Scottish Baptist Lay Preachers Association

Jim McFarlane (Kirkintilloch) & President of SBLPA

Apparently, so I’m told, every human being needs to worship someone or something outside themselves. Worship then is concentrating our whole mind, heart and life on something or someone in which we find satisfaction. Some people build statues to please ‘the spirits’ which they believe will help. Others devote [...]

Below are some previous posts which fit into the theme of this series:
What a Lay Preacher Sees (Jim Macfarlane) This will give you an idea what to expect as you preapare to lead a worship service from the minute you get the invitation.
Every Communion Special and Unique George Petrie asks the question Is it necessary to [...]

George Petrie (Broxburn) and former president of the SBLPA
Alone on a bright still day on the top of a Scottish mountain able to see for miles, the silence is almost deafening. On such occasions I have often felt the presence of God.
Has silence a place in corporate worship?  My childhood memory of church was a [...]

“ Since then we have a great high Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the son of God. Let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet [...]

When we returned as a family from Nigeria to Scotland well over forty years ago we looked for somewhere to live (a story in itself!) and somewhere to worship, a place where we would be fed  by the faithful, enlivened preaching of God’s word and where we could really meet with the living Lord.  We found such [...]

Alan Milnes (Leslie) and Treasurer of the SBLPA
Eric MacArthur has already written on this subject but, as we know from our current experience in vacancy at Leslie Baptist, when God gives the same message to more than one person it usually means He has something important to say.
I echo Eric’s plea for more silence in [...]

Have you ever had to do something that’s the opposite of what seems sensible to do in the circumstances? I mean something that seems counter-intuitive? We’ve had a terrible winter here in the northeast of Scotland. There has been snow on the ground for two months and many days I’ve been driving to work on [...]

Jimmy Edmiston (Kings Park)
Death is one of the great ‘taboos’ in our society. It is inevitable but is still very much a subject that is never discussed in families. When it happens it is most often sudden and unexpected. In life there are not many people who have the privilege of being able to prepare [...]

(Mark 15v21)
He had been on his journey for a while now. It was a journey filled with purpose and promise. He could see the gates of Jerusalem now and with that image his journey was finally coming to an end. Immediately as he entered through the gates, he could a sense an air of excitement [...]

Trevor May (Denny)
A reflection based upon 1 Chronicles 16: 29b.
David in his Song of Thanksgiving in 1 Chronicles 16:29 says, “Give to the Lord the glory due to His name; bring an offering and come unto him.” “Oh worship the Lord in the beauty of Holiness.”
I recall attending a church in my youth where [...]