Looking Back

From 1943

In the Midst of the Golden Candlesticks

Amid much enthusiasm the new hall at Blawarthill was opened by Dr John White on 1st March 1941. The first services on 2nd and 9th March were marked by large attendances. The minister and office-bearers accepted this as a token of the way in which the Community had looked forward to the establishment of their new church.

But the joy of our fine beginning was short-lived. Situated as we are on Clydeside, we came in for our share of the raids of 13th and 14th March. The air of desolation which overhung the district following the raids, made us a little pessimistic about the future of the new church, But we soon began to count our blessings. Our building had suffered the effects of blast but was quite serviceable. The congregation had been widely scattered but those who were left foregathered on those March Sundays and held what we facetiously called ‘open-air services inside’. As the days passed the people came back; and now, when we look at those dark days in retrospect, we see that they wrought good for us as well as evil. The fellowship of suffering brought the members of the Church – many of them as yet unknown to each other – into a warm relationship and laid the foundation of the present and happy fellowship in Blawarthill.

The congregation has grown to well over 500 strong, with a Sunday School attendance averaging 200. We have a fine branch of the Women’s Guild and the following organisations for the young folks: - Guides, Boy’s Brigade, Brownies, Life Boys and a well-attended mixed club for the youth of the district. This year, after two years of hard and happy work, the General Assembly granted our petition for full status, so a loyal and devoted band of office-bearers look forward to many happy years in the service of our Lord Jesus Christ as a missionary Church in Blawarthill housing area.

Our Church has already come to mean a great deal to the community, and we trust that our happy experience of prosperity and extension in the midst of war-time difficulties will be symbolic of the whole Church Extension movement throughout Scotland.

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