Greenview Church – Matthew McKinnon's Blog

150th Anniversary – Greenview Church, Pollokshaws, Glasgow.

The Church Weekend at Gartmore House, Gartmore -some years ago

GREENVIEW CHURCH – 1439 Pollokshaws Road, Glasgow G41 3RQ.

Website – Greenviewchurch.co.uk An Excellent Booklet which gives a short history of the Church and its activities from 1873 – 2023 has been been produced by our Pastor Colin Adams

I have blogged about many things over recent years, but could not let this special anniversary year of our Church pass without reflecting on God’s grace and goodness and His blessings to us His people over many years and right up until the present. Many thousands of other lives have also been touched by the preaching and teaching of the Bible, here at home and abroad, and in recent years through the use of the internet.

As a child my family moved from the centre of Glasgow to the suburbs, and on our first Sunday, on recommendation, we walked to Greenview Church (or ‘Greenview Hall’ as it was called then) and as children were imediately welcomed into their very large Sunday School! The year was 1941. ‘Greenview’ has been our home Church ever since. It didn’t take us long to feel welcomed, even although there were eight of us, including mum and dad. The folks from Pollokshaws were so friendly and ordinary people, who had a love and passion to worship and serve an extraordinary God. Here at Greenview I was converted, baptised, and later was married and throughout the years became involved in many aspects of Church life. And here too, we brought up our children, along with my brothers and sisters and their children! It’s been quite a journey!

The Church we now call Greenview Church, had met in a number of different buildings within the Pollokshaws area of Glasgow prior to our arrival, but was now settled in the building purchased at the corner of Pollokshaws Road and Leckie Street. Here are some pics of these early locations, plus extensions and alterations made to the current building. –

Templars Hall – 1873-1876
Main Street opposite Bengal Street

On the right > is Norman Macrae one of the eight founding members with his wife, prior to going to India as missionaries. The eight men who in 1873 decided to rent the Templars Hall in Main Street, were motivated by the love of Jesus Christ, and had a burden to preach and share the Good News about Jesus with others. Their message could be encapsulated in the words of John 3v16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

The Church is its members, not the building, so here are some pictures of Church from across the years.

I wasn’t around when these photos were taken, but I grew up to know many of them who were, or became, leaders in the Church! Old friends from the ‘Shaws might recognise some of the faces. Dress style has changed a bit since then 🙂 Here are more taken some years later, in the 50’s and 70’s There are too many faces to show, let these few suffice as being representative of those who were amongst our mentors, and others with whom we served.

Jim and Annie Wands – Elder and leader in so many different capacities

The Bible is central to all our Church activities, and has been faithfully preached and taught down through the years, to young and old, week by week, indoors and out of doors, at sheduled services, in house groups and at special campaigns and events. Like so many others I’ve found it to be a lamp to my feet a light on my path. It’s an amazing book, and an endless source of treasure.

As the city demographics changed over the years it was a privilege to welcome Christians from other churches in the South Side of Glasgow. Wolesley Gospel Hall in Oatlands, Elim Evangelical Church in Crosshill and Maple Evangelical Church in Newton Mearns. Many of these Christians have made, and are making a real and valuable contribution to Greenview Church’s life and work.

Evangelist Peter Brandon preaching at Shawlands Arcade during a Gospel Campaign

Stan Ford (mentioned above) died in 1991 but you can still hear his remarkable story on line, it’s well worth the listen. He was the man who said ‘if there is a God I hate him! https://gospelhallaudio.org/sermons/if-theres-a-god-i-hate-him-54-min/

Children’s and Youth work has always been an integral part of Church life from the earliest of days until present. The Church over a period of time purchased a number of buses which were used to bring young people from Thornliebank, Carnwadric, Mansewood and Eastwood districts of Glasgow to the various activities. My wife and I spent almost 25 years of our lives working with the young people. Today the Contageous Youth Camp still attracts young people from around the country including young people from Greenview. Here is a selection of photographs.

