Free Church of Scotland (post 1900)
This article concerns the Free Church of Scotland after 1900. For the Free Church of Scotland existing during the 19th century, see Free Church of Scotland (1843-1900). For a more general article on independent Christian churches see Free church.The contemporary
Free Church of Scotland is that part of the original Free Church of Scotland that remained outwith the union with the
United Presbyterian Church of Scotland in 1900. It remains a distinct
Presbyterian denomination in
Scotland to this day, and is commonly referred to (in
Highland English, and mostly by outsiders) as
The Wee Frees, though this nickname is sometimes used for the
Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland (also occasionally known as
The Wee Wee Frees).
In 1900 the Free Church of Scotland united with the
United Presbyterian Church of Scotland to form the
United Free Church of Scotland. However, a minority of the original Free Church remained outside of this new union.
The protesting and dissenting minority at once claimed to be the legitimate Free Church. They met outside the Free Assembly Hall on
October 31, and, failing to gain admission to it, withdrew to another hall, where they elected John Bannatyne as moderator and held the remaining sittings of their Assembly.
It was reported that between 16,000 and 17,000 names had been received of persons adhering to the anti-unionist principle. At the Assembly of
1901 it was stated that the Free Church had twenty-five ministers and at least sixty-three congregations. However, her congregations were mostly in the
Gaelic-speaking districts of Scotland.
The initial problems were obvious, her congregations soon grew in number, but were far apart and there were not nearly enough ministers. The church received little sympathy or assistance from the United Free Church, and her work was conducted under considerable hardship. Nor could she appeal to the general popular sentiment of Scotland. However, the revenue of the church gradually increased, her sustentation fund was in 1901 only able to support 75 ministers, but from 1903 onwards 167.
The Free Church Case
(see Free Church case)After the union of 1900, the United Presbyterian Church and the continuing Free Church, not only contested the legacy of the Free Church of 1843-1900, they perhaps more importantly also contested its assets. After attempts at agreement failed, the whole matter ended in the Scottish courts. The litigation was initially decided in favour of the continuing Free Church, but in the end the matter was settled by Parliamentary intervention.
The Life of the Church
By 1906, a Free Church College had been re-established in Edinburgh. By 1925, there were 91 ministers and 170 congregations, in 12 Presbyteries (including two in Canada). The general magazine of the Free Church is
The Monthly Record and there are magazines for young people. Two of the professors in the Free Church College began a thological journal the
Evangelical Quarterly in 1929, but in 1942 control passed outside the church initially to Inter Varsity Fellowship. Today the College offers degrees in conjunction with the University of Glasgow.
Post 1945, the FC engaged with the wider evangelical cause, but after its growth in the early decades, it began a statistical decline that, except for a short period in the 1980s, has continued to this day. Currently is has a community of about 12,000 including about 5000 communicants, and is evidencing a greater effort to bring the Gospel to bear upon an increasingly secular society.
The church today maintains its strong commitment to the Westminster Confession and Reformed Theology. It continues in the traditional style of Scottish Presbyterian worship, chiefly the sole use of the Psalms in their metrical form, sung unaccompanied. A complete Psalter in modern English was published in 2003. Its offices and College remain on The Mound, Edinburgh.
The Free Church of Scotland belongs to the
International Conference of Reformed Churches. It has maintained an extensive missionary commitment for its size, with former missions in India, Peru and South Africa now having self-governing status. There is a close relationship with the
Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia.
The Division of 2000
Following widespread dissatisfaction, from the 1980s, with the manner in which allegations against a prominent professor of the Free Church were handled, over 20 ministers who had expressed disquiet that the matter had been handled in an unconstitutional manner were removed from their pulpits in January 2000 for alleged contumacy. They were forbidden to preach and other ministers were given charge of their congregations. Such a mass removal of ministers from their pulpits had not taken place in Scotland since 1662. Those expelled ministers and other sympathetic ministers now constitute the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing). They are approximately 20% of the pre-2000 Free Church of Scotland. See www.fccontinuing.org.
Cameron, N.
et al (eds)
Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology, Edinburgh T&T Clark 1993.
*
The Free Church of Scotland official site.In January 2000, there was a division in the Free Church of Scotland, which resulted in the formation of the
Free Church of Scotland (Continuing).
*
The Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) official site.
