Meet the Ministry Students

Here’s some more information about Craig and Gary, the two men currently training to be ministers at the Scottish Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary (SRPTS). Please pray for these men and their teachers.

Craig Scott

I was brought up in an unbelieving home to a single parent in the East End of Glasgow. I never heard the Gospel until I was 11 years old when I heard about Christ for the first time at a school assembly.  After reading the Bible and books from the local library, the Lord brought me to faith through reading Luther on Romans 1:17 at the age of 12.

After years of attending a liberal Church of Scotland congregation I finally sought after a Biblical & Reformed Church and found one through Jimmy Fisher’s Covenanter Tours as he led me to Airdrie RPCS.  I still remember the first time I visited, it felt like home as the Gospel was preached, and the warmth of the people made me feel more than welcome.  I participated in the Airdrie Session’s church planting work in Glasgow, and then when the Glasgow RP Church was constituted, I became a member of that congregation.  Since first coming into the RP Church I have grown to love my RP family and made many friends through overseas RP visitors and Go Team trips such as one to Galway.

In 2011 whilst studying in Edinburgh,  God burned the call to the ministry into my soul, so I applied to the RPCS as a candidate for the ministry. When I was accepted by the RPCS Presbytery to study at the new SRPTS I was overjoyed at God’s grace.  Last summer I was blessed to have spent 10 weeks in Topeka, Kansas, as I sampled the RPCNA life for the first time. It was a fantastic experience as I attended Synod, Family Camps, and had the opportunity to preach every week. I was so thankful for such an opportunity to learn under godly men where their love for doctrine and people challenged me greatly.

Since September 2013 I have attended the SRPTS and it has been a wonderful experience. The blessings have come in abundance as I have sat under men who are active in the ministry and learned from their vast experience as under-shepherds.  I truly thank God for providing both the seminary and the provisions needed to sustain such a ministry. I’m sure I speak on behalf of all in the RPCS in asking for the continued prayerful support from our brethren in the RP family.

Gary Gunn

I was surrounded by the Gospel in my early years, my parents being converted when I was 2 years old. I myself was converted quite young, I believed the Gospel and asked many questions about the Bible, especially the Gospel accounts.  This culminated at a communion when I felt determined to speak to the minister after he had preached on the glory of the cross and urged the people that if we knew Christ then we should profess this and be part of His family.  I am thankful that I was blessed in knowing good Christians that were friends of my parents, and that I also had the privilege of attending Sunday School.

In high school I studied the usual subjects, developing a love for music especially, and unsure of what I was to do with my life, I pursued music, mainly in composing and production in my early 20’s.  Yet in the back of my mind I had an awareness that I might end up in the Christian ministry.  This came to a head during a visit to Peru in which God was especially close to me, and I am thankful to Him for that.  Within 18 months of this I made it known to my minister that the LORD was dealing with me in the preaching, and I felt pressed to pursue it.  I began to preach then and began an extensive study on Paul’s letter to the Romans with some men in the church.  I also discovered the audio sermons of Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones.  I would say the most significant work of God was in the preaching I heard each week, which at that time were extensive sermon series’ on Old Testament books and the Last Week of Christ’s Ministry.  I saw this all as essential training for a minister.

In God’s providence I joined the RPCS in 2011, and although it meant I had to wait to pursue formal studies, I am thankful to God for it.  He is wise and trains us in remarkable ways.  As it turned out, I had done a lot of studying of the theology of the Bible and was rooted devotionally and Scripturally for a longer period of time.

I am grateful for the course in SRPTS; the men who teach are servants of Christ, and we have already learned a lot from them.  Because of the format, we are able to discuss many things with them throughout the week they are teaching us, and we refer to the Word of God and root everything in it.  It is a trying time nationally, yet for those in the RPCS there is opportunity to bond with brothers and sisters in Ireland and the U.S- whose prayerful support, I believe, is one of the great strengths for us.  While we look to rebuild, in this land that was once married to Christ, it always encourages us to hear of the work going on throughout the Global RP Church.  My prayer for the church here is “Who is this coming up, out of the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved?” (Song of Solomon 8: 5).  If we love Him, and proclaim His Word in all of its power, remaining personally close to Him, that is our strength.  His Word is glorious, and we must build every stone of the church as He has instructed us.