Aberdalgie and Forteviot Church 250th Anniversary

Aberdalgie and Forteviot church celebrated their 250th anniversary at the end of September. To find out more about the church, I spent a morning with Gordon MacKay, the Session Clerk. Gordon has an electric personality and is a great story teller. The hours seemed like minutes as I listened to him telling the full history of the church in a beautifully dramatised way.

Gordon and the team have moved this small local church into the 21st Century as they re-think church and its relevance to its surrounding rural parish. 

In the 250 years of Aberdalgie, it has had many identities through changing ministers, unions and linkages. 

In 1999 the Rev Colin Williamson, minister of Aberdalgie and Forteviot volunteered to join a four charge union - the Stewartry of Strathearn, a union of Aberdalgie, Forteviot, Abruthven and Dunning. However, this union was not to last. Gordon candidly explained that he felt they remained ‘four separate communities’. Presbytery dissolved the union and the churches became a linkage, since then Gordon reveals that relationships have flourished. They focus now not on their differences, but what matters as Christians.

In 2011 the case was made for Aberdalgie church to close the following year. However, the then Interim Moderator started a stewardship campaign. An analysis of local accounts led to a business plan for the church which in Gordon’s words ‘blew a canon ball sized hole’ in the financial argument for closing the church. An appeal was launched and the church was kept open.

Their last minister James Aitchison retired in 2021 and since then the manse has been sold. However, before James’ departure he had a vision for the manse garden to be put to the use of the community, inspired by the Rev James Jack and the glebe at Duddingston Kirk in Edinburgh. 

This vision has been the foundation for the future of Aberdalgie and Forteviot church. After conducting a feasibility study in 2018, work began on the idea of ‘Green Shoots’, a community hub at Aberdalgie Church, which will open officially in July 2024. The green shoots are literally already springing up before the official opening, as already 300 non church members came through the doors last year.

Through this project, the church is creating a sense of community in a rural environment where not everyone knows their next door neighbours. 

A local resident shared:

“I’ve met more people through Green Shoots in 6 months than I did in 15 years.”

The team at Aberdalgie are also looking at church through new eyes, having ‘picnic’ services outside in the garden, working with local schools, creating a children’s play area, memorial benches and 15 new fruit trees. 

However, one of the most exciting things they are doing is partnering with other organisations where they offered work placement to 22 clients in June from Community Payback and six schools across Perthshire were given the opportunity to work towards their Duke of Edinburgh Award. Additionally, they offered neurodiverse learners at Berth Park High School an opportunity to learn skills outwith the traditional classroom. This included gardening, woodwork and masonry skills under the watchful eyes of an accredited stonemason and a professional gardener. The church were recognised for this brilliant project at the Alba Awards where they won an award for people in rural education out of 22 other finalists. Find out more about the win here: https://www.scotland.lantra.co...

Aberdalgie Church now faces challenges ahead such as new partnerships, linkages and leadership, however they continue to prove the value of rural community and how a small church can have a mighty impact for the people living in their parish.

Gordon is keen to set up a group within the Presbytery of Perth for rural churches. Please contact him if you are interested on aberdalgieforteviot@gmail.com.