Meeting House Ministers

 
Mr H T Howat was one of the stream of preachers who Provost Robertson procured and paid to take Sunday Services in the Meeting House. He preached until November 1860, when he was ordained as a minister in the United Presbyterian church in Broughty Ferry.

He was followed by Mr Conner, Mr Welsh and Mr Smith, who each preached for about a year – Smith departing in April 1863.

Thereafter, ministers from Inverkeithing took regular services on a Sunday evening – Rev James McKay, Rev McGregor, Rev Andrew Brydie, Rev Robert Kay, Mr Sutherland and Rev John M Allen.

From 1860 onwards, these preachers were augmented by missionaries from the Scottish Coastal Mission; in particular Mr Hughson, who frequently took services in the Mission Hall.

Scottish Coastal Mission

While the spiritual needs of in-shore sailors and fishermen could be handled by the local church in their home port, long-distance sailors and off-shore fishermen often spent long periods at sea, out of touch with any minister. In the 19th century a number of societies began to focus on the needs of sailors and sea-going communities. Some organizations delivered bibles and tracts to visiting ships, others provided prayer meetings on ships when in port, while others provided floating churches, with ministers visiting ships at sea. These included the Scottish Coastal Mission, founded in 1850. By 1861 the Scottish Coastal Missions employed ten missionaries, serving twenty-nine stations between Cockenzie and Arbroath. Its missionaries visited sailors as well as fishermen and their families.

The Dunfermline Press of 23th August 1860, contains a report on the success of Mr Hughson an SCM missionary in Inverkething. Here are some extracts:

When Mr Hughson first came here, [two years previously in 1858] many people asked – “What is the use of a missionary here? We have two ministers already.” He admitted that they had two very good ministers, but their time was too occupied to allow them to visit the ships that came into the harbour, or indeed to visit the seafaring community at all.

Mr Hughson then gave a report of his proceedings during the time that he had been a missionary in Inverkeithing. During the past year he had held 182 meetings, some of them in the church, and others in private homes, in the open air, or on board ships. The sailors had listened to the word of salvation with great attention, and he trusted that the work begun so auspiciously would continue to spread. He had visited 2000 families during the year, and he also paid 318 visits to sick or dying persons. He had also sold 54 copies of the Scriptures to seamen, both English and foreign. This was not so large a number as he had sold last year; but this was to be accounted for by the fact that many of the seamen had been supplied with him by copies the year before. He had paid 365 visits to the ships, and distributed upwards of 500 tracts among the men. He also had nine copies of the “British Messenger” and 48 of the “Mothers’ Magazine” in circulation every month.