Many missionaries from Greenview have travelled far and wide to share the Gospel story cross-culturally in Asia, Africa, India and the America’s. In the first row below are missionaries who went out in the 30’s, and who were an inspiration to the Church. In the 2nd row are some of my contemporaries from the 60’s. Since then others have gone out to Kenya, Tanzania and other destinations, with various skills – Bible translators, medical experts, Bible teachers, builders, engineers and administrators. Even today many members are serving overseas. Others have gone on short term projects throughout the UK and Europe and in various countries abroad.. Far too many to display! Here are some of the missionaries that I grew up listening to:

Jim Caldwell was a well loved gospel singer whose work was recorded. Click on the link and hear him singing ‘How great Thou art’. https://youtu.be/-3cdTlqPgys?si=bpOLEsg45YutdiDn

Dedicated work amongst men and women has been a major feature of Church Ministry. The Women’s Meeting on Wednesday’s at 2.15pm and the Men’s Meeting on Tuesday’s at 2pm from the 50’s to the 90’s was led by a dedicated team of men and women. The Women’s ministry played a major role in the conversion of my mother-in-law Muriel snr., which was a cause of great rejoicing! The nature and emphasis of the work has changed over the years, but still continues to this day. Here are some photos from more recent years of Men’s activities folllowed by some Women’s activities

Unfortunately I don’t have many photos of the women’s events, which is a bit sad considering all the work they have done, and still do in the Church. But the sewing class has donated countless quilts and other items for Children’s homes abroad and we always enjoy their ‘Coffee and Craft’ events which raise money for missionaries and charities. Many also serve in our Cafe on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Well I think I’d better bring this to a close, so I’ll finish with a general selection of some photos I like:

Church picnic to Helensburgh by tramcar and service bus!

Check out our website for details of our current programme. Morning services are live on You Tube, or if you live locally why not drop in and see us, you would be most welcome. And to past members and friends, you would receive a special welcome on this our 150th Anniversary year, please think about coming to visit us.

If you are not a Christian and all the above seems very strange to you, you may like to take a ‘Christianity Explored’ or ‘Alpha Course’. Courses near you can be checked on line, or get in touch if I can be of help.

I hope you have enjoyed these personal memories of my life at Greenview Church, but wherever you are and whoever you are, I wish you God’s blessing as we start our run up to the Christmas Festival and Celebrations.

Matthew

NB: Thanks to those who donated photographs, and to others whose old photographs of Pollokshaws are in the publc domain.

A tribute to my sister Mary Jarvie Macfarlane (nee McKinnon)

6th June 1928 – 16th February 2023

Mary was the first child of Alex and Mary McKinnon and was born into a room and kitchen in McLellan Street in Ibrox, on the southside of Glasgow. She had five siblings, a sister Margaret and four brothers Alex, Martin, Andrew and (me) Matthew. The family lived through the years of the great depression 1929-1939, infamous for its mass unemployment, striking workers, poverty, soup kitchens and deprivation. In spite of the hardships of the day however, it was a very happy family, and our parents’ faith in God gave them strength and faith for the challenges of the day and hope for the future.

When the family moved to Shawlands in 1941 we joined Greenview Gospel Hall (now Greenview Church) and there Mary made many friends. She wrote ‘I became a Christian at 10 and was baptised at Greenview Hall aged 14. This decision to be a Christian has shaped my life’. It certainly did, as she soon became involved in all the works of the Church, later serving in various church committees and was always at the centre of things.

Mary left school at 14 years of age and worked in a local bakery as a shop assistant for 14 years. When mum became terminally ill she left her work, which she loved, to look after her, and to become mother and housekeeper for all of the family. That sense of care for others typified the whole of her life.

Mary later started work in Rolls Royce as a clerkess after my mother’s homecall in 1957, and in due time met John Macfarlane. She had spoken to him about her Christian faith and his need of salvation. This led John to look again at what Christianity was all about, and in time came to accept the truth of the Gospel. John then became a Christian by repentance, and faith in Jesus. Soon their relationship flourished and they were married in Queen’s Park Baptist Church in 1974. They spent many happy years together, while serving the Lord in the church. Sadly John died in the early nineties from angina.

The family all loved and appreciated Mary, and whilst having no children of her own, she supported all of her siblings and their spouses, and her sixteen neices and nephews and their children too!.

For the last two decades and more, Mary was devoted to work amongst asylum seekers and refugees in Glasgow, serving at Queen’s Park Baptist Church’s ‘Drop in Centre’. There she met people from many different countries and social and religious backgrounds. She at times spoke and wrote letters on their behalf, visited them in their homes and became their friend. That friendship was reciprocated as seen in recent years, as so many came to visit her with gifts of food and flowers during the pandemic. Far too many to mention by name but, the Lord knows who you are. The photos above are just a few downloaded from her iPad.

