Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Aberdeenshire parish welcomes new minister after three-year vacancy

Rev Andrew Morrison
Rev Andrew Morrison

An Aberdeenshire congregation which has lacked a permanent minister for three years has had its prayers answered – in the form of a hill-walking reverend from Lanarkshire.

Reverend Andrew Morrison, 27, has been ordained and inducted at Arbuthnott, Bervie and Kinneff Church and is now officially the Kirk’s third-youngest member.

The parish includes Inverbervie, Catterline, Gourdon and Kinneff, as well as Arbuthnott.

Rev Morrison, originally from East Kilbride, said at first he and his wife Kirsty were not considering moving to the area, but once they met the congregation they changed their minds and are already falling in love with the region.

Over the next year, he says he plans to “connect and build on” the work already going on in the parish, such as the community garden at Bervie Church.

Rev. Morrison said he has dreamed of becoming a minister for more than a decade, with the goal constantly on his mind during his time studying geography in Glasgow.

He said: “We’ve grown to love the place and feel right at home already.

“Way back in 2008, a week before my 17th birthday, I was at Frenzy – a one-day Christian music festival in Edinburgh.

“One of the worship leaders was the American singer, Chris Tomlin.

“The chorus of his song ‘God of this City’ has the words ‘For greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city’, and I immediately realised that God wanted me to be a part of that and to do his work.

“Throughout my geography degree, all I could think about was sharing the gospel.”

Eventually, he went on to secure a divinity degree at the Highland Theological College in Dingwall, with a probation placement at a church in Ayrshire alongside Reverend Neil Urquhart.

Rev Morrison is also a keen-walker and once hiked 130 miles in four days from Glasgow to Inverness to raise cash for a school in Ghana.

He said he’s looking forward to spending time with his new congregation and working with them on a number of projects.

“We’ve got a community garden here at Bervie Church, so we’ll be looking at how we can use this space in an even better way to connect with local people,” he said.

Reverend Hugh Conkey, presbytery clerk for Kincardine and Deeside, added: “The presbytery is very glad to welcome a new minister at the start of his service to the church.

“We’re looking forward to all that he brings to the local area.”