Churches Sarah has served as Minister: –

St. Johns Church for the Deaf;

Blackhall St Columba’s, Edinburgh;

Christ Church, Warwick Bermuda;

Craigmillar Park Church, Edinburgh;

Kirn Church linked with St. Johns Dunoon, and Sandbank;

Midstocket Parish Church, Aberdeen;

And now Saltcoats St Cuthbert’s.

Sarah was born and grew up in sunny Kitwe, Zambia,  before returning permanently to Inverness, Scotland, as a teenager.  There she attended Crown Church Inverness. In 1983 she married fellow theology student Stewart Nicol at Crown Church.  After University, graduating as Bachelor of Divinity, she took her bible exams from Inverness Presbytery and was Licensed by them in June 1983, which is when she became Rev. Sarah Nicol. She was then ordained by St John’s Church, Aberdeen, in 1985 and spent some years in a new experiment for the Church of Scotland as minister for the deaf in Aberdeen, Grampian Region and the islands, covering up to Shetland and Orkney.  She learned Sign language to second stage while working with the deaf congregations.  After a spell, she moved as Associate Minister in Blackhall St. Columba’s in Edinburgh.  She enjoyed this city congregation and served there during a vacancy period, something she did in Bermuda too, her next Church.

Following her time in Bermuda, she returned to Edinburgh to Craigmillar Park Church. She would spend the next fifteen years in this charge and it was during this time their daughter was born. While in this charge, Sarah also tackled her Master of Theology at New College, graduating in 2000 with her MTheol.  She really enjoyed this academic challenge.

The next call was another move, this time to the west coast to the deferred linkage of Kirn with St. John’s Dunoon and Sandbank.   Kirn Church’s location was perfect for sea loving Sarah; it was right on the Clyde coast and the Ships which came to Greenock were a spectacle not to be missed.

After the west, it was the north east to Aberdeen, the oil capital of Europe, and her next charge was with Midstocket Parish Church, where she saw a refurbishment of the Church with pews being removed, underfloor heating installed, carpeting of the sanctuary and chairs brought in to replace the pews, giving a far more flexible space layout in the Sanctuary.  Renewing of halls and adding a Garden Room also took place.  At the end of the refurbishment, the Moderator, the Very Rev. John Chalmers, attended to dedicate the new place and plant a tree near the new Garden Room. This had been a major piece of work. During the time out of the sanctuary, services were held in the church centre down the road from the church building, while waiting for the delivery of the chairs, which were supposed to arrive in time for Christmas but ended up being delivered in January. She appeared in a few news stories, one picturing her in an empty sanctuary with the headline “Standing room only”!!

Sarah very much enjoyed her time in Aberdeen but the call of Saltcoats did not go unnoticed and so, after much thought and prayer, she felt it time to move again back to the West!