30 years of serving Cambuslang and Rutherglen
by Ross Murray
In 1994 ‘The Lion King’ was being watched by millions of people and ‘Love is all Around’ topped the charts for 15 weeks. Here in Rutherglen and Cambuslang a group of people from the local churches got together to form the Cambuslang and Rutherglen Reachout Trust.
30 years later and the Trust is still going strong. The aim was, and is, to do local ministry with local people in local communities and create a partnership with SU and local churches. Reachout partners with these local churches to provide chaplaincy support for 15 primary and 3 Secondary schools. We have delivered hundreds of assemblies, shared the Christmas and Easter message with over 5000 P6 & 7s, supported over 8000 P7s as they move up to Secondary school, helped over 2000 P5s to be more resilient, and trained over 4000 P6s to be incredible buddies for the new P1s. We have been part of several residential events including SU holidays, weekends, and school P7 trips. We have supported church youth groups, spoken to Guilds, and visited church services.
We have faced many challenges and seen many high and low points. Through all this God has remained faithful, providing countless opportunities, opening endless doors, and blessing the work of the Trust in incredible ways. As we look back over 30 years of ministry, we can see that partnership has played a key part in all that we have done.
Sometimes we can’t see obvious ways to do thing on our own, then God provides a partnership opportunity to open the door to an area of ministry that otherwise seemed out of reach. As well as the schools we currently work in there are six Catholic schools in which we currently have no input.
Over the years we have prayerfully considered how we might effectively engage with these schools.
Until November last year there had been no obvious opportunities. In November I received an email from Kate Mitchell of Message Scotland informing me that she had been asked to deliver PSE lessons in Trinity High school. She invited me to come into the school to deliver these lessons with her as she always tries to partner with those involved in local ministries. I was really excited by this opportunity as I hoped it might be the start of a positive relationship with this school. We delivered four lessons to first and second year classes in the middle of January. I was surprised by how many young people knew me already from my work in the community and local primary schools. We have already been invited to go back in next year and we are prayerfully considering what other ways we can engage with the school.
We are extremely grateful for our partnership with Kate that has opened up this opportunity to engage in a meaningful way with a school that we previously had no contact. We are excited to explore more opportunities to partner with Message Scotland going forward.
Partnering with other churches or organisations can open up lots of opportunities, open doors and enhance our ministries in ways that are not possible on our own. Working in partnership gives us the benefit of experience and wisdom of others that allows us to work more effectively and efficiently. This can open more doors to give opportunities to young people to explore the Bible and hear about Jesus.
