Who We Are. What We Stand On. Our Mission.
At River Church Banff we have a passion for Jesus and His purposes in the Earth.
Our desire is to seek Gods presence, see His power released in and through us and submit to His purpose for our lives.
We are passionate about seeing the gospel proclaimed and His Kingdom come in our local communities; in every village, every town, every city, region and nation.
The rule and the reign of Christ:
“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” – A.W. Tozer
The following are the core beliefs of River Churches based on the foundational truths taught in the Bible. All of our teaching and ministry are rooted in and flow out of these biblical doctrines.
There is one eternally existing God who has three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He is the creator of all that exists, both visible and invisible, and is therefore worthy of all glory and praise. God is perfect in love, power, holiness, goodness, knowledge, wisdom, justice, and mercy. He is unchangeable and therefore is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
God has revealed himself to us through his son, Jesus Christ, who is the visible image of the invisible God, the holy scriptures, and through all of creation itself.
Humans, both male and female, were created in God’s image for His glory. The first humans, Adam and Eve, were created without sin and appointed as caretakers of the rest of God’s creations.
When Adam and Eve chose not to obey God, they ceased to be what they were made to be and became distorted images of God. This caused them to fall out of fellowship with God, and fractured all of creation ever since that time.
Jesus Christ came to reconcile us with God. He lived a life without sin and willingly died on the cross to pay the penalty for our transgressions. God raised him from the dead and now, by grace, offers as a free gift eternal life to all who follow Christ, by faith, as their Lord and Savior. That is why salvation can be found in Christ alone.
The Church is meant to be the visible body of Christ, sent into the world to glorify God and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is returning one day to judge both the living and the dead and to usher in the fullness of God’s kingdom on earth.
We believe the Bible is the inspired, authoritative, living, eternally reliable Word of God equally in all parts and without error in its original manuscripts, and our primary and authoritative source of revelation from God, superior to conscience and reason, though not contrary to reason. Therefore, the Bible is our final authority for faith and practice and is necessary for our daily lives as it continually points us toward the person of Jesus. [2 Timothy 3:16-17; 1 Peter 1:23-25; Hebrews 4:12]
It was 1981 when the Lord first gave us the scripture in Isaiah 54:2-3, (enlarge the place of our tent). Now, we feel The Lord is leading us to enlarge our tent, to be stretched and not hold back, lengthen our chords and strengthen our stakes. Our heart’s desire is to partner and participate with the Lord locally, nationally and internationally in discipling and church planting, in seeing the Kingdom of God come.
In 1982, Riverside Church began as a small gathering in Macduff. It was led by Joe & Yvonne Ewen and Alan & Winifred Parsons and hosted in Joe's home.
Seeking to follow the vision of a vibrant, Spirit-led local Church, others joined and we began meeting in Macduff Town Hall.
We saw many great things happening and continued to grow. We moved to Macduff Primary School and were joined by people from Buckie and Elgin.
During these years, the Lord deepened our relationship with Him and with one another. Our understanding of His Kingdom grew and with it, the vision for a network of local churches with a heart for the World.
The Riverside Church Network was established with the planting of Riverside Christian Church, Buckie & Elgin City Church. Our vision statement became "We will go to every town, city, village, and country area where Jesus calls us to go."
As three congregations in Banff, Buckie and Elgin, we began to see the vision become a reality.
In 2001, we purchased Harvest Centre, Banff, where we have seen God move and the ministry thrive including youth work, a Food Bank and the Well Cafe. In 2010, a refurbished town centre property in Buckie became Riverside Christian Centre, an ideal base from where the Church ministers into the community.
2013 saw the opening of Harvest Centre, Elgin where God again blessed us with a prime location for reaching out into the community. Then a further fulfillment of our vision came with the planting of River Church, Aberdeen - a small group of people with a big heart to share God's love.
Opened in 2014, Harvest Centre Trinity, a £400,000 Church restoration in Banff is now a vital part of our ministry. Our heart is for our local communities, our nation and the nations of the world.
As we look to the future, we released Riverside Church Buckie to pursue their vision of building 'Church in the community and community in the Church' whilst reaffirming our vision of vibrant, Spirit led local Churches as we become the River Churches.
In 2016, Senior Leader of the Antioch Movement, Jimmy Seibert, came to Banff to receive the River Churches into the Antioch Movement. That includes River Church Elgin and River Church Aberdeen too.
Antioch is a global family of churches committed to Jesus and His purposes. We value encountering God, life-on-life discipleship and missions through the local church. We are reaching the nations through church-planting and discipleship movements. We see this as a positive step for the furthering of the gospel.
In 2017, a pivotal moment in the life of River Church marked a new season of God’s faithfulness as Robert McArthur was installed as lead pastor. Alongside his wife Roxanne and their four children, Robert stepped into leadership with a deep heart for revival, community, and the presence of God. Under his guidance, the church continued to grow in unity, prayer, and mission, with a renewed focus on reaching the people of Banff and surrounding areas with the love and hope of Jesus.
In 2021, following the leading of the Holy Spirit, Robert launched Revive Ministries (formerly Revive Scotland), an expression of God’s vision to stir revival across the land. What began as a step of obedience has grown into a movement of small but powerful gatherings that bring churches together and ignite a passion for Jesus. Through Revive, River Church has become a sending and equipping hub, walking out God’s faithfulness in bold and practical ways to see Scotland awakened to His glory.
River Church Banff is a part of the River Church Network in Scotland. The River Church is also a part of the Antioch Ministries International Movement.
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Starting 25 January 2026, our new service hours will be 10:30 am