The group of high school students from the Edge had no way of knowing – in 1991 – that their mission trip to the Church of Scotland, in Banchory, would mark the beginning of a long-term relationship between UPC and the Scottish church. For the past 13 years, UPC and the church in Banchory, a town of roughly 7,000 people in the northeast corner of Scotland, has had a relationship that has been both mutually encouraging and centered on serving God together.

Jeff Towne, pastor of Youth Mission and Ministry, was a student on that first trip, and went back in the summer of 1993 as a summer deputee through UMin.

“I honestly feel that I would not be doing what I’m doing today aside from how God used my experience in Banchory to plant the seed of call to vocational ministry,” Jeff says. “At that point in my life, I had not considered attending seminary and going into full-time ministry. God used that experience in my life in a remarkably powerful way.”

While Jeff was in Banchory, he stayed with the Brodie family. In August – more than a decade later – it was Pete Brodie, the youngest of three Brodie boys, who was standing up in front of the UPC family, testifying how God has used these two church bodies in his life.

Pete has a long history with youth ministries at UPC. In 1995, he went as a student on the Rock’s annual “Shasta Blasta” trip. He joined the Edge team on a 1997 mission trip to Guatemala. Then, in 2002, he worked as a summer intern at UPC with Children and Family Ministries and is now filling an internship with the youth program in the Banchory church.

I am blown away every time I go to Seattle by the hospitality and love that I experience over there,” Pete says. “It is very refreshing to get to be around so many honest, exciting and passionate Christians at UPC who place so much emphasis on relationship-building. It has inspired me to build on my relationships with the young people in Banchory and to perhaps act as a role model in the same way many from UPC have been to me.”

Recently, Pete became ill and ended up needing emergency surgery. He explains that through that experience God tangibly reminded him of the amazing love and connection between Banchory and UPC through numerous get well cards, e-mails and prayers coming from Seattle.

Tony Stephen is pastor to the youth in Banchory (the ministries are also named the Rock and the Edge) who Pete will be interning with this year. Tony’s first run-in with a UPCer happened while he was studying theology at Aberdeen University from 1991-1993. One of his lecturers was Tim Dearborn, a UPC member and former UPC missions pastor, who at the time was living in Banchory with his family and played a key role in creating the connection between Seattle and Banchory.

Since taking the youth leadership post in Banchory, Tony has traveled with the Edge to build houses in Tijuana, Mexico, and has served both on Seattle trips to Scotland and with the recent group of Banchory students who came to serve in Seattle. He has witnessed many personal visits across the ocean as well as various trips and internships between the two churches. His sister, Nicola Stephen, worked as an intern with the Rock and Edge at UPC.

“The relationship with UPC has brought me lifelong friendships, laughter, tears, incredible memories and a new family that may live thousands of miles away, but seems as close as my next-door neighbors,” Tony says. “I have seen Jesus in the lives of young people on two continents who are joined by their passion for Christ.”

In August, a group of 27 high school students and leaders came over to serve alongside Edge students in urban Seattle. A total of 50 people served at nearly a dozen ministry sites throughout Seattle, including New Horizons, Union Gospel Mission and First Ave. Service Center. As one team that included Seattle and Banchory students, they dove into the city and touched lives while at the same time building on a solid foundation of the faith community between the two cities.

In August 2005, the adventure and relationship continues as the Edge will venture overseas and serve with our brothers and sisters in their territory.

The hope is that generation after generation of students coming through the Edge – in both Banchory and Seattle – will continue to share the love for God’s people in both corners of the world and find encouragement in their own walks with Jesus Christ because of it. Through their ties with Banchory, the young people at UPC have learned first-hand that the family of Christ really does transcend borders and nationalities.