Struthers Memorial Church and the vision for revival

Our page “We Believe” states the views of those producing these articles and we indicate our view of leadership responsibility:

If an answer to a question is not the same as it would have been, say, 2 years previously, this should be openly admitted and the reason for the change in church policy honestly explained – even if it is embarrassing to admit the position has changed. How embarrassing it is will be directly related to how strongly leaders held people to the teaching which is no longer believed.

In the early 1980s much was made by the leadership of the vision for revival coming to Scotland - with Struthers Memorial Church very much involved at the centre of that prophesied revival. It would not be surprising if people thought Ithat this revival, first prophesied at least 30 years ago, would have arrived by now. This is what the SMC leadership appeared to be saying – with some uniformity and on repeated occasions. As things stand today this has not yet happened. There is as yet no revival in Scotland of the type described in those days, drawing comparisons with historical instances of revival.

Is revival -  of the type described in those days - happening In SMC? From our outside vantage point the focus seems to have shifted considerably to another set of activities (which we are not aware were prophesied at that time) which seem to result in a lot of the church leaders’ time being spent running schools and cake shops.

The fact that this prophesied revival has not yet come is a matter of sadness for both the church and our nation and we think this is someting that should now be a cause for reflection.

The reflection on this leads us back to the source of the original prophecy – the 1980s SMC leadership. That is where this vision of revival came from, and while some other places and people are seeing quite spectacular growth and manifestation in other churches, other denominations and in other parts of God's work in Scotland – in which we all daily rejoice as part of His one redeemed family – we have not yet seen in SMC what was prophesied for SMC.

So we ask 3 straightforward questions:

Do the SMC leaders today have their own personal God-given vision for revival coming to Scotland? (by that we mean a revival similar to well-documented historical examples)

Do the SMC leaders believe that God has indicated to them that revival will come to Scotland through Struthers Memorial Church? (the previous leadership were very clear that this would be the case)

If so, who has received this prophetic vision and when did they each receive it?

Clearly we all wish this revival to happen for the sake of the church and the nation of Scotland. However it would be pointless to be holding on to a vision that is no longer alive in the minds of the present SMC leaders. Nor do we want them to dishonour the past by passing on a second-hand account of a prophetic vision, which is not real in their hearts and given to them from the Lord. So we ask about this because we think it is serious and important.

If there is a current, live vision for revival, then this should be made known to the church.

If the time for holding on to that revival vision has passed, then this should be made known to the church.

Recently (according to a publicly available recording) one of the younger leaders stood up and declared that, as to the vision of revival coming through SMC,

"I can honestly say I have never doubted it.”

You can see straight away that this form of words – which we think he chose carefully and honestly - is not the kind of loose phraseology that is needed if this question is to be answered truthfully.

This is a very important question for the people and leadership of SMC, so we ask again for a clear and unambiguous statement from them.