Final services at Bo'ness churches as congregations ready to unite
Two Bo’ness congregations are set to unite under one new banner in the coming weeks.
Members of St Andrew’s Parish Church and Bo’ness Old Kirk will worship for the last time under their current name this Sunday, August 24 before they come together as one united congregation.
The move comes following the general decline in church-going over the last 50 years and the Church of Scotland’s programme of reducing its building inventory over the last five years.
Congregations have been encouraged to consider how they might best serve the communities in which they are located in the face of diminishing resources.
In June, the two remaining Church of Scotland congregations in the town – St Andrew’s Parish Church in Grange Terrace and Bo’ness Old Kirk in Panbrae Road – voted to join together and the union will take effect from September 1, 2025. The new congregation will be called Bo’ness Parish Church.
On Sunday, August 31 members of both churches will be united together for a special service to mark the union – to which all are invited – led by the Moderator of the Presbytery of Forth Valley and Clydesdale, Reverend Derek Gunn.
The new congregation will use the building in Panbrae Road, currently occupied by Bo’ness Old Kirk, going forward.
The St Andrew’s Parish Church building will be surplus to requirements from September 1 and will most likely be placed on the market for sale in due course.
Neil MacLennan, session clerk of St Andrew’s Parish Church, said: “This is a sad time especially for the congregation of St Andrew’s Parish Church, whose building is now closing, and for the congregation of Bo’ness Old Kirk, which will cease to worship under its historic name.
"However, both congregations are excited about a new future together under their new banner, ‘Bo’ness Parish Church’.”
The union comes as a new chapter for both of the churches which have a long history in the town.
The St Andrew’s Church building was built in 1905 and dedicated for use in 1906. At that time it was occupied by the congregation of St Andrew’s United Free Church of Scotland, who commissioned it and moved from their old, no-longer-fit-for-purpose building in Boundary Street. The St Andrew’s congregation became part of the Church of Scotland in 1929 when the United Free Church of Scotland and the Church of Scotland themselves united together.
The current Old Kirk building was completed in 1888 when the congregation moved in from their old, no-longer-fit-for-purpose (1683) building in Corbiehall.