The Story of Stepps

Stepps U.F. Church (St Andrew's)

When the "Stepps Established Church" was opened in Whitehill Avenue, during the year 1900, and local Church of Scotland members began to worship there, most of the remaining supporters of religious facilities at the Union Hall were U.F Church adherents. It was not long before they began to consider the possibility of founding a U.F. church in Stepps, on a scale comparable to the new Established Church. With this aim in view a meeting was held in March 1904, attended by several prominent local men: Messrs M.Waddell, F.Watson, W. Barnett, W.Sime, R.Smith, A.B.Macdonald and R.Buchanan; also the ministers of the two neighbouring U.F. congregations, the Rev. A.Shepherd of Chryston and the Rev. J.F.Miller of Millerston. It was decided to form a Mission Charge under the supervision of the Millerston U.F. Session, with assessor elders appointed by the Glasgow Presbytery. This proposal, however, was found to be impracticable.

U.F.Hall and Church

In June 1905, Glasgow Presbytery sanctioned Stepps as a "Preaching Station" and the Rev. William Duncan of Garbraid Church was appointed Moderator. At first it was thought that services might be held in the Union Hall, and an offer was made to purchase it. For this course of action, however, the sanction of Colonel Sprot, the feudal superior, was necessary, but as he had been involved in the founding of the local Established Church he refused to agree to the proposal. Efforts were then made to secure a new site for the building of a Hall, and ultimately a new U.F .Church. A site at the corner of Blenheim Avenue and Anniesdale Avenue having been secured, plans for a Hall were prepared and approved by the Presbytery, and building operations were begun.

On 21st April 1906 the memorial stone was laid by Sir William Bilsland, Lord Provost of Glasgow, and on 10th June of the same year the first services in the Hall were conducted by the Moderator, the Rev. William Duncan. About the same time, the Trustees of the Union Hall decided to transfer their activities to the new building, and the Union Hall itself was presented to the Parish Council for public purposes. The new cause did not long retain the status of a Preaching Station. Within a few months the members agreed to accept the financial obligations necessary for achieving the status of a "Congregation". The appropriate application was granted by the Synod of Glasgow on 7th October 1906, so conferring on the new cause at Stepps the status of congregation of the United Free Church. The induction of the first minister, the Rev. Adam Renwick, MA, previously of Cowcaddens U.F. Church, was on 7th March 1907. He conducted his first service three days later.

At this time the community of Stepps was growing fast, but was much more "selfcontained" than it is now. The United Free Church was beginning to derive strength from the Church Union of 1900. Adam Renwick made a big impression on his own congregation, and on the wider community of Stepps, through his evangelical commitment and his special enthusiasm for Foreign Missions. The number of members on the Roll at 31st December 1906 was 84, but by the end of 1910 it had risen to 250. The first members of the Kirk Session were ordained and admitted to office in 5th April 1907. Their names and dwellings were recorded as A.B.Macdonald, Glencoe; F.Watson, Hillside; M.Waddell, Homehill; R.Buchanan, Gateside; R.Smith, Laurel Grove; Wm Barnett, Homely Cottage; Wm Sime, Balnagown. All of these men had attended the meeting of March 1904, mentioned above. Most of them were very prominent in the community life of the village. In September 1909 five new elders were added, three of whom had served as deacons during the two previous years. They were: John Davie; James McNair; Roderick McNair, John Suter and W.A.Sloan. Mr Frank Watson was elected as the first Session Clerk, and held this position until his death in July 1922. Mr A.B.Macdonald was installed as Sunday School Superintendent, and Mr Matthew Waddell continued with his Bible Class, which had already flourished at the Union Hall for over twenty years, summer and winter. By 1910 the Sunday School had a Roll of 120, the Junior Bible Class 24, and Mr Waddell's Bible Class 111. Rev. Adam Renwick left the Stepps charge in October 1911, having accepted a call from Cairns Church, Motherwell.

U.F.Church and hall

The Hall served as a place of worship for the congregation for six and a half years. At that time it was situated on a "greenfield" site, without houses all around it. The success of the services at the Hall encouraged the U.F. congregation to set their sights at a higher level, and they began to consider the possibility of building a proper church. A plan for a new church by Mr Andrew Balfour, FRIBA, with an estimated cost of £5,000, was adopted. The Memorial Stone was laid on 22nd June 1912 and Stepps U.F Church was eventually opened on 14th June 1913. Six months prior to this date, however, on 3rd December 1912, the Hall had burned to the ground, leaving the congregation homeless. In the interim they were happy to be able to return to the old Union Hall. Loss of the Hall was turned around in the congregation's favour, however, when their successful insurance claim enabled them to build and furnish an entire new suite of halls at an extra cost of only £250. After Mr Renwick's departure three ministers were invited to preach before the congregation, in the kind of "preaching competition" which has long since gone out of favour. The unanimous choice of the congregation was the Rev. John A.Fleming, MA, then minister of the United Free Church in Monikie, Angus. Mr Fleming was inducted to his new charge in March 1912. On 14th June 1913 the Dedication Ceremony of the new church building was performed by the Rev. Principal Iverach, DD, of Aberdeen, at that time Moderator of the U.F General Assembly. He was assisted by Mr Fleming and by the Rev. Andrew Shepherd of Chryston, who at that time was Moderator of Glasgow Presbytery. The preachers at the first Sunday Services were the Rev. G.H.Morrison, DD, of Wellington Church, in the morning, and Mr Fleming in the evening. The new Halls were opened in November 1913, as replacement for the original Hall which had burned down less than a year earlier.

