Alasdair Black - Community Involvement

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

At Thursday’s Club meeting, Alasdair Black, Senior Pastor of Stirling Baptist Church, spoke about the work of the Church in community outreach.  He was, he said, determined that a one-time description of the Church as ‘the one behind the walls’ should be changed to ‘the Church that works beyond its walls’.  Working in that spirit, the Church is supporting a significant social outreach programme.  

In pursuit of its aims, the Church bought two top storeys of a City centre building as a base for three major programmes: a Chaplaincy initiative with local businesses; a Family Life programme seeking to address problems associated with the break-up of families; and a Youth Project aimed at addressing issues being faced by young people, including substance abuse.  

Recognising the increase in the breakdown of family life, the Church has also initiated a Heart to Heart programme.  In this, couples and children are helped to negotiate the emotional and other stresses associated with divorce and separation.  Aware, too, of the needs of those coming to Stirling without English language skills, the Church has created a School of English that now has some 60 members.  A third step has been to join the nationwide Christians Against Poverty initiative that seeks to help people experiencing difficulties with debt.

Alasdair said that he had become increasingly aware that the area of Stirling between the Church and the Castle is amongst the most deprived in Scotland, facing multi-faceted difficulties. For that reason, the Church has bought a building – now named The Haven – as a focus for much-needed initiatives that support youth and community.

Questioned about resources, Alasdair said that the majority of funds for these projects come from the Church community.  There were some external grants, but these tended to be short-term, leaving a problem when they ceased.  

Thanking Alasdair, Speaker’s Host Allan Macpherson said that no one could fail to be impressed by the enthusiasm with which the Church was seeking to address the many problems in the community.