St. Andrew's Scots Church, Malta

{{Infobox church

| name = St Andrew's Scots Church

| fullname = Saint Andrew's Scots Church, A Union of the Church of Scotland and the Methodist Church of England, South East District

| other name = Saint Andrew's International Church

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| image = St. Andrew's Scots Church, Malta.jpeg

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| location = Valletta

| country = Malta

| denomination = Church of Scotland (Presbyterian)
Methodist Church of Great Britain

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| founded date = 1824

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| status = Active

| functional status = Worship Service every Sunday at 10:30

All are WELCOME

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| architect = Giuseppe Bonavia

| architectural type = Neo-Gothic

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| completed date = 1857

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| presbytery = International Presbytery Church of Scotland

| synod = Methodist Church UK, South-East District

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| minister = Rev. Beata Thane

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St. Andrew's Scots Church, sometimes known as the Church of Scotland, is a 19th-century church in Valletta, Malta. The church was built to the neo-Gothic design of Maltese architect Giuseppe Bonavia. It is still an active church today, as a joint congregation of the Church of Scotland, as part of the Presbytery of Europe, and the British Methodist Church South-East District.{{cite book|last=Gill|first=Robin|date=2002|title=Changing Worlds: Can the Church Respond?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GlevAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA113|publisher=A&c Black|page=113|isbn=9780567369390}}

History

=Casa Torrensi=

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.{{cite journal|last=F. Denaro|first=Victor|date=1963|volume=3|issue=4|url=http://www.melitensiawth.com/incoming/Index/Melita%20Historica/MH.03(1960-63)/MH.3(1963)4/orig02.pdf|title=Yet more houses in Valletta|journal=Melita Historica|pages=15–6|access-date=22 February 2016|archive-date=2 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160302135025/http://www.melitensiawth.com/incoming/Index/Melita%20Historica/MH.03(1960-63)/MH.3(1963)4/orig02.pdf|url-status=dead}}

=The church=

The site was bought by Reverend John Keeling in 1824 in order to build the first non-Catholic church in Malta. It is the first Neo-Gothic building on the Maltese islands.{{cite book|last=Mahoney|date=1996|first=Leonardo|title=5000 years of Architecture in Malta|publisher=Valletta Publishing|page=309}} 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.[https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/bitstream/123456789/51881/1/It-Torca_15-4-18_Il-knejjes%20u%20kappelli%20mibnijin%20fi%20zmien%20l-inglizi%20%282%29.pdf Scicluna, J. (2018, April 15). Il-knejjes u kappelli mibnijin fi żmien l-Ingliżi (2). Torċa, pp. 22-23.] Since the turn of the 20th-century it has a mixed congregation that includes presbyterians, methodists, other protestants/reformists and some Catholics.{{Cite web|url=http://www.malta-canada.com/churches-chapels/Valletta.htm|title=Valletta|website=www.malta-canada.com|access-date=2017-02-07}}

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.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lZ1QAAAAMAAJ|title=British Colonial Architecture: Malta, 1800-1900|last=Borg|first=Malcolm|date=2001-01-01|publisher=Publishers Enterprises Group|isbn=9789990903003|language=en}}

It was the first neo-Gothic church to be built in Malta, on the designs of Maltese architect Giuseppe Bonavia.{{cite book|last1=Schiavone|first1=Michael J.|title=Dictionary of Maltese Biographies Vol. 1 A-F|date=2009|publisher=Pubblikazzjonijiet Indipendenza|location=Pietà|isbn=9789993291329|pages=220–221}}

Wiseley was minister of St Andrew's and Presbyterian Chaplain to the Forces in Malta from 1854 to 1914. The current minister is Rev. Beata Thane from the Church of Scotland. Previous Ministers were Rev. Kim Hurst from the Methodist Church, Rev. Doug McRoberts, a Church of Scotland minister, who succeeded Methodist Rev. David Morris, who in 2002 had followed Rev. Colin Westmarland (from 1975 onwards) who had been the first minister not to be a UK military chaplain.{{Cite news|url=http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20070923/local/150th-anniversary-of-st-andrews-scots-church.4234|title=150th anniversary of St Andrew's Scots Church|last=Ltd|first=Allied Newspapers|newspaper=Times of Malta|access-date=2017-02-07|language=en}}