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Christian Viewpoint: Does it really matter if a church gets converted into a pub or a carpet warehouse?


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Old High Church, Inverness
Old High Church, Inverness

There’s been concern about recent proposals by Inverness Presbytery to put the Old High Church on the market. The background is a national decision to cut the number of Church of Scotland ministers by a third in the light of declining kirk membership, and to dispose of redundant buildings, allowing the church to experiment with new ways of connecting with the people of Scotland.

What do I think about the possible sale of the Old High? What matters fundamentally is encountering the God who loves us, and this can take place anywhere. Such encounters happen wherever people meet, and share their faith in Jesus. A special building is not essential. A “church” is simply a gathering of people who gladly realise that whatever their nationality they are members of God’s tribe and choose to live as followers of Jesus.

But religious people, including Christians, speak of “thin places” where God is tangible, where light and peace break through, where the Author of the great tribal story makes their presence known.

Iona Abbey: A 'thin place' for many religious people. Picture: Wikimedia Commons
Iona Abbey: A 'thin place' for many religious people. Picture: Wikimedia Commons

There are many such “thin places.” Take Iona where many, many people across the centuries have sensed God particularly close. Many Christians have their own “thin place” – perhaps the corner of the bedroom where we pray. And every line of the Bible becomes a holy place as God speaks to us through it. But also important are buildings where across the centuries God has been worshipped, bread broken, wine shared, prayers uttered.

There are undoubtedly too many church buildings in Scotland, and some will have to go. Every closure brings regret to those who have encountered God within its walls. And for many Christians, buildings with roots deep in the past, physical reminders of our tribal story, housing art which reflects God’s creativity and beauty, are simply too precious to lose.

There has been worship on that mound beside the Ness where the Old High Church stands for centuries, probably before the coming of Columba. It’s likely that the saint preached there, perhaps it was on that very spot that the Pictish King Brude was converted to Christian faith. With varying degrees of sincerity people have knelt and prayed in buildings on that site throughout the colourful story of faith in the Highlands.

For the Old High, a Grade A listed building, to become a pub or a carpet warehouse would be (though God is no stranger in bars and commercial premises) to cede something precious into secular usage.

Yes, people meeting Jesus today, wherever they are, is far more important than preserving old buildings as such. But might treasures like the Old High be portals through which we find our way into the Great Story?

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