The Free Church of Scotland is a conservative evangelical Calvinist denomination in Scotland. It is the continuation of the original Free Church of Scotland that remained outside the union with the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland in 1900,and remains a distinct Presbyterian denomination in Scotland.
David Welsh FRSE was a Scottish Presbyterian minister and academic. He was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1842. In the Disruption of 1843 he was one of the leading figures in the establishment of the Free Church of Scotland.
James Begg was a minister of the Free Church of Scotland who served as Moderator of the General Assembly 1865/66.
Thomas M'Crie was a Presbyterian minister and church historian. He was a Scottish Secession minister who joined the Free Church of Scotland and served as the Moderator of the General Assembly to that church 1856/57.
John Douglas was Protestant Archbishop of St. Andrews from 1571 to 1574. As was tradition from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries,the Archbishop also took on the role of Chancellor of the University of St Andrews,as the University had strong links with the Pre-Reformation church.
The Rev William Miller (1815–1874) was a Scots-born minister of the Free Presbyterian Church of Victoria who served the John Knox Church,cnr Little Lonsdale and Swanston streets,Melbourne 1851–64,and was the first Chairman of the council of Scotch College,Melbourne.
Abbeygreen Church is a congregation of the Free Church of Scotland in the small town of Lesmahagow,Lanarkshire. As a Christian congregation,it is presbyterian and reformed;holding the Word of God,the Holy Bible,as the supreme rule of life and doctrine and the Westminster Confession of Faith as a sub-ordinate standard,which helps explain the doctrines of the Christian faith. Being Presbyterian,it serves as part of the Free Church of Scotland Presbytery of Glasgow and seeks to faithfully serve God in Lesmahagow and the surrounding area. Having a missional outlook it is involved with a number of missionary organizations including,but not only,UFM Worldwide and Rose of Sharon Ministries,and helps with the organization and support of the Scottish Reformed Conference.
Patrick Fairbairn was a Scottish Free Church minister and theologian. He was Moderator of the General Assembly 1864/65.
The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland is a small,Scottish,Presbyterian church denomination. Theologically they are similar to many other Presbyterian denominations in that their office-bearers subscribe to the Westminster Confession of Faith. In practice,they are more theologically conservative than most Scottish Presbyterians and maintain a very traditional form of worship. In 1690,after the Revolution,Alexander Shields joined the Church of Scotland,and was received along with two other ministers. These had previously ministered to a group of dissenters of the United Societies at a time when unlicensed meetings were outlawed. Unlike these ministers,some Presbyterians did not join the reconstituted Church of Scotland. From these roots the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland was formed. It grew until there were congregations in several countries. In 1876 the majority of Reformed Presbyterians,or RPs,joined the Free Church of Scotland,and thus the present-day church,which remained outside this union,is a continuing church. There are currently Scottish RP congregations in Airdrie,Stranraer,Stornoway,Glasgow,and North Edinburgh. Internationally they form part of the Reformed Presbyterian Communion.
James Fisher (1697–1775) was one of the founders of the Scottish Secession church. He was born at Barr,on 23 January 1697,the second son of Thomas Fisher,minister of Rhynd. He was educated at University of Glasgow. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Perth on 31 October 1722 and subsequently called and ordained on 23 December 1725. He dissented and joined with his father-in-law Ebenezer Erskine in his appeal and complaint to the Assembly of 1733. He was one of the four original members of the Associate Presbytery founded at Gairney Bridge on 6 December 1733. He was deposed by the General Assembly on 15 May 1740,but continued to preach in the parish church till 13 August 1741,when he was forcibly ejected on a sheriff's warrant. He then preached in a tent on Kinclaven brae during the time he remained in the district. On 8 October 1741 he became minister of Shuttle Street Associate Congregation,Glasgow. He was deposed by the Associate (Antiburgher) Synod on 4 August 1748 over the question of the Burgess Oath. He was appointed Professor of Divinity by the Associate (Burgher) Synod in 1749. He died on 28 September 1775.
Patrick Clason was a Scottish minister who served as Moderator of the General Assembly to the Free Church of Scotland in 1848/49.
Robert Buchanan (1802–1875) was a Scottish Presbyterian minister and historian who served as Moderator of the General Assembly to the Free Church of Scotland in 1860/61. He was one of the leading figures in the Disruption of 1843.
Patrick Hutchison (1741–1802) was a Presbyterian minister who produced the first systematic definition of the beliefs of the Relief Church in Scotland.
William Henry Goold was a Scottish minister of both the Reformed Presbyterian Church and the Free Church of Scotland. He was the last Moderator of the majority Reformed Presbyterian Church Synod before the union with the Free Church in 1876 when most of the R. P. congregations entered the union. He was also called to be Moderator of General Assembly of the Free Church in the following year:1877.
William Laughton was a Scottish minister of the Free Church of Scotland who served as Moderator of the General Assembly to the Free Church 1881/82.
Thomas Nairn was a controversial Scottish Presbyterian minister. Although he served in several Presbyterian denominations perhaps his most important contribution to church history was his role in setting up the organisation which eventually became the Reformed Presbyterian Church. Although his stay with that religious community was relatively short he was acknowledged,by right of his valid ordination,to have the authority,along with John M'Millan,to form a legitimate presbytery and in so doing to be able to ordain others to the offices of the church. Before Nairn's arrival M'Millan had for more than 36 years been the only minister in what was essentially a small denomination known as the United Societies. Nairn had previously been a minister in the Associate Presbytery of the First Seceders,although he started and ended his days in the Church of Scotland.
Andrew Symington,was a Scottish minister and teacher. He was ordained in 1809. In 1820 he was appointed professor of theology in the Reformed Presbyterian church.
William Symington was a Scottish Presbyterian minister. He took a deep interest in bible circulation,home and foreign missions,and other religious movements.
James Gibson was a Church of Scotland and Free Church minister. He worked in Glasgow. He engaged in the Voluntary Controversy on the side of the Establishment. He edited the Church of Scotland Magazine,from 1834 to 1837. Kingston church in Glasgow was built for him by William Campbell and other anti-voluntaries,in 1839. He joined the Free Church at the Disruption,in 1843. On the endowment of Glasgow Theological College by Dr. Clark of Wester Moffat,Dr. Gibson was nominated Professor of Church History and Systematic Theology. He offended a portion of his students by the expression of views on moral inability consequent on the Fall. He was an author,publishing "Present Truths in Theology",and many pamphlets and sermons on theological topics which were current at the time.
