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Single Person record details
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Back
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Person Code
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NA15029
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Corporate Name
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Moncrieff United Free Kirk Session
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Dates
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1745-
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Activity
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Moncrieff United Free Church originated as a congregation of the original seceders formed from praying societies in Alloa. The societies had joined the Associate Presbytery in 1738 and in 1745 the seceders in Alloa were disjoined from Stirling. In 1747 after the split in the Presbytery over the Burgess oath, the congregation took the Antiburgher side in what was to be known as the General Associate Synod. The first minister, William Moncrieff, was ordained in 1749. The General Associate Synod joined with the Associate Synod in 1820 to form the United Secession Church. At the union of 1847 the congregation became Alloa Townhead of the United Presbyterian Church, Presbytery of Stirling, then, in 1900, Alloa Moncrieff part of the United Free Church. It stayed out of the union of the United Free Church with the Church of Scotland in 1929 becoming part of the United Free Church continuing. It has been at its present site at Townhead, Drysdale Street since 1792. It is in the Presbytery of the East.The Kirk Session functioned in a similar manner to Sessions of the Church of Scotland. Each congregation of the Church of Scotland has a Kirk Session, which comprises the minister(s) and the ruling elders, all members of the Session (including the minister) being elders. The elders? duty is care for the spiritual needs of the congregation; each of them has a district of the parish assigned to him/her. The Kirk Session determines the number of elders. The minister is moderator of the Session, and there is a clerk who has custody of all the Session?s records. There may also be a treasurer, and an officer or beadle. The Session must have maintained a communion roll, containing the names and addresses of the communicant church members within the parish. The Kirk Session?s duties are to maintain good order amongst its congregation (including administering discipline and superintending the moral and religious condition of the parish), and to implement the Acts of the General Assembly. The Kirk Session is at the base of the pyramid of church courts, and it is subject to the review of the Presbytery in which it is situated, and to the superior courts of the Church. Each Kirk Session elects one of its number to represent it at the Presbytery (and formerly at the Synod).Into the 19th century, there used to be weekly collections made for the support of the poor, but as the state began to assume responsibility for their support (by means of taxation) so funds collected from communicants might be directed to special schemes (eg support of missionaries), more recently through a weekly freewill offering scheme. Seat or pew rents were also quite common (money paid for a fixed seat in a church), but declined rapidly from the 1950s. Many congregations now have a congregational board, which monitors income and expenditure. Former Free Church congregations often had Deacons? Courts, which had responsibility for the whole property of the congregation, and had to apply spiritual principles in the conduct of their affairs.
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Jurisdiction
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Presbytery of Stirling
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NonPreferredTerm
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Alloa General Associate Kirk Session (Antiburgher)
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Subordinate
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Alloa
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Associated records
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GB224/CH3/1057 | Alloa Churches: Moncrieff United Free Church | 1851-1871 | GB224/PD132 | Moncrieff Church, Alloa | 19th century-20th century |
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