Our history

Solas Timeline 

Solas (the Gaelic word for light) is founded by the Director, David Robertson, pastor of St Peter’s Free Church in Dundee, and Gordon Wilson, former Scottish MP (SNP), who is Chair of the Board. Solas is based at St Peter’s (pictured with the current team) with a mission to ‘increase the message of the Gospel to culture’ (with a strong evangelistic foundation). 10 focus areas are identified (society, science, cafe, music/arts, medicine, history, media, philosophy, church, Christianity/other religions).

[Solas began life at St Peter's, but is an independent charity that works with many different churches across the evangelical spectrum]

The event is called "Out of the Silent Church" and features David Robertson, John Lennox, Stuart McAllister and others speaking.

The local group is formed to promote the gospel in their city.

Quench is a book encouraging café culture in churches, the Solas Papers explore different topics, and Solas-Connect is a persuasive evangelism training week.

Edited by David Randall (Chair of the Board), it explores the inadequacy of disbelief and features chapters by lots of different authors.

The new (and still current) office is situated on the west side of Dundee.

The publication was produced to provide Christians with in-depth articles on a range of topics.

David Robertson takes a place on the Board before moving to Australia in 2019.

To take advantage of the digital age, the videos were designed to give people short answers to key cultural questions about God.

The publication is discontinued to focus more resources on other areas of ministry.

These replace the annual conference.

The "persuasive evangelism podcast" is created with Kristi Mair and Andy Bannister hosting it.

A new website is also launched.

Gavin is based in Scotland and Gareth in Northern Ireland.

The book is written by Andy Bannister and draws from his academic research.

He becomes the third member of the speaker team (and is based in Perth), as Gareth Black had stepped down.

Written by Andy Bannister, the book was focused on providing practical advice on sharing Jesus with others.

Co-edited by Gavin Matthews and Andy Bannister, the book is on its 3rd print-run within 6 months (with nearly 30,000 printed)

Among the many events planned for the year is Andy Bannister speaking at the 2025 Keswick Convention (on its 150th anniversary).