2019 has been a good year for Fogo Parish Church. There have been sadnesses — none more than the untimely death of our friend Clare Fleming — but the congregation has continued to move forward over the year. Numbers attending worship are universally good and the family feeling in church is something we all greatly value.
The congregation has enjoyed a number of special events ranging from particular services in church to our summer music festival which attracted a huge audience over the period of an afternoon and evening. Learning events, film shows and preparation for our pilgrimage to the Holy Land have all been part of this year’s programme and we are approaching Christmas with a sense of excitement.
Of particular satisfaction to us has been the link we have established with our Missionary partner, Dr. Linus Malu. Dr. Malu is a lawyer, called to the bar in Nigeria and with a Ph.D. gained in Australia, now working in Malawi.
Dr. Malu is sponsored by the Church of Scotland. He works with young girls whose local culture often leads to their being given in marriage while only thirteen or fourteen years old; he works with women (and sometimes men) who are the victims of gender violence; he works to try to prevent and rescue the victims of human trafficking; he provides legal assistance for those who are arrested and then ‘left to rot’ on remand because they have no one to speak for them. One of our projects for next year will be to raise funds to support all that he is doing on our behalf.
Fogo Folk
A small picture of life within our lively congregation!
From the Minister’s Desk
With this edition of our Newsletter you will receive a Christmas card and a note of our services over the Christmas period. It would give us enormous pleasure to welcome you to your Church and to enjoy your company at one of our services.
So much has happened to us during this last year. We have completed our three years in Presbytery Guardianship and are now an ordinary congregation within the Presbytery of Duns. We have a fabulous congregation and a building which has been adapted to be appropriate for worship in the twenty-first century.
Our aim when we started was to restore the building and build a congregation which was sustainable into the future. Our building is now a wonderful one — the south aisle is filled with comfortable modern seating while we have, of course, retained the historic box-pews in the east and west aisles. The building is always warm and dry and has been totally redecorated. We have received many gifts, one of which is a huge painting hanging on the north wall, with words often found on the walls of old churches. Tom and Dorothy Stewart arranged for a Swiss mural painter to come to Fogo to create this work of art and it is much admired.
We recently Ordained five new elders and there were sixty people in church for the service. We feel exceptionally fortunate and can look back over a year with special services of Holy Communion, Baptism and Confirmation. We also welcomed the Presbytery of Duns for a service led by our elders and have had many musical events organised for us by Heather and Harris. (Already we are looking forward to the return of Frog and Henry in January.)
Speaking of January, immediately after Frog and Henry’s visit more than twenty of our congregation will be setting out on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and expect to return full of rekindled enthusiasm for helping to move our congregation forward into the next stage of our adventure together.
I value your support and kind wishes and I trust that this Christmas will be a very special one for you.
Clare Fleming was special. As soon as she heard that we were attempting to breathe new life into the little church at Fogo she volunteered her help. Almost as quickly she became an elder within our congregation and was soon shaping many of the plans which have led to our being where we are today. Clare was passionate about Mission. When we held a congregational meeting to make our Mission plans, Clare immediately volunteered her home as a venue. She set up our small library, she took the lead in our flower festivals, she bought books for our church children and she had been so hoping to come with us to the Holy Land.
I got to know Clare well. I learned of the depth of her faith; of her great love for her daughters, Ruth, Heather and Jane; of her commitment to the national Church, not least through its social work arm, CrossReach, on whose board she sat for many years. I gained from her enthusiasm, her friendly encouragement and her constant presence in churchSunday by Sunday. Quite simply, she was the most generous person I have ever met. Her death is a great loss to so very many people. She will be greatly missed.
New since our last Newsletter:
“You are always welcome at Fogo Parish Church”