The Presbyterian Church in Scotland

Martin Luther and the sale of indulgences

In 1517, things came to a head when Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of All Saints' Church in his hometown of Wittenberg. Luther's particular focus was the sale of indulgences intended to reduce the time of the already deceased in purgatory, with the proceeds financing the rebuilding of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Thanks to the newly-invented printing press, Luther's ideas quickly spread far and wide. In Scotland, they were embraced by people like Patrick Hamilton, who studied in Germany and was martyred at St. Andrews in 1528.

Who we are

The Free Church of Scotland is a Presbyterian Church whose worship and doctrine remain faithful to the position adopted by the Church of Scotland since its formation in the period of the Protestant Reformation. Its divergence from the body known as the Church of Scotland dates back to the Rupture of 1843, when, under the leadership of Dr. Thomas Chalmers, the Evangelical Party in the Church of Scotland, as per Established Law, withdrew from the Establishment to form the Free Church of Scotland.

Rupture

The cause of the rupture was the insistence of the civil courts on ordaining men to the ministry regardless of the acceptance of church members. The Evangelical Party saw this as an intolerable interference in the spiritual freedoms of the church and so many withdrew from the Established Church to form the Free Church.

The break was not intended to cause a split in the church, but only to sever its link with the state and the consequent subservience to an authority other than the will of God as revealed in Scripture. Their adherence to the Confession of Faith and loyalty to the same historical principles already established would remain the same.

The Established Church remained. However, the Free Church was organized because it did not accept the civil government's interference with spiritual liberties.

Declination

The Established Church and the Free Church were not the only Presbyterian Churches in Scotland in the 19th century, since, as early as the 18th century, various Presbyterian groupings had been formed with different confessional views. At the end of the 19th century, a movement arose with the aim of uniting these various Presbyterian churches, but, given the nature of the different confessional formulations, an agreement was proposed in order for the intended unity to materialize. Leaving aside the different opinions, a compromise was signed based solely on the adoption and subscription of a document that was sufficiently vague and elastic for the union of the various churches to be established.

When the Free Church was confronted with this dilemma, a minority considered that the doctrines that were being treated as open questions were so vital to the faith that the duty of Christian unity could not override the greater duty of fidelity to the truth. The consequence was that, when the vast majority of the Free Church entered the Union of 1900 to form the United Free Church of Scotland (and, in 1929, to reunite with the Church of Scotland), a small minority preferred to remain in the Free Church of Scotland. The adherents of this "constitutionalist" party, as it was called, were mainly, though not exclusively, to be found in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.

Today the Free Church of Scotland, although much reduced in size, maintains the system of doctrine and the form of worship adopted by the Church of Scotland at the Reformation in continuity with the Church of 1843. The singing of Scottish metrical psalms unaccompanied by instrumental music is perhaps the most distinctive feature of its liturgy, but the main emphasis of its worship still lies in the centrality of the pulpit and the proclamation of a free and sovereign salvation.

Division

The Free Church continues to this day. In the Assembly Committee in January 2000, a split occurred because the majority was determined to act in a way that was against the constitution or "rule book" of the church, to which all officers must subscribe. Several ministers and elders signed a "Declaration of Reconstitution" in which they pledged to continue the Free Church in a constitutional manner. They are the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing). We use this title to distinguish, for purposes of administration only, the reconstituted Free Church of Scotland from any residual body claiming that title. We remain the Free Church of Scotland.

Adapted from freechurchcontinuing.org/history

The first Bible translated into Portuguese was the work of João Ferreira Annes d'Almeida (1628-1691). He was born in Torre de Tavares, Portugal, in 1628 and died in Batavia, Dutch East Indies (today's Indonesia), in 1691.

Braga Presbyterian Church

Beginning of the first Presbyterian church in Braga

The Braga Presbyterian Church — the first Presbyterian and Reformed church in the city and district of Braga, in the Minho region — is the result of the work started by the Almeida family in their home in 2016.

After five years of living in the city and due to the lack of a reformed and confessional church in the district of Braga, the work to set up a Presbyterian confessional church began on 15 January 2017 at the Almeida family home in the parish of Lamaçães, with the aim of formalising it in the future by joining a historic and confessional Presbyterian denomination. 

