Beginnings
The origins of Inverness Greyfriars Free Church of Scotland go back to the founding of the Gaelic Church in Inverness when Donald Fraser was ordained to 'read and catechise in the Gaelic language.'
In December 1640 the worshippers complained that 'the chapel was ruinous and ready to fall.' The failed Jacobite rebellion of 1715 led to the garrisoning of the Highlands with Government troops and each Sunday the Redcoats paraded from their barracks to worship at the Old High Church. At the church door Gaelic speaking soldiers were dismissed and left to hold their own service in the open churchyard. It is said that word reached the king, who, taking pity on his loyal Gaelic troops, provided a sum of money to erect a place of worship for their use.
In 1792 the Church was rebuilt in a brutally plain style, utterly lacking in any architectural distinction. It was, however, famous for its very ornate pulpit, the 'black pulpit,' thought to have been very much older than the Church itself. Legend attributes the construction of the pulpit to a local genius, a young herd boy from Culloden, who designed it to be held together by a single master pin, a secret he took to the grave thus hindering future generations from safely moving it intact. It is thought to have been clumsily removed and lost while being kept in storage.
The Inverness Journal of 5th March 1830 reported a sensation: Ezekiel Caspar Auerbach, a thirty-five year Jew from Warsaw, Poland, had been baptised and received into membership of the Church. Popular curiosity was such that well before the service had commenced, 'the Gaelic Church was crowded to excess, the doors and passages being completely blocked with persons anxious to witness a scene so novel in this part of the country.'
The MacQueen Memorial Church
In 1936, the Rev. Ewan MacQueen and his supporters left the Free Presbyterian Church. Nick-named the 'split-Ps', they formed themselves into a congregation but having no building of their own, they worshipped first in the quaintly named 'Catch my Pal' hall in Academy Street and then in the Old High Church. In 1954 the Gaelic Church was offered for sale and the congregation bought it for the sum of £8,500. The building was renamed the MacQueen Memorial Church and remained the congregation's home until 1994.
Ewan MacQueen died in 1949 and was succeeded by Rev. A.D. MacLeod who soon afterwards joined the Church of Scotland. With MacLeod's departure, the congregation faced a crisis. The solution chosen was to ask to be received as a congregation of the Free Church of Scotland. In 1958 a small congregation of about sixty people, considerably in debt, became Greyfriars Free Church.
Greyfriars Free Church of Scotland: 1958 - 2005
Ministers
Rev Donald MacDonald was the first minister of Greyfriars Free Church. As a 48-year-old native of Ness, Isle of Lewis, he was inducted on 18th September 1958. Under his fine preaching and faithful pastoral care the congregation flourished and grew to an extent almost without precedent in the Free Church in the twentieth century. He died in April 1977.
Rev Murdo Alex Macleod commenced his successful and much loved ministry in 1978. Under his influence the congregation continued to grow significantly until it became difficult to obtain a seat for Sunday evening services.
Rev Robert Smith was inducted to the charge in 1986. After a short ministry, during which the congregation grew, Mr Smith resigned.
Rev. Calum Matheson came to Greyfriars in 1991 but his much respected ministry was tragically cut short, when after a period of about eighteen months he was taken ill and suddenly died, leaving a wife and two young children. Under Calum's leadership, the congregation, relocated from the city centre to Balloan Road, on the south side of the town. In 2005 Calum's son, Gordon, was ordained and inducted as assistant minister in the congregation. Gordon was with us until 2009. He is now minister of Sleat and Strath Free Church on the Island of Skye.
Rev Maurice Roberts was inducted in June 1994 and was minister until 1999.
Rev Dr John Ross was called in May 2002 and inducted on 20th November that year.
Greyfriars Stratherrick Free Church of Scotland: 2005 - present
In the past five years the congregation has approximately doubled in size. Our Sunday school and creche now numbers around forty children, as new families commit to worshiping with us. Like others, we have proved that under God's blessing expansion happens when the warmth of the Good News touches the hearts and lives of the church family. Through a number of congregational community initiatives we are now once more experiencing healthy growth.
In 2005 we entered into a partnership with the Duthil-Dores congregation in Strathnairn and Stratherrick. The congregation, now called Greyfriars Stratherrick, serves a large urban community in south Inverness, and the rural community of Stratherrick from our meeting place at Errogie Free Church (left)and through the Stratherrick community hall.
Dr John Ross left in 2008 to serve the Free Church at Dumisani Theological Institute, South Africa. He was followed as pastor by Rev Dr Malcolm Maclean, who was inducted in September 2009; his previous congregation was Scalpay Free Church of Scotland in the Western Isles. Mr Maclean is a native of Inverness, and before becoming a minister worked for Christian Focus Publications as its Managing Editor.
