New minister for vacant island pulpit 6/10/14
Rev Ewen Matheson has accepted a call to become the new minister of Cross Free Church in Ness, Lewis.
The congregation has been without a minister for two years since Rev Kenny Ferguson retired after more than a decade there.
Rev Ewen Matheson, who has ministered to the North Uist, Grimsay and Berneray congregation since 2008, accepted the closed call in person at a meeting of the Western Isles Presbytery.
A date for the induction has yet to be announced.
The call was signed by 79 members and 217 adherents at a congregational meeting earlier in September.
Rev Ewen Matheson said: “I am looking forward to the new and exciting challenge in Ness, but will miss the friends in the congregation and community in North Uist.”
A spokesman for Cross Kirk Session said: “Rev Ewen Matheson’s decision to accept the Call to Cross was very warmly welcomed but the Cross congregation is mindful of the sadness that friends in North Uist, Grimsay and Berneray will feel about the impending departure of Mr and Mrs Matheson to Ness.
“It is never straightforward to deprive one congregation of a minister for the benefit of another, but we have to rely on God who directs all things for the good of his church.”
The 38-
He is married to Donna, who was previously the Free Church’s national youth work
co-
They will move into the newly refurbished manse at Cross.