Picture: Andy O'Brien

Wellbeing and Wholeness

Friday April 21 2023

Ruth Forsythe and Linda Watt celebrate the 10th anniversary of a Glasgow church's outreach project

Finn’s Place is the community outreach charity of Langside Parish Church in Glasgow’s southside.

Ten years ago, with a substantial grant from the Church of Scotland’s ‘Go for It Fund’ Finn’s Place was founded. It was our way of sharing our beautiful new building with the community and fulfilling our mission to  spread Jesus’s love.

‘Who is Finn?’ is the first question many people ask. Finn was an abused cat taken in by our last minister Rev. David McLachlan and his wife Susan. They nurtured him back to full health and rambunctious wellbeing. Finn’s Place offers a space where people facing the challenges of life can receive, acceptance, love, and healing, just like Finn.

We use the New Economic Foundation’s five ways to Wellbeing which are: Connect with others, Be Active, Take Notice of yourself and the world around you, Keep Learning and Give back.  We offer a wide range of activities and events that give the opportunity to improve personal and community wellbeing. These include Yoga, Pilates, Massage, Men’s Talking group, Gardening, and events such as Family Ceilidhs, and a Wellbeing Fair.

With a fulltime co-ordinator and sessional staff, we seek to provide a welcoming space for the community, each week averaging around 200 attendances and we often receive feedback like this:

“Finn’s Place has literally been a life saver for me.”

“Finn’s Place has been an ’oasis in the desert’ at this testing time.”

“I don’t go to church but FP at Langside is my church.”

Even as the national Church is facing difficult times and our resources are scarce, we believe that wellbeing and wholeness is something that we should be thinking about. There is much currently being written about the theology of health and wellbeing with an increasing appreciation that the gospel is holistic and this needs to be reflected in our work with our communities. Bringing health and wholeness is what Jesus’ ministry was all about. The problem is that many people in our communities are suspicious or fearful of approaching the ‘church.’

In the story of the woman who has been bleeding for 12 years we are told that in the crowd she touches Jesus’ cloak and is healed. (Luke8:43-48). She doesn’t call out to him or approach him, but reaches out anonymously, fearful of being shunned. At Finn’s Place we offer that place of initial welcome and the opportunity for improved wellbeing for all.

The work of Finn’s Place over the past ten years has convinced us that God is bringing wellbeing and wholeness to people. We are often asked if more people have come to church on Sundays because of Finn’s Place. The answer is yes, there are a few, but this is not the focus of Finn’s Place. Our focus is to offer those who are dealing with the challenges of life a safe place in which to heal, surround them with love and then if they wish they can explore spiritual wholeness through the worship of the church.

Ruth Forsythe and Linda Watt are, respectively, community development director and chair of the board at Finn's Place.

Life and Work is the magazine of the Church of Scotland. Subscribe here.