STRATHBLANE PARISH CHURCH
Strathblane Church was dedicated to St Blaan. It belonged to the Hospital of Polmadie and in 1453 was annexed to the Collegiate Church of Dunbarton. The Blanefield congregation (which had been the Strathblane United Free Church) united with Strathblane in 1934. Strathblane was in the Presbytery of Dumbarton for many years but then was transferred to Stirling. 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. I
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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