PEOPLE
We are a group of ordinary people from different backgrounds and experiences, who have come to a personal saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and desire to worship and grow in our faith together.
Here are a few of our stories:
Ralph
My wife and I had similar upbringing,
with Christian parents who made us to
go to church on Sundays and do all the
religious things. But we didn’t know
God, or who Jesus Christ is and what
He can do for us. We just did what we
were told. We went our own way and
did things that we knew were sinful,
but still claimed to be a Christian
because we believed attending church
and following religious traditions made us a Christian.
John 16:8-9 talks about God’s Holy Spirit convicting people of sin. I knew back in 2004 that was what was taking place in me. The way I was living did not fit with what the bible says a Christian life should look like.
I had attended different churches, and regularly heard the phrase “you have to be born again” without having a clue of what it was about. I had said what is known as ‘a sinner’s prayer’ many times without understanding or real conviction. But I was not ready to face up to it or let go of my sinful desires and lifestyle.
God met with me in a powerful way
In 2009 God met with me in a powerful way. I realised that I was a slave to sin and in desperate need for a Saviour. I was afraid of giving up my lifestyle to follow Jesus Christ, without realising what I gained by committing my life to Him. I knew that I could not continue this way. If I had to lose everything, so be it. I gave my life to Jesus Christ, and asked Him to be my Lord and Saviour. I felt a joy and peace that I was not able to explain at the time.
Parallel to journey, my wife had stopped attending church - or if she went, got out as soon as she could. However, she too gave her life to Jesus Christ and is now following him faithfully.
It is a daily transformation
It is a daily transformation for us, allowing God to guide us in all aspects of our lives. It has truly been an exciting journey, with challenges, trials and difficulties along the way. But we will not exchange it for another. Our lives now have purpose and meaning which was absent before. We have 3 beautiful children and desire to bring them up in the ways of Jesus, so that some-day they will know and follow Him for themselves. We want to share this wonderful gift of love from God as He enables us, to whoever the Lord brings our way.
Dawn
When I was at junior school, it was
normal to have school assemblies
where you sang hymns and said
prayers. The fact that God existed
wasn’t something that I had to be
convinced of. I guess I always
thought that He did. What I didn’t
realise, was how to become a Christian.
A few years later, I went to a church youth group called Pathfinders. I loved joining in with the games, camps, crafts and also hearing from the Bible. I listened to the stories of Jesus every week for a few years, hearing what Christians believed and comparing myself to what I heard, trying to decide if I counted as a Christian or not. It wasn’t until I was sitting around a campfire on a Pathfinders week away, that I suddenly realised I hadn’t asked God to be in my life. Although I knew that – for as long as I could remember – I had believed in God, the talk that night made me finally understand that I couldn’t just be a Christian depending on how well I lived or how kind I was to others. I needed to ask for forgiveness for all that I had done wrong. I needed to accept Jesus as my saviour and live my life his way. That night, in the quiet of a small tent, I said a prayer to God and became a Christian.
Although life has become busy since then with a family, work and church, I am still learning more about the Bible and growing closer to God all of the time. I make God the centre of my decisions and rely on Him to aid me in all of life’s challenges. I could not live without the faith that I have and thank God for His grace to have saved me.
I could not live without the faith that I have
Chris
As a child I was taken to church. By the age of 6 years I had asked Jesus into my life to be my Saviour. Obviously a 6 year old’s knowledge of the bible, God and life was limited, but in a child-like faith I knew that God loved me and wanted a relationship with me.
That truth is unchanged. We don't need to be clever, know the bible inside out and have all the answers to life's difficult questions, we just need to have faith that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, as he claims.
It hasn't been plain sailing
It hasn't been plain sailing since I first asked God into my life; there have been doubts and times I have struggled and been far from God; times where I had to decide again whether to follow Jesus wholeheartedly or just walk away from it all.
As a paediatric nurse, I have seen lots of suffering children, which is difficult to accept, and caused questions about why these awful things happen. I certainly don't have all the answers, but I believe that God loves these little children with an immeasurable love, as he does all people, and why Jesus came to die, so that people may be saved and have a relationship with a God who loves them so much.
At times I have worried that I am too sinful for God to forgive me, love me and call me his child, but then I remember God's wonderful grace; that it's all about what Jesus has done and not what I have or haven't done.
