Free Church minister, Rev Dr Iain D Campbell, of Lewis, has died,aged 53 years.
Death of Rev Dr Iain D Campbell
28 January 2017
The former moderator of the Free Church was critically ill since Sunday.
He was flown from the Western Isles Hospital, Stornoway, to a Glasgow hospital where he died in the early hours of this morning.
Dr Campbell was a very popular minister and a highly regarded preacher who was always in heavy demand to speak at numerous conferences and churches across the world.
The well known Scottish theologian was an adjunct professor at Westminster Theological Seminary in London and also previously lectured at the Lews Castle College campus of the UHI university.
He was the minister of both the Point Free Church and the nearby Knock Free Church, playing an instrumental role in reuniting both congregations after a half century split. Just ten days ago a large majority voted in favour of coming together.
In 2015, he completed his third year of taking part in a three-
A Free Church of Scotland spokesperson said the news of his death was announced with “immense sadness.”
The spokesperson added: “We extend our deepest and prayerful sympathies to Iain’s wife, Anne, their children: Iain, Stephen and Emily, his mother, Lily, together with the wider family.”
Born in 1963, Dr Campbell grew up in Stornoway. Like many of his generation at that time, the Gaelic he spoke as an infant was quickly diluted when he went to primary school.
Determined to maximise his service to the Gospel and the communities in which he served, he would later relearning the language, becoming an very accomplished and fluent speaker.
As a young Christian, he applied for the ministry while still a teenager, before leaving secondary school.
For four years he studied Greek and Hebrew at Glasgow University before proceeding to the Free Church College in 1985 where he commenced trained for the pastoral ministry.
In 2001, he completed a PhD degree through Edinburgh University.
His first role as a parish minister was at Snizort Free Church, Skye in 1988 where he spent seven years before moving to his native island of Lewis to become pastor at Back Free Church.
A further transfer took him to Point Free Church in 2009.
As well as being an author of many theological books, his weekly column in the Stornoway Gazette was popular while he also wrote an online blog and contributed to other websites.