William Gibson Sloan (4 September 1838 in

Dalry, North Ayrshire Dalry () is a small town in the Garnock Valley in Ayrshire, Scotland. Drakemyre, North Ayrshire, Drakemyre is a northern suburb. History Dalry (from gd, Dail Ruighe, 'the haugh at the slope') is a small settlement on the Rye Burn. Its history ...

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– 4 September 1914 in

Tórshavn Tórshavn (; lit. "Thor's harbour"), usually locally referred to as simply ''Havn'', is the capital and largest city of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the northwest of the city lies the ...

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

) was a Plymouth Brethren

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to the

and Shetland.

Life

His parents were Nathanael and Elisabeth Sloane (Sloan) who lived in Bridgend, Dalry. William became a

missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

, sent by the Tract Society of Scotland, to Shetland and Orkney. While in Shetland,

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

-born Sloan came into contact with local Plymouth Brethren and issues like "believer's baptism" and the "breaking of bread" came up. Sloan converted and became "baptised by immersion into the water" and thence "broke bread" with the local Shetland Baptists, even though he never considered himself being a Baptist. He believed in the ''one Congregation of God''. It was in this belief that he in 1865 decided to become an evangelist to the

, which he had heard of from Shetland fishermen, who earned their living by fishing in the vicinity of the Faroe Islands. For many years, his work in Faroe had little effect, but eventually a few people started gathering in "Ebenezer Hall" also known as "Sloan's Hall", which was built in Tórshavn in 1879. As the number of congregants was increasing, a new and bigger "Ebenezer" was built in 1905. The congregation eventually grew into the biggest independent congregation in the islands, second only to the established church. William Sloan died on his 76th birthday, 4 September 1914, in his home in

. Approximately 12% of the population in the Faroe Islands now belong to the local Brethren congregations founded by Mr. Sloan or "Old Sloan", as he is referred to in the Faroe Islands.

Family

On 11 October 1881 William Sloan married Elsebeth (Elspa) Isaksen í Geil from Tórshavn, in

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. William and Elspa Sloan had six children: Poul (born 1882), Elisabeth (Betty) (born 1887), Archibald (born 1890), Cathrine (born 1892), Anna Elisabeth (born 1895) and Andrew (born 1896). Elspa remained a widow until she died on 4 June 1939. The youngest son, Andrew, followed in his father's footsteps and became an evangelist in Faroe.

Literature

* Fred Kelling: ''Fisherman of Faroe – William Gibson Sloan'', Leirkerið Publications, Gøta, Faroe Islands 1993 * Tórður Jóansson: ''Brethren in the Faroes - An Evangelical movement, its remarkable growth and lasting impact in a remote island community'', Tórshavn 2012, * ''In Faroese:'' Sigurd Berghamar: ''-men Gud gav vøkst – um William Sloan og fyrstu samkomurnar'', Forlagið Afturljóð, Tórshavn 1992

External links

GOD'S INDESCRIBABLE GIFT
at www.alfredplacechurch.org.uk

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sloan, William Gibson 1838 births 1914 deaths Converts to evangelical Christianity from Roman Catholicism Faroese people of Scottish descent Scottish Protestant missionaries Protestant missionaries in the Faroe Islands Protestant missionaries in Scotland Scottish Plymouth Brethren People from Dalry, North Ayrshire Scottish evangelicals 19th-century Faroese people