About us
We are a small rural congregation based across the North Coast. We currently hold in person services every week in Thurso and on the 4th Sunday of every month in the Farr Free Church building in Bettyhill. We have members from across Caithness and North Sutherland and we are part of the larger Free Church of Scotland denomination.
We would like to invite everyone to come and join us, regardless if you have been in a church every Sunday for years, or if you have never entered a church before in your life. Whoever you are you will be welcomed into our congregation to join us in worshipping our amazing saviour, Jesus Christ.
Being on the North Coast 500 it is lovely to be able to welcome holidaymakers and visitors to our services as they travel around our lovely corner of Scotland. We look forward to getting to know you over a cup of tea after our service and our members may be able to give some tips on some places not to be missed on your visit.
What to expect
We'd like to give you an idea of what to expect if you visited one of our services.
Jesus is at the centre of everything that happens at Thurso and North Coast Free Church, so during the service He is the main focus. Our service consists of a mix of singing, prayer, reading the Bible and preaching (a short talk, or 'sermon'), where a Bible passage is explained and applied.
The service usually lasts for about 1 hour, during which you are free to sit and just observe. You don't need to participate in the singing or anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, and you're not required to make any kind of donation. Bibles are available and the words for the singing will be displayed on the screen for everyone.
We join together for tea and coffee after the service.
If you have children we are delighted to have them join us for service. We currently have a small number of children associated with the congregation so do not run a regular Sunday school but have colouring/worksheets available for use during the service.
Development plan
During our recent time of vacancy we as a congregation have gone through the process of creating a Development plan, this included a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis to gauge the status of the congregation and give us a clear view of where we are in order to use our strengths effectively as well as recognise the changes needed as we move forward with our aim of reaching the North for Christ. If you are interested in reading more of the development plan and about our vision for Thurso and North Coast Free Church it is available to download on the link below.