St. Ninian's Church of Scotland: Paisley

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St. James's

Wallneuk North

(To visit the Wallneuk North Website click the picture)

Eleanor, Bill & Tom with Dr. Alison Elliot Moderator of the General Assembly 2004

This article was written by Bill Wishart and first appeared in the newspaper of "The Big Saturday" an event organised by Glasgow, Greenock & Paisley, Hamilton and Lanark Presbyteries in September 2005 in the SECC Glasgow.

In the Beginning:

The North Joint Working Association (NJW) came into being on the 1^st of February 2004 and was the result of radical forward thinking by the congregations of Paisley: St. James’s, Paisley Wallneuk North, Paisley St. Ninian’s Ferguslie NCD, the Presbytery of Greenock & Paisley, and the boards of Ministry and National Mission.

"Let there be light":   It had become obvious that established forms of ministry were no longer the most appropriate for the 3 churches in the North end of Paisley. St. Ninian’s had been struggling on and off for a number of years and had eventually,around 4 years ago, been designated an NCD and an interim minister was appointed. 18 months later, when the interim ministry came to an end the national and local church faced some difficult and challenging decisions. Should they continue along the established route of traditional Parish Ministry or should they begin to start thinking “outside the box”. Thankfully they chose the latter and it was the beginning of a new and exciting journey that has re-shaped thoughts and changed attitudes and lives.

“It is not good for them to be alone!”: The churches of St. James’s and Wallneuk North have a history of working together and this is perhaps best demonstrated in the Star Project, a community project which does lots of great work in the North End of Paisley and which is a joint venture with two other North End churches. But a plan was devised by which the three churches of Scotland would begin to work in association with each other and so the NJW was born. A ministry team consisting of the ministers of Wallneuk North & St. James’s and a newly appointed Deacon was established. The deacon, Bill Wishart, has responsibility mainly for St. Ninian’s but inputs a third of his time to the other two churches. Meanwhile Rev. Tom Macintyre and Rev. Eleanor McMahon give a third of their time to St. Ninian’s as well as continuing to serve their original charges.

In order to facilitate in the bringing together of the congregations a fourth worker was always envisaged and with the help of funding from the national and local church Isabel Gray was appointed Congregations Support Worker in September 2004.

"And God saw that it was good":

The last year has been a time of great excitement, challenge and, above all, blessing as our 3 churches have begun their journey together. It hasn’t always been easy but we have always felt God’s spirit leading us into new paths and forms of ministry such as:

• A new baptismal policy which encourages families to interact with the congregations in new ways and which provides a cake for each child with an invitation to all who attend the baptism to join us for tea and cake in the hall. This means that the church is not only seen as the place where the “wean is done” but also where the party starts. The cake is part of a developing “theology of welcome” in which we seek to explore the best ways of integrating baptismal families into the life of the church. Linked to this is a developing “after care process” through which we aim to keep contact with families in the years after the baptism. This new policy is part of a developing family support strategy which we hope will include increased emphasis on work with young women and families. Fairly early on into the policy we reviewed how we met families before the baptism and changed some aspects of our meetings in order to ensure that parents have the best possible understanding of what baptism means for them and their child.

• Active participation in 3 primary schools. This may seem like an old idea but thanks to exciting and inovative youth work within 2 community projects we are able to build on our school contact with young people and offer them clubs and developmental opportunities that would not otherwise be possible.

• A pastoral rota whereby one of the team covers funerals for all 3 parishes in a week releasing the others to other tasks.

• The gathering. A new event held 3 or 4 times a year where the churches can come together to share and socialise together. As well as the gathering other social events are planned by an events group made up of representatives all 3 congregations. These social events are proving invaluable as a way of bringing people together.

• Joint services and praise nights. These have become increasingly popular ranging from a service held with Dr Alison Elliott, Moderator of the General Assembly in November 2004 to regular praise nights where we have enjoyed joining together in praise and worship. Our 3 churches have different worship styles and we have really enjoyed learning from each other and enriching our own experiences.

In November 2006 as part of the next phase of our joint working, the NJW was re-named Network Paisley. This name, we feel, better reflects the work we do together and is summed up by the fact that the word NET of Network stands for North End Together. Our joint working over these last 3 years has brought a sharing of resources and of skills and talents within the ministry team and congregations, and as we look forward to the future so we also look forward to working ever closer with the “Master Builder” in building His “church without walls!”

Bill, Isabel, Eleanor and Network Paisley Advisory Group chairman, Very Rev. Sandy MacDonald, outside St. Ninian's in August 2007