The Free Church of Scotland was formed in 1843 when a large group of people left the Church of Scotland. The key issues at the time were the freedom of the Church to run its own affairs and the rights of congregations to choose their own ministers. In a series of cases the courts of the land had sided with powerful landowners who wanted their views to take precedence over those of the people, especially in the choice of pastors for local congregations. So those who wanted spiritual independence set up the Free Church, the word 'Free' meaning that they wanted to be free from state interference, with Jesus Christ and his Word as their authority for everything.

A lot has happened since then in the complicated church history of
Scotland, but the Free Church has continued its independent existence, though it is much smaller nowadays. It preserves the presbyterian church government and the evangelical and reformed theology of those who first formed it, and has also kept their practice of the a cappella singing of the psalms as the song-book of the Bible. But the most important thing to emphasise is that its concern today remains what it has always been, to be faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to present him as the answer to people's deepest needs and the only hope for the world.

The Free Church has around a hundred congregations, and through them people are being taught the Bible and helped to witness in their communities. Many involved with Christian work among young people know the Free Church through its extensive programme of summer camps for young people and its teenage magazine called Free. The Free Church also has its own theological college in the centre of Edinburgh, and its core programme is validated by the University of Glasgow and leads to the Bachelor of Theology degree. The Church also has an extensive foreign missionary programme, with its focus on South Africa and Peru, but Free Church personnel are also involved in mission work in many other parts of the world.

More information on the Free Church can be found on its website:
www.freechurch.org