Congregational Profile
1. Context
Brief history of the congregation
The congregation was formed in 1929 by people from several local congregations and the church building opened in 1931.
In the past the congregation provided various children and teenagers activities.
More recently, developing strong connections with local churches of other denominations has been important for the congregation. This resulted in the formation of the Cathcart Youth Ministry Partnership and the Covenant with Cathcart Church of Scotland.
Local ecumenical scene
Working with other congregations, initially through joint Holy Week services, has been a feature of church life in Cathcart for over 60 years.
Our Covenant with Cathcart Church of Scotland formed out of assistance with preaching etc. we received from our friends in Cathcart Church of Scotland in 2005 during a period when we were without a minister. This covenant was first signed in 2011 and revised in 2018.
With Cathcart Church of Scotland, we now hold joint:
- evening services
- Wednesday morning services
- monthly prayer meetings
The two churches, along with Cathcart Baptist Church hold:
- monthly Prayer breakfasts
- Easter and summer holiday clubs
- shared Holy week services
Radiate (formerly Cathcart Youth Ministry Partnership) formed in 2007 and has strengthened the partnership working between the 3 churches, as well as building on relationships with other churches in the wider area.
We have discovered the value of such partnership working and are keen to see it continue and to develop as appropriate.
2. Priorities for the Congregation
- worship
- discipleship
- growth and community
3. Ministry and Mission
Ministry
From 2015 – 2022 Rev Wilma Pearson served the congregation on a part-time (4 days per week) basis. She was responsible for most of the preaching, the pastoral care and, was involved in working in the community. She organised a number of activities to enable the congregation to be better equipped to share their faith within the community. We have sought to continue this.
Since Wilma retired, three ‘retired’ ministers have taken many of the services. The elders and speakers from various Christian organisations also take a number of services each year.
Mission
As is stated below, local community engagement is primarily through joint activities between the three churches.
In the last few years the UF has made good use of the garden space. We have created displays which change through the year and a held a number of outdoor events. We also encourage people to use it as a prayer space.
4. Strengths and weaknesses of the congregation
In the view of the elders these can be summarised as:
Strengths
- Good Biblical preaching
- Open, inclusive community
- Open to new ideas
- Willingness to try something new and risk failure
- New people coming in
- Signs of growth/folk maturing in their faith
- Range of gifts and new gifts emerging
- Flexible premises and garden space
- Use of technology and those with technical abilities
- Partnership working
Weaknesses
- Small size and limited number of those available to serve
- Time poverty – those of working age with busy work life
- Lack of those aged under 50.
- Not many involved in small groups
5. Local Church Life
Worship
In our worship on a Sunday and Wednesday we are keen to have preaching which encourages and challenge us in our walk with Christ. The worship in Cathcart is of a relaxed style. Currently a number of retired ministers & lay people lead our worship both on a Sunday and a Wednesday. Elders also take responsibility for planning and leading a few Sunday services over the year. For both services there are planned preaching themes.
Sunday
At the Sunday morning service members of the congregation regularly take part in the worship through Bible reading, leading in prayer, occasionally sharing part of their faith journey, reciting a poem they have written or in a short sketch. The music is varied with a mix of traditional songs as well as more contemporary worship. Learning new songs is encouraged. Praise is led by a small but able praise band. Door duty is seen as a welcome ministry.
Occasionally within Sunday worship there is time to discuss, share and pray together in small groups and this has been beneficial and a means of encouraging folk to pray with others. Most people have now become much more comfortable with this approach. Quite often the message is shared in 2 distinct parts, and we find this helpful. We make use of videos during worship to inform us about mission, to support the teaching and to encourage worship.
Sunday Live Streaming
Several people join our services via Zoom or watch live on YouTube. This has also enabled two of our folk working/ living abroad to both worship and interact with us regularly. Services are recorded, edited and uploaded onto YouTube and linked to our website.
Tea and coffee are served after worship each week, and this encourages folk to continue to enjoy fellowship with one another.
We are keen to develop our worship so that it is helpful for those who are new to the congregation and ensure that it encourages people to grow in their faith. We see faithful biblical preaching as an important part of the worship.
Wednesday
Wednesday service, which is shared with the Church of Scotland, is shorter and slightly more traditional
Prayer Time
Prayer is an important aspect of a church’s life. There is an opportunity to meet weekly on a Monday evening for an hour to pray primarily for the life and witness of our own congregation. This is held every week on Zoom with an in-person option available on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month.
There are also the joint prayer meetings, mentioned above to help encourage our congregation to grow in their own prayer life and we have had events with different approaches to prayer being explored. We are always looking for ways to encourage people to join in prayer times as we know these are key if the church is to move forward and see growth.
Bible Study
Several people in the congregation attend various Bible Study groups. Over the last few years these groups, run jointly with the Church of Scotland, have diversified to study topics or books that feel relevant to the group at that time.