For many years Mary and her sister Margaret spent much time together after the home call of their respective husbands, and when Margaret died in 2011, Muriel and I had Mary almost every Saturday. When she was well into her eighties she surprised me one Saturday by announcing that she had decided to adapt to the 21st Century and could I please buy her one of these tablet things! So that Autumn and Winter she would arrive with her tablet and notepad, and with a load of questions. How does this work, how can I do this etc etc. She would practice all week and come back the following week to tell us how she had managed, and so it continued.

Mary was a very organised person, she seldom went to bed without knowing what her plan was for tomorrow. She meticulously wrote up her diary every day, who phoned, who called, what food she ate, and how the birds were getting on in the nest outside her window! Her daily Bible Reading and Prayer times were a priority for Mary. In a recent blog I was sharing a quote that said ‘ We are all worshippers of someone or something‘. Mary worshipped the God of the Bible, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in singing and action. Always asking the Lord to tell her what He wanted her to do. She was great on Zoom and loved participating in Church services on Sundays, and logging on to the Women’s Prayer Fellowship on a Tuesday afternoon with her friend Lena’s group. All this right up until the weekend before she was called home.

The last words written in Mary’s diary a few weeks before she died said ‘Thanks be to God’, and when she was found in the morning after she died, it was in a kneeling position beside her bed with head resting on her hands. That just seemed so appropriate to all of us who knew and loved Mary.

The the book of Genesis in the Bible says ‘And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.‘ Gen 5.24 – I smile at the story told of a Sunday School Teacher as she explained this text to her children. She reputedly said ‘Well you see, Enoch walked and talked with God every day. One day the time was getting late, so God said to Enoch we’ve walked a long distance together, so why don’t you just come awa’ hame wi’ me’! At Ninety four, Mary was a woman who had walked a long way with the God she loved, since that day as a ten year old when she had asked for her sins to be forgiven and had committed her life to Jesus Christ! So that’s why we can confidently say ‘She’s gone home to be with the Lord‘ just as he promised.

So much more could be said, but in the meantime I, the last of the siblings, and many others will greatly miss Mary, she has been my sister and friend for all of my life, but with others I will treasure her memory until we meet again. And Mary would want me to add ‘Have you considered walking the rest of your life with the God who loves you’?

Matthew

“The Queer Folk O’ the Shaws”

Pollokshaws Townhouse (1803) and the Memorial to James McIndoe the poet

Pollokshaws is a district on the southside of Glasgow (A Burgh in its own right until 1912) and was our home for 23 years, and is still the lifelong home of our church in Leckie Street. This blog will recall past and recent memories of life here, and the huge changes that have taken place throughout my lifetime. There is a poem on a plaque in the old part of the ‘Shaws, which always brings a smile to my face, but please don’t take the words too seriously! 🙂 The poem on the plaque reads:

The ‘Queer folk’ O’ the Shaws – “Wha’ ne’er untae the Shaws has been – Has surely missed a treat – For wonders there are to be seen – Which nothing else can beat. – The folks are green, it’s aft been said, – Of that you’ll find no trace; – There’s seasoned wood in every head – And brass in every face. – Look smart and keep your eyes about – Their tricks will make you grin; – The Barrhead bus will take you out -The folks will take you in. Thank you James McIndoe, that poem still makes me laugh!

Pollokshaws has a history going back to the 17th century, but ‘The ‘Queer Folk’ was the name first given to some Flemish weavers brought to the Shaws by the Maxwell family in the 1800’s, and over time became a ‘byeword’ for all those living in the area. (‘Queer’ in the poem had the meaning of ‘strange’ or ‘odd’) McIndoe the poet, it has been said liked making fun of folks, and it says something of Pollokshaws people that they chose to remember him by this ‘cheeky’ poem in the ‘town square’. Being able to ‘laugh at ourselves’ is surely a special virtue.

The changes that have taken place in the Pollokshaws landscape in my lifetime have been quite phenomenal! In the 40’s and 50’s it still had that close community, working class, yet small town / village atmosphere. It has to be said however, that the housing was basic, and in some parts quite deplorable and rightly described as a slum. But development was coming! (See on-line – ‘Pollokshaws – Wikipedia’ for some amazing resources)

View from our window in Harriet Street 1958

In the 60’s Pollokshaws was designated as a redevelopment area, and in due time we were given the sum of £1.00 in exchange for our two apartment flat in Harriet Street, plus the keys to a brand new flat in the Shawholm Cresent tower block, with a rent payable to Glasgow Housing Department. Wow, were we pleased? YES we were! The up and downstairs apartment had underfloor central heating, two bedrooms, bathroom, a lounge with a verandah, a fitted kitchen, and our own lock-up garage. Pollok Park was just across the road, the neighbours were great, together we polished the communal corridor and as the proverbial saying goes ‘you could have eaten your dinner off the floor’ it was so clean.

