Plans submitted for new Stornoway church

​The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland (RPCS) hopes to build on a site on Perceval Road, next to the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, after years of not having a dedicated place of worship.

The church has made an offer on the land, contingent on receiving planning permission, and the plans have been drawn up by Alasdair McElhatton, with input from the congregation.

The congregation was formed in Stornoway around 14 years ago, following a division in the Free Church in 2010 over the introduction of hymns and instrumental music.

Its early meetings were held in the Coulgrein Mission House and have been held in Bayhead for the past five or six years, with Sunday services taking place in the community room upstairs in the Bridge Centre and prayer meetings in the Brethren Gospel Hall.

Previously, the congregation had hoped to be able to buy a building within the town, but after years of looking – and disappointment when they lost out in a bid for the Church House on James Street, now home to Intermedia Services – they have changed tack.

The plan to build has been made possible by a private donation, although the church will need to raise some extra funds and will also seek help from the wider Reformed Presbyterian Church, a global organisation with a long history dating back to the Covenanters, although it is relatively small in Scotland, with only five churches.

Its minister, Reverend Kenneth Stewart, said it was established in Stornoway for a “clean start” for those choosing to leave the Free Church but wanting to avoid schisms.

“The Reformed Presbyterian Church hasn’t been on the islands until the last 14/15 years but it is a very, very old church,” he added. “It used to be called the Covenanter Church sometimes because it goes back that far, to the 17th Century, but it’s not well known in the islands.”

Around three years ago, there were only around 20 in the congregation, but it is now growing, with numbers “around the 50 mark” and some families joining, and has “outgrown” the Bridge Centre.

“We’re kind of squeezed in there and obviously we just don’t have our own facilities. We can’t have extra meetings and things like that because it’s not available.”

The new building is designed to hold a congregation of 140 in the main seating area, with two additional large rooms which will be multi-purpose and a creche and kitchen. It will be over twice the size of the adjacent Kingdom Hall.

Rev Stewart said it would be “quite a substantial building” and the donation was “a huge start” to their fundraising.

“We’re looking forward to it and we’re quite amazed at the provision that made it possible for us to begin. We’re thankful that we’re looking for a church for the right reasons because the place that we’re in can’t quite cope with who’s coming, so we’re just thankful for that.”