John Dempster: A chance to rethink what the church looks like
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When someone suggested to Mike Robertson that God might be calling him to lead a church, he thought this was “the silliest thing on earth”.
Yet in time his thinking changed and after training he became minister of Culloden’s Barn Church where he served for eight years.
I was chatting to Mike about his role as convenor of Inverness Presbytery Mission Planning Committee, which (along with all Presbyteries) has been tasked by the Church of Scotland’s General Assembly with re-thinking the structure of the church locally.
This will inevitably involve closing some church buildings but “it’s not simply a cost-cutting exercise”, Mike insists. “It’s an opportunity to radically rethink what the church looks like and how we connect with the community.”
I love how “real” and honest Mike is as we chat. He tells me about his own discovery as a young man that the God he believed in and the Jesus he believed was God’s Son didn’t look at humanity as an anonymous mass of people – like an actor looks out from the stage at a blur of faces in the audience.
Through attending an alpha course Mike realised it was personal. God sees each one of us individually. “He sees me, he knows everything about me, and yet he is for me. He died for me.”
Mike talks about the joy he feels as a minister talking with someone – whatever their own personal beliefs – about things important to them: life’s meaning, value and significance. “It matters to God, because we do,” he adds. And he talks about his conviction that God has a plan. For Mike, that includes his vocational journey over the last 15 years, including his new role as a healthcare chaplain with NHS Highland based at Raigmore Hospital.
God also has a plan for the Presbytery, Mike believes, and it’s the committee’s responsibility to discern and propose the way ahead. The focus is primarily on people, and mission. Christians are encouraged to be their authentic Christian selves in the community, interacting in natural, unforced, authentic ways. No preaching. Just being.
In Mike Robertson’s life, he tells me: “Jesus is the central figure.” Mike, so genuine, is an example to all Christians. His life, his way of being, encourages us to share in his resolve “to try and live out the best of who God has made me to be”.
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