Pastor Alexandre Martins, current pastor of the Christian Presbyterian Church of Montalegre (ICPM), was the preacher, and was present at this inaugural service with his family. He and Brother Heraldo Almeida took turns in the pulpit, preaching expository on Malachi and Ephesians respectively.

ICPP membership

Initially, the two families and occasionally a visiting family took part regularly. This continued for a year and three months, when the Almeida and Martins families became members of the Manancial Presbyterian Christian Church of Paços de Ferreira (ICPMPF), and the Braga mission church soon thereby became affiliated with the Presbyterian Christian Church of Portugal (ICPP) denomination. From March 11, 2018, the services were held in room 28 at Rua de Caires, 328, Maximinos, Braga. On that day, the Word of God was preached from Paul's letter to the Ephesians 2:1-2 by Brother Heraldo Almeida, who continued to be appointed by the ICPMPF Council as the evangelist and preacher in charge of the congregation.

Dismissal from the ICPP and exclusion of members

In the year in which the Braga congregation was to complete four years of existence, and having received much praise from the overseeing Session of the Paços de Ferreira church for the faithful and fruitful work carried out up to that point in Braga, something unusual happened. Out of the blue on January 10, 2022, we received an e-mail from the Session (Conselho) of Paços de Ferreira passing along a message from the General Assembly of the ICPP denomimation. In this e-mail, we learned that we had been summarily and arbitrarily dismissed from the denomination a few days earlier (January 6), by action of the General Assembly.

It soon came to light that the dismissal was the unexpected result of the church's search for a permanent pastor. Heraldo Almeida had been preaching and leading the worship service Sundays as a tent-making evangelist, but had never desired to serve as the church's pastor once the church was organized and in a position to call a permanent pastor.

In order to meet this need, the ICPP denomination sent a missionary to assume the pastorate of the church on an interim basis. On the very first Sunday in which the church had an opportunity to meet the missionary personally, it was immediately apparent to all that he sharply disagreed with the doctrinal position and worship practices of the Braga congregation (and the ICPP itself) and would not, therefore, be acceptable to the members of the church as their pastor.

The congregation, following the guidance of the president of the ICPP General Assembly at the time, sent a letter to the General Assembly requesting that the missionary's appointment to the Braga church be dissolved and giving their reasons for finding him unacceptable.

Sadly, the ICPP General Assembly failed to respond pastorally to the congregation's concerns or to give any kind of reply whatsoever except to summarily dismiss the church and its members from the denomination on January 6, 2022. This action was taken without any advance notice to the church and without any opportunity for dialogue or discussion with members of the congregation. Nor did the denomination or the Presbytery ever reply to follow-up letters from the church asking for clarification about the decision and the reasons behind it. Shockingly, the denomination even authorized the questionable missionary to start a new Presbyterian mission work in Braga--which he did!

Link to the FCSC

Faced with this difficult and unexpected situation, on January 17, 2022, the church in Braga contacted the Rev. William Macleod, seeking support from the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) (FCSC). On the Rev. Macleod's advice, the Braga church made contact with the Rev. Jorge Ruiz, pastor of the FCSC congregation in Rubí, Barcelona, Spain, who listened carefully to the facts and shared them with the Presbytery of Navarre and Aragon of the FCSC. Since June 27, 2022, therefore, the church in Braga has been officially received by this Presbytery, and is now affiliated with the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing), adopting the name of Igreja Presbiteriana de Braga (Braga Presbyterian Church).

By the grace of God, the work in Braga continues to be based on the biblical principles recovered by the Reformers, striving "diligently for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3).

As a confessional Presbyterian church, and as an integral part of the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing), we value the practice of Christian piety and the purity of public worship, observing the regulative principle of worship as articulated in the Westminster Confession of Faith 21.5 and in its Directory for Public Worship.

The header image depicts the First General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland; signing the Act of Separation and Deed of Dismissal - May 18, 1843 (David Octavius Hill RSA). Image © Free Church of Scotland, Photograph by George T. Thompson LRPS