The year 1914 marked the beginning of the First World War, in which Mr Fleming served twice as a Chaplain - first on a Hospital Ship in the Mediterranean, then with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. Between these postings he managed a year at home in Stepps. At the end of 1913 the church roll of members numbered 283; by the end of the war in 1918, it had risen to 394. In 1920 Mr Fleming accepted a call to the Ogilvy Church, Dundee, and left. Appreciation of his service to the Church was expressed at a Congregational Meeting held on 13th December of that year:

It is with the very deepest regret that we contemplate the removal of our minister. We desire to record our deep sense of the faithful and successful ministry he has carried on here during the past eight years. We wish him God speed and every success in his new sphere of labour.

The years "between the wars" were covered by the ministries of the Rev. W.Clow, BD, and the Rev. Thomas Paterson, MA. Mr Clow spent only three years in Stepps before accepting a call to Bridge of Allan; Mr Paterson was inducted in May 1925. The Church's first Manse - a semi-detached villa in Mount Harriet Drive, known as "Everleigh" - was purchased at a cost of over £1,000 and was occupied by Mr Clow, but was not considered big enough to serve as a "family house", so in 1925 the building of a new Manse, again in Mount Harriet Drive, was begun. Generous benefactors provided electric lighting for both Halls and Church during this period the hall lighting being a gift from Mr John L.Walker in 1928; and the Church lighting a gift from Mr James Chrystal in 1932.

A testing matter which arose in the 1920s was the proposed union of the United Free Church with the Church of Scotland. The various steps towards this were fully discussed, both by the Kirk Session and at Congregational Meetings, and to begin with there was a substantial minority who were very doubtful of the proposal. Eventually, however, with a very few exceptions, the congregation entered wholeheartedly into the Union in October 1929, claiming their place within the larger heritage of the reunited Church of Scotland. Henceforth the former Stepps U.F. Church was known as "St Andrew's Church, Stepps".

During the 1920s and 1930s strong links with the Foreign Mission work of the church were established, continuing a tradition begun by the first Stepps U.F. minister, Adam Renwick. In July 1921, at the request of the Foreign Mission Committee, Dr Andrew B.Macdonald (son of A.B.Macdonald of "Glencoe", the founding elder) was ordained as an elder before setting out for his first spell of service, in Calabar. He later founded a Leper Colony at Itu, in Nigeria. In June 1922 Miss Catherine Moir was dedicated, at a special service, as a missionary to the Gold Coast, where she was later joined by her sister Esther. In September 1923 Miss Mary Johnstone sailed for Manchuria, where she served as a nurse, in Moukden. Then, in 1936, Dr James McNair and Mrs McNair also went to Moakden, where Dr McNair served in the Medical College. To this missionary "Roll of Honour" should be added the names of Dr James Buchanan, who served as a medical missionary in Peru, and Dr David Watson, who served with the China Inland Mission.

During the period 1939-45 congregational life and activity were greatly affected by wartime conditions. The blackout restrictions curtailed evening activities, and as time went on more and more of the young men and women went off to serve in the forces; but the work of the church went on. Just after the war, the Rev. J.Cecil Armstrong, who had been Minister of St Andrew's since 1940, received and accepted a call from the Presbyterian congregation of Egremont, Cumberland, and his departure was followed by a protracted vacancy. The congregation were fortunate at this time in their choice of a locum tenens - the Rev. James Esselmont, who did some excellent work during the months he spent as a temporary minister. The Rev. Arthur C. Scobie, MA, who was inducted in August 1948, will always be remembered for his excellent history of St Andrew's Church, This is our Story, which he compiled and published in 1956. Rev. Scobie was succeeded by the Rev. Robert A.Philp, in 1961. It was Rev. Philp's retirement in 1981 and the Presbytery of Glasgow's unwillingness to appoint a successor, that led subsequently to the uniting of the congregations of Whitehill and St Andrew's, on 6th January 1983, and the abandonment of the church in Blenheim Avenue.

Back - Index - Next