:: There will be no 09:30 service during the school holidays. Sunday services will be at 11:00 and 18:30. The 09:30 service will begin again on Sunday 16 August.

:: Throughout the month of July, the Sunday services and midweek meetings will be taken by Mr Johnathan Keenan, who will also deal with day-to-day pastoral matters.

:: There will be a break from the usual Sunday School classes until 23 August. Older children are invited to join with the adults in our worship services and a holiday Sunday School will be held during the 11:00 service for pre-school and P1 children. Visiting children will be made most welcome. Babies and toddlers may be cared for in our crèche.

:: The church office will be open as usual. Today, we launch video and audio podcasts of our sermons, enabling you to catch up on the latest sermon series on your iPod or other portable media player while you're out and about.

Visit the video sermons and audio sermons pages to find out more, or simply search for Smithton-Culloden Free Church in the iTunes Store. We celebrate the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper during the 11:00 service this Sunday. There will be a preparatory service on Saturday evening at 19:30 and services at 11:00 and 18:30 on Sunday (no 09:30 service this week). We welcome back as our preacher this weekend Rev Kenny Macleod, Carloway, who used to be an elder here in the Smithton congregation. The annual, joint Pentecost Service will be held in Smithton-Culloden Free Church on Sunday 31 May at 18:30. On that evening, the congregations of the Barn Church of Scotland, Culloden Baptist Church, the King's Fellowship and Smithton-Culloden Free Church will meet together for worship. You are warmly invited to join us. This weekend we will host a national Free Church conference on Precenting and Congregational Singing. It will be held in the church on Friday evening and throughout the day on Saturday. The key speakers are Rev Kenny Ferguson, Moderator of the 2008 General Assembly, and Rev Dr Iain D Campbell, Minister of Back Free Church.

The conference is intended not only for precentors and prospective precentors but also for all others interested in improving congregational praise, both male and female. The emphasis in all the sessions will be more practical than theoretical and singing and discussion will figure prominently throughout.

On Saturday afternoon at 15:30 the conference will conclude with a closing service of praise which is open to the public. Please come if you can! May Nicholson was a notorious fighting drunk in Ferguslie Park, Paisley, until she became a Christian at the age of 34. She has spent the last 22 years tirelessly working for the Lord in Paisley, Dundee and now Govan, where she has formed the Preshal Trust ('preshal' means 'precious' in Gaelic). She tells the story in her book Miracles from Mayhem published by Christian Focus Publications.

May recently spoke in Smithton about her life and work. You can listen to the audio here or watch the video here. Copies of the recording are also available for purchase on CD (£1) or DVD (£3) from the Church Office.

This year's anniversary services at Smithton take on an even greater significance as the congregation was 30 years old on 4 March. The first service took place on a Sunday afternoon in an old community hall in Smithton. God is good and we have seen significant growth in the congregation during the last 30 years. This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the ordination and induction of David Meredith to his first and only congregation!

The anniversary services were started in 1991 to mark the opening of the new church building in March 1990. The aim is threefold: to give God thanks for another year of ministry, to expose our people to quality Bible teaching and to build links with the wider evangelical community. We always invite a preacher from outwith the Free Church of Scotland to these services.

This year the preacher is Rev Paul Levy who is minister at the International Presbyterian Church, Ealing, London. Paul is a Welshman who trained at The Cornhill Training Course run by The Proclamation Trust in central London. He was previously assistant minister at Grove Chapel where he worked with Mark Johnston, one of our previous guest preachers.

The theme for the day will be Seeing the Servant. Paul will take us through three of the servant songs from the book of Isaiah:

09:30   Isaiah 42
11:00    Isaiah 49
18:30    Isaiah 50

We give you a warm invitation to join us for these services.