Pastoral Care
The care of the congregation is a shared responsibility. The elders have the primary responsibility for pastoral care within the congregation, with the minister/ministry assistant being available for urgent pastoral care. Recognising there are many pressures on elders’ time and that some would not see this as their gift we also have several other members with gifts in this area who form a pastoral team to supplement the work of the elders.
There is a need for elders and others in the pastoral team to have continuous training in pastoral care. The “ministry of referral” is very valuable i.e. knowing when someone needs external help from someone with specific training/experience in particular issues (e.g. mental health.)
Pastoral care continues to be an important part of our work as a congregation, particularly seeking to support people who are facing challenges. We would look for any minister to have good inter-personal skills and to be able to get alongside people in particular need.
Mission/Evangelism
Local
Some local community engagement happens through joint activities between the three churches. There is a shared Community Team, with representatives drawn from the three churches and they have arranged occasional special events, such as community carol singing.
Good use is made of the church grounds to promote special times such as Easter, Pentecost, Harvest and Christmas with displays, literature and posters. On occasion we have held garden parties, with music and singing, to encourage neighbours into the church grounds. The Prayer Space in the garden has been significant, encouraging folk in the community to come in and have the opportunity to meditate and pray.
On the first Saturday morning of each month, we have Brunch at the Bothy which is a drop in café with activities available if folk wish to participate and a short time of reflection on following Jesus during the morning to encourage faith conversations. It is a ‘work in progress’ and we are learning as we go along.
We introduced the congregation to ‘The Word One to One’ www.theword121.com which involves meeting with one or two folk to look at John’s gospel using guided material. This was followed up by several training events after morning worship which were attended by more than half the congregation.
We were delighted to see the completion of phase 1 of the work to develop the buildings which included new kitchen, toilets and an upgrade to the rear premises and look forward to making good use of this new facility to engage with the community and develop our work. We hope to move on to phase 2 which will see an upgrade to the church itself to give a more flexible space.
Going forward we want to help people become better equipped to share their faith with others. We hope that any future will want to engage with the community and be willing to share in this.
Wider
We have a joint Worldwide Team (WWT) with Cathcart Church of Scotland. Its remit is to raise awareness of world mission and encourage interest and support of world mission in our churches.
Over the last few years, we have held a mission weekend in October/ November to which we have invited speakers from various missionary societies. The weekend usually includes a prayer breakfast on the Saturday morning, Sunday morning services with a mission focus and in the evening a closing mission event.
In the past we have had three folk who were connected with the congregation engage in long term mission work in Nepal and in Spain. Through Cathcart Church of Scotland, we have contact with a Pakistani missionary working among Muslims in his native country with OM. The WWT have monthly prayer for the persecuted church.
As a church we have an interest in the work of Tear Fund and hold an annual Christmas Tear Fund lunch and run the Big Quiz Nights to help support the valuable work of Tear Fund. These are also used as an opportunity to invite folk along.
Developing awareness of world mission helps us get the ‘bigger picture’ of what God is doing around the world and to have a sense of belonging to a global family.
Children and Young People
The partnership forms a separate charity with 9 trustees: 3 from each of the 3 churches, and currently employs Rev Cara Wightman as the Senior Development Worker as well as a placement student and is seeking an additional part-time youth worker position to further develop schools and family work in the community. Volunteers from the 3 churches are also heavily involved in the various activities driven by Radiate.
The Radiate calendar is busy and varied. This includes the annual highlights of the summer and Easter holiday clubs, when there are activities across the 3 churches. Cathcart UF is used as a café space which runs throughout the week where adults can meet and enjoy time together while children attend the club.
Throughout the year there are:
- Weekly discipleship groups
- Youth clubs,
- Monthly events for young people,
- Fundraising events,
- Involvement in local schools
- Regular blocks of “Vibe: Skills for living / creative arts” classes (these have taken various forms, including djembe drumming, gardening, cooking, guitar, sports, singing, and Lego).
The focus and heart of Radiate remains on children and young people, however as the work has evolved, opportunities for more inter-generational working and outreach is being realised. This has been particularly evident from ventures such as the holiday club café (held in the UF church), monthly outdoor cafe in the grounds of the Baptist church. The hope and vision is that this work continues to develop, as a real Christian witness working together in the community, building up and encouraging one another and optimising all our resources between the churches, sharing the good news of Jesus to those of every age.
We have been blessed by having Cara Wightman employed full time since the inception of Radiate.
6. Finally
We have tried to give a picture of the UF congregation at Cathcart UF and we hope you find it of interest. If you would like more information or to have a confidential conversation with the Interim Moderator, Rev John Fulton – johnofulton@talktalk.net
We are seeking a minister to serve on a full-time or part-time basis who will help us develop and build on what we have in terms of worship and preaching, pastoral care and community involvement and who may also feel led to introduce other approaches to strengthen the work and witness of the congregation.
Anyone seeking a ministry appointment within the UF Church needs to have completed the appropriate application process and information on this can be obtained from the United Free Church office – office@ufcos.org.uk.