ministerial colleagues talking about difficult meetings and awkward people, about how they feel unsupported and uncared for. My experience at St Andrew Blackadder has been entirely different. How blessed I have been. I have loved being your minister. It has been a joy and delight to have had the opportunity of sharing with you in God’s work here in North Berwick. It has also been a great congregation for Helen to be part of and for our daughters to have grown up in.

We feel incredibly grateful to God who has given us the privilege of being part of St Andrew Blackadder. It is the church we would choose to be part of if I was not the minister of it.  We are hugely indebted to you for your love, your kindness, your support, your prayers and encouragement.

That is what makes this week very hard. The time has come not just for me to stop being your minister, but also for Helen and I to leave the congregation.

Being a minister of a congregation is a unique privilege. It means I (and by extension Helen) are not just ordinary members of the congregation.  With all privilege comes responsibility. Part of the responsibility of being a minister is moving on when your time is complete. I need to leave to create space for the next minister.

Leaving is hard. I need to let go of you. You need to let go of me.

One thing which helps me is the promise of Jesus that he is the guardian of the church. He promised ‘I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.’ (Matthew 16:18)

At the top of the lift, at the door into the sanctuary, is this plaque. It lists the ministers in North Berwick at St Andrews, Blackadder and St Andrew Blackadder since the Scottish Reformation.

Its unspoken message is, ministers come and ministers go but the Church of Jesus Christ endures.

For both you and me a period of uncertainty lies ahead. In the midst of this uncertainty the list of previous ministers encourages us. It assures us that servants of Jesus come and go, but the church of Jesus Christ endures.

Jesus cares more for St Andrew Blackadder than I could ever do. That’s why although Helen and I are sad to be leaving we are not despondent. We will continue to pray for you and we know we will hear good news about all the new things God is doing in and through you.