Inverness church pitches up for under canvas summer

An Inverness church is offering a taste of things to come by holding a series of summer services on the site earmarked for its new home.

But the congregation of St Columba Church, whose parish stretches from the southern suburbs of the Highland capital to the village of Dores on the shores of Loch Ness, are not waiting for building work to begin at the location in the Holm area.

Instead, the church has invested in a tent which will host weekly services and other events over the summer.

St Columba minister Rev Scott McRoberts and his congregation hope this will help to increase the visibility of the church in the expanding community on the outskirts of Inverness.

A successor congregation to the city centre church of St Columba's High, following the closure and sale of the Victorian church building overlooking the River Ness the congregation now meets regularly at Drummond School, but in the long-term they will have a permanent home in a purpose designed building that will be an asset for the whole community.

Having already hosted a number of community events in the field, Mr McRoberts and the elders in the congregation had long considered and prayed about having a tent for services in the space over the summer.

"We felt that this is the time to do it because we very much hope that, in a couple of years' time, there will be a building going up so we can be much more physically present and visible," the minister said.

"Partly it is about showing the community that we are here, because we are quite invisible because we do not have our own building and this is a way that we can be visible and show that we are here.

"I think the nature of the tent itself, being in the open air, with open sides, is creating a bit of curiosity and will allow people to check it out a bit."

For those who do not have any direct experience of church, Mr McRoberts hopes it will dispel some preconceptions.

"Sometimes people picture church as an older building with an organ, but we have never been that," he explained.

"I don't think we would like to do something for the sake of novelty, but there is something about showing that church is not necessarily what people remember church as.

"We have had the field a long time and having the tent in that space and connecting with families in the area who know us from our schools work, but have never been to the church, just brings us a little bit closer to those people we are already connecting with."

A community resource

As well as regular Sunday services, St Columba will host a number of community events within the church, including a ceilidh on Sunday 22 June and a community barbecue a week later on Sunday 29, both events starting at 12.30pm.

Mr McRoberts added: "We have tried a few community events there over the years and this is building on that, but doing it a bit more consistently and regularly.

"We can point to the tagline ‘Here for Life' that is on our sign at the edge of the field.

"Our intention with that has always been to tell our community that we are here for the long haul, and this feels like a tangible step towards physically being able to do that."

Other events may follow before the tent is pitched for the final time on 31 August.

By that time Mr McRoberts hopes that the experience will not only have had an impact on the local community, but on the congregation.

"It takes a lot of serving to make something like this happen," he said.

"It takes a lot of people to put the tent up and take it down and when the church serves together, it really binds us in a lovely way.

"But we also hope more people in the community will see our church and come along and check it out, so we hope that by the end of August more people will feel and be welcome amongst us."

Once completed, the minister hopes the purpose-built church building will also provide a welcoming environment for the community, reflecting the lessons the congregation has learned through its time at Drummond School.

"Being in Drummond School for 12 years now has taught us a lot about the value of having a very open, accessible and flexible space," he said.

"That will inform the kind of building that we want to have.

"Our building team is looking at something that feels very invitational, very useable, very flexible, and can be used by the community as well as the church.

"That is a key reason for doing the building project at all because arguably we could worship in a school building or a tent or anywhere else.

"But the reality is that this south-west corner of Inverness doesn't have all the community space it needs with all the new housing going up and we want to be part of the solution to that.

"Part of our mission as a church is to be a blessing to the community and what we are offering this summer, we hope, will be that, but it is the building in the long run that we hope will be a permanent blessing to the community."