14:27

For nine years Fiona and I have lived in the small village of Crossford, Fife, just north of Edinburgh.  During that time we have started our family. We now have two well loved sons, Michael (7) and Benjy (5). For the past five years Fiona has been closely involved in village life as the village newsletter editor. This has given her a place of trust in the community, and on the village community council.

Crossford Village Hall

Crossford is a small village about two miles due west of Dunfermline, with a population of about 3000 people. It boasts a few shops, a scout hall, a play-park, a golf course, a post office, two hotels and has the best kept village hall in Fife. This old village dates back to medieval times and apparently gets its name from being the place where monks crossed over a stream when in pilgrimage between Dunfermline and Culross abbeys.

Joint Edinburgh-Crossford meeting

There is something however, which makes this pleasant old village stand out in stark contrast from the others in West Fife around it. It is not just the fact that strangers will just stop and talk to you when you’re out for a walk in the spring sunshine, no it is something else entirely–there is something that is missing in village life–Crossford has no church of its own–no place for Christians to meet. God places things on our heart which simply do not go away and it is fair to say that I sat on this one for a while. Recently however, a door in Crossford has started to open, the village hall door to be precise, and a weekly prayer meeting has started on Thursdays (7 - 8pm). When the friendly hall keeper trustingly gave us our permanent set of keys, Fiona remarked, that I felt as if I’d been given the keys to the village!

Discussion after services

Once a month Perth church make the journey down and fill out the hall a bit more as we meet for a short reading and exposition of scripture, occasionally some live Christian music, and a time of sharing and prayer. We have ads in the local village newsletter (put in free as agreed by the local village council), in the local shop and now the post office. Small beginnings, but we hope that this Christian service to the village might one day grow into something bigger.

The best part of any service

Sometimes church itself comes to Crossford, this has been in the form of Perth church and the occasional joint services between both Perth and Edinburgh. Slowly, we hope that Crossford might develop a Christian heart; that the Cross might be put back into Crossford. Whether this outreach remains simply a place of weekly prayer, and the occasional church meeting, or develops into something more, it will be in God’s good time and according to his plan. Please add your prayers to mine, that God might be glorified in this village, I know that those prayers will make a difference.