St. Andrew's Scots Church, Malta

St Andrew's Scots church
The church of St Andrew the Apostle
Il-knisja ta' San Andrija
St. Andrew's Scots Church St. Andrew's Scots Church
St Andrew's Scots church
Location	Valletta
Country	Malta
Denomination	Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) Methodist Church of Great Britain
Website	Website of the Church
History
Founded	1824
Architecture
Status	Active
Architect(s)	Giuseppe Bonavia
Architectural type	Neo-gothic
Completed	1857
Clergy
Minister(s)	Doug McRoberts

St. Andrew's Scots Church, Malta, is a joint congregation (a "Local Ecumenical Partnership") of the Church of Scotland and the Methodist Church of Great Britain. For Church of Scotland purposes it is part of the Presbytery of Europe. It is the only Reformed Church in Malta (the population of which is predominantly Roman Catholic). Apart from the Livingston Ecumenical Parish and Grahamston United Church in Falkirk,Scotland, it is the only joint Methodist and Church of Scotland congregation anywhere.

History

The site was previously occupied by Casa Torrensi, built during the Order of St. John in the 17th-century, and carried the address number of 60. The site is located in the proximity of the Demandolx townhouses, of which two from three survived the war. The remaining two are today occupied by the Ministry of Finance. The site was bought by Reverend John Keeling in 1924 in order to build the first non-Catholic church in Malta. Initially the church was built for the Methodist community, only to be later acquired by the Church of Scotland and used by the Presbyterian community. Since the turn of the 20th-century it has a mixed congregation that includes presbyterians, methodists, other protestants/reformists and some Catholics. The church was built in 1857 by Reverend Dr. George Wisely. He ministered a small methodist congregation from the year it was built till 1896. It is the first neo-gothic architecture in Malta, on the designs of Maltese architect Giuseppe Bonavia.

Description

The church buildings are situated in the centre of Valletta at 210 Old Bakery Street. The Sunday service (in English) is held at 10.30am. The building was formerly used solely by the Church of Scotland; the former Methodist Church building is no longer used for worship.

The links between Methodism and Scottish Presbyterianism in Malta are longstanding, despite the existence of separate congregations until recently. The current church building stands on the site of the first non-Roman Catholic church to be opened on the island. This was a Methodist church opened in 1824. The present building was built largely through the efforts of a Church of Scotland minister, Rev Dr George Wiseley, and was opened in 1857. Dr Wiseley was minister of St Andrew's and Presbyterian Chaplain to the Forces in Malta from 1854 to 1914. The current minister (since 2009) is Rev Doug McRoberts, a Church of Scotland minister, who succeeded Methodist Rev David Morris, who in 2002 had followed Rev Colin Westmarland (minister from 1975 onwards) who was the first minister not to be a UK military chaplain.

The church buildings are also regularly used by a German-speaking Lutheran congregation, the Andreas Gemeinde.

Further reading

• British PM urged to learn from Church of Scotland project helping migrants in Malta. 24 August 2015. Times of Malta. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
• Foodbank’s future at risk. 28 March 2015. Times of Malta. Retrieved 17 May 2016.

See also

• Culture of Malta
• History of Malta
• List of Churches in Malta
• Religion in Malta

External links

• St. Andrew's Scots Church, Malta