Douglas MacMillan: A Personal Postscript
December 8, 2010
On a personal note, and as follow-up to Levy's last post, I only heard Douglas Macmillan once, in 1989, at Aberdeen University Christian Union but (very, very rare for me) I still remember the text: 1. Cor. 1:25. That I remember it is a function of how powerful an address it was, and reminds me of how much I miss British preaching. Also, as a young Christian, one of the first Christian books I was ever given was The Lord's My Shepherd -- an absolute classic which should be read by one and all -- simple stuff that, like the Catechism, one must never pass beyond.
I also, humanly speaking, owe Douglas Macmillan a huge debt: my wife was converted under his preaching. He was a guest preacher at a Gaelic service on the Isle of Lewis in the early 1980s and, as he ascended into the pulpit, he noticed the large number of young people in the congregation; he then made an on-the-spot (and, in the context, potentially controversial) decision to preach in English, not Gaelic, on the assumption that the younger people present would find that easier to follow. For my wife, the rest, as they say, is history. An example of true wisdom, powerful preaching, and appropriate contextualisation.
My wife cried when she heard of his death.
I also, humanly speaking, owe Douglas Macmillan a huge debt: my wife was converted under his preaching. He was a guest preacher at a Gaelic service on the Isle of Lewis in the early 1980s and, as he ascended into the pulpit, he noticed the large number of young people in the congregation; he then made an on-the-spot (and, in the context, potentially controversial) decision to preach in English, not Gaelic, on the assumption that the younger people present would find that easier to follow. For my wife, the rest, as they say, is history. An example of true wisdom, powerful preaching, and appropriate contextualisation.
My wife cried when she heard of his death.
