The Free Church (Continuing) Ratagan Youth Conference took place from the 27th of February to the 2nd of March, once again, beside the stunning Loch Duich, opposite the feet of the scenic mountains, the five sisters of Kintail. The conference weekend was a generally sunny one, which we were grateful to the Lord for, where we could enjoy fellowship in the Lord’s creation in our free time. The speaker for the conference was the Rev. A James MacInnes (Lochalsh and Strath) and his subject for the conference was ‘The Great Commission’ (Matthew 28 verses 16 to 20).

The conference addresses were split into three subtitles with subheadings under them. The first talk, which took place on the Friday evening, was entitled: ‘The Great Commission – The Revelation.’ First, we considered how Christ is Risen and how this is a key doctrine of the Christian Gospel. Our lives are lived before God. We were encouraged to examine how we live our lives, our lives are to be defined by Godly fear, as we understand who Christ is and what He has done. Secondly, from the resurrection, Christ is rewarded by the Father ‘All power is given unto me in heaven and earth (Matthew 28 verse 18). We considered how the satisfaction of God was displayed to Christ through the honour and gifts the Father gave to the Son, which displayed the Glory that belongs to Christ in an even greater way that it did before the resurrection (Ephesians 1 verse 19). Thirdly, we were reminded that Christ is actively reigning despite our attitude and response to Him. Christ reigns over all and His reign is universal and unrestrictive, He commissions, instructs, and sends in His name and authority. We also thought upon where the Great Commission was initially given, Galilee of the Gentiles, a place of shame and shadow and where many of Christ’s labours in the Gospel took place. We were exhorted to think why this matters to us, this is because Christ comes to those who live in shame and shadows, He is a friend of publicans and sinners (Matthew 28 verse 16). This was helpful in understanding the urgency of The Great Commission.

The second talk on the Saturday morning was ‘The Great Commission – The Responsibility.’ We considered, 1. Who, 2. Where and 3. How, of The Great Commission and the context around when the Great Commission was given. The commission was given during a time of triumph and amazement following Christ’s resurrection, yet a time also gripped with fear and doubt, of all that had happened associated with the resurrection of Christ. The Great Commission was given to not just the Disciples but to everyone who professes Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. We thought upon Christ’s Sovereignty and the Truth that He is reigning over all, yet He chooses to use weak, still sinful people, saved by His Grace, to carry out The Great Commission alongside Him, those who are only made righteous through Faith in Christ. We were urged to ‘Go’ (Matthew 28 verses 19 to 20). The children of God are called to share Christ and show forth His praises wherever He has placed us within our calling and with the gifts He has given to us in His Grace. We were encouraged to think upon the fact our lives are to give shape to the Gospel by our daily Christian Character as ‘living epistles’ (2 Corinthians 3 verse 2), to a watching world, whereby, people can see the transformative impact of Saving Grace. The Christian can only ‘Go’ because Christ has ‘all power and authority,’ because He reigns (Matthew 28 verse 18) and the Christian goes in the Lord’s strength alone. We are to go everywhere but we are to begin where we are in exercising the gifts we have and discovering our gifts further by starting small and going collectively (Luke 10 v 1). We were reminded to be faithful in serving the Lord with a humble spirit, dependent on Him, understanding our sense of purpose in Him, in love for our Lord’s cause and our neighbour.

The third talk on the Saturday evening was ‘The Great Commission – The Result.’
We looked at 2 Chronicles 36 alongside the latter part of Matthew 28 for this talk. We considered the parallel this text had to the command of The Great Commission. Cyrus the King in this time, who was given power and authority in some sense, instructed those that were with him to go and build the temple of God in Jerusalem again. Similarly, The Great Commission is a command from the Lord Jesus Christ, to be used of Him as His people, in building His church, however, the Lord is ultimately the one who alone saves (Jonah 2 verse 9). The Lord does not have to use us, but He does. We thought upon the truth that the Lord will build His church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it and the building of Christ’s church is ultimately for His Glory and will happen in His timing, and His people may have to bear crosses, a sign of suffering, as they labour for Him but nothing to be compared with what Christ suffered in our stead (Isaiah 55 verse 11, 1 Corinthians 15 verse 58). The speaker helped us to think about the more we tell the Gospel, the more we know His presence and power with us, through the work of the Holy Spirit and as a result of labouring for Him, we know more of His peace. We were left with the thought that a life well lived is one spent for Christ (Matthew 25 verse 23). After each talk, we all engaged in a time of small group discussion and then fed back to the wider conference group, this proved very useful.

Pictured are those who attended the 2026 Youth Conference.

We joined with the Lochalsh and Strath Free Church (Continuing) congregation for both the morning and evening services on the Lord’s Day. The morning sermon was taken from Acts 27 and the account of Paul’s dangerous sea voyage. We were reminded that the Lord is ultimately in control, and we can trust in His providence, despite the storms of life that engulf us at times. The evening sermon was on Mark 6 and the account of Herod and John the Baptist.

The conference weekend was spiritually profitable, a time spent under God’s word, in prayer and in the singing of the Psalms. The talks were challenging, but very applicable and we were urged to leave the conference being willing to truly ‘Go’ and carry the truth and light of the Gospel to all those we cross paths with, doing so in the Lord’s strength and enabling, with much prayer.