We had many happy days at Shawholm Crescent, but life moves on, and as the family grew we too moved on. But now we look back and wonder why all those hopes and dreams that the new revitalised Pollokshaws brought, would within our lifetime come to ruin and decay? The many factories and businesses in the area also closed over that period of time.

But another revitalised Pollokshaws is arising from the ashes, so time will tell if it is more successful than the last redevelopment effort. I am surprised however that expensive new houses are being built, whilst it seems little effort is going into preserving and maintaining landmark buildings, monuments and the once attractive river bank.

Our Church at Greenview.

Greenview Church, was established by some men in the Shaws away back in 1873, as they were keen to introduce to people a simple form of Christian worship. They met to pray, study the Bible, have fellowship with one another as believers and hold communion. They were also keen to share the good news about Jesus with their fellow citizens in Pollokshaws. First they met in a rented hall off the Main Street, then built a wooden hall in Wodrow Street, (Wodrow Street ran from Cogan Street past what is now Pollokshaws Parish Church – The tree now standing in the ground near the Parish Church was in the grounds of the Hall) before moving to Greenbank Street and finally to Leckie Street, where they have been since 1933. The building there has been changed and extended on umpteen occasions.

The Church from its beginnings had a strong missionary interest, and Norman MacRae one of the founding fathers, went out in 1876 to Narsapur in the Godaveri Delta, India. Up until today a long line of men and women from Greenview Church have followed Jesus’ command to ‘go into all the world to preach the gospel’ both by word and deed. I remember as a youngster the Pollokshaws Burgh Hall being packed to the door for ‘Farewell Meetings’ followed by trips to the Central Station where we waved off our friends as they made their way to Tilbury Dock in London, before sailing to Africa and South America. Many country names come to mind – Northern Rhodesia, Argentina, Brazil, East Pakistan, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Kenya, Tanzania and other nations in the Middle East. Alex Simpson of Pollokshaws died in Brazil, and an orphanage there is called after him. Men and women with a wide variety of skills from the Shaws have left our shores and used their gifts and skills to help folks around the world, and to build, plant and support the Church.

No space here to expand on all the activities of the Church over the years – suffice to say they have been exhaustive. Not including the main Sunday morning and evening services, there has been Bible studies and weekly prayer meetings, Summer ‘Tent’ Campaigns, Choirs singing at Churches around Scotland’s Central belt, Christian conferences, Sunday Schools (Pollokshaws and Thornliebank) with summer trips and children’s prizegivings, Childrens meetings galore, Christian Youth Centre during and after the war, with 2 week summer camps around Scotland and winter craft making and games nights, Youth Bible Classes and special weekends away, Womens tea meetings, Sewing classes, mens meetings, a football team, white water rafting, golf outings, and much more. Some Greenview pics from the ancient past, and from more recent times follow.

During the pandemic the church services were on-line with the help of Zoom, but that gave the opportuniy to upgrade the church building and its fittings. Now services are back in church, and whilst we practice social distancing and wear masks, it’s great having the live band for our singing, and to see friends old and new in person.

Life has changed dramatically in Pollokshaws in my lifetime, and our church too has had to deal with many changes. But thankfully God does not change and the good news of Jesus does not change. In fact the Bible says of Jesus, that He is the same, yesterday, today and forever. An anchor to our souls in our increasingly chaotic world. Our community cafe has started again on Wednesday and Friday mornings, and many have already come to enjoy the friendly welcome and excellent food and coffee. Tot’s and Co. on Tuesday and Thursday mornings are seeing lots of local mums making friends and finding support there, and our ‘Christians Against Poverty’ Centre is up and running, helping folks escape the debt trap. We also have a programme in partnership with ‘Hope for Glasgow’ that deals with those who have destroying addictions. Sunday School runs in parallel with our morning service at 11am, and there is a thriving Youth Group.

If you are coming to Glasgow we would love to see you, and of course if you stay in Pollokshaws there is always a welcome awaiting you!

We look forward to following the ongoing development of Pollokshaws and its Churches, so with this picture of the Burgh Hall, I wish all my fellow bloggers and my Pollokshaws friends at home and abroad a ‘Happy Christmas and God’s blessing in the New Year!’

Matthew

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