This year marks the 40th anniversary of my walk with the Lord, having come to Christ on 9th September 1969, and what a walk it has been! As I look back over the years there have been so many times when, but for Jesus, I could so easily have been lost; yet He has always been there, sharing both the joys and the sorrows that have come my way. He's never left me, yet I have to admit that there have been times when I took a step sideways and left the path on which He was leading me. Despite this, He drew me back and led me on. He truly is the Good Shepherd!
At the beginning of September this year I will also have completed eleven years as the Minister of St John's in Runcorn, during which time there have been many highs and lows. I quickly learned that leading a flock can be lonely on occasion, yet over all it is a rewarding task. It is such a privilege to be able to be charged with the pastoral oversight of a congregation, and as you care for the people in your charge so you find yourself sharing many of the highs and lows in their lives. Over the years I have been privileged to share in birthday celebrations, many of them milestones in the lives of the celebrant, and to be there to offer comfort and counsel when illness or tragedy has entered their lives. I have sat with folk that I cared much for in their dying moments; have shared their pain when they have lost someone; have shared their joy at weddings and baptisms. In other words, we have shared together as a family of God's people, and I have done my best to share Christ with them as we have walked together.
Prior to my coming to Runcorn I was in an itinerant lay-ministry for ten years at home in Mid-Wales, preaching almost every Sunday of the year for anywhere between two and four services. Sometimes the congregation would be reasonable in number, sometimes extremely low. I recall one occasion when my wife and I formed part of a congregation of four people, one of the others being the pianist! Regularly I would preach at chapels in the country districts where the congregation averaged no more than a dozen people. Yet the numbers were of little concern apart from the over-riding concern that there must be many lost souls in the area, something I could do little about being so far from home usually.
When I read about the Welsh Revivals of the past and the great numbers of people who often filled the chapels of Wales Sunday by Sunday, it saddens me greatly that there are now a majority of people in Wales who have no knowledge of the rich spiritual history of that once-spiritually-great nation. Yet even today there is still a remnant in Wales who hunger for revival, as there are dotted around the UK and USA, and I'm sure also in lands where the people have generally become so well off, so cossetted by the State, that they have turned their backs on God and upon the way of life that God lays out in the Bible.
I am deeply concerned about the encroachment of Islamic extremism in the United Kingdom, a lad where the government has not only welcomed Islamic fundamentalists into the country, allowing them to preach their poisonous venom both in the Mosques and also on the streets, but where many have been able to do so because they have been funded by the benefit system. Even when they have gone so far that they have been brought to task for terrorist-links, taken to court, tried and been found guilty, they remain in the country because lawyers who have a vested interest, and who make fortunes from that interest, protest that to return them to their countries of origin would be an infringement of their human rights. Never mind the human rights of their victims!
Yet this canker that is gradually growing stronger, still only forms a tiny minority in population terms. The total number of Muslims in the UK is estimated at just 3% of the populace, so why is their presence felt so strongly, and how can they pose any sort of threat? The answer lies in the general apathetic attitude, spiritually speaking, of the majority of the remaining 97% of the population. The nation has become too wealthy, so much so that a culture of greed and selfishness has been allowed to predominate. Much has been made of the human rights of people, yet little of the responsibilities that go hand in hand with those rights. Increasingly the government in power has eroded away the real rights of the individual, overseeing the destruction of the family unit and all that it stood for. Today, in the UK, it is considered more normal to cohabit than to get married; more normal to have children outside of marriage, and even outside of a true loving relationship; more normal to live in a same-sex relationship; the list of factors that are considered more normal than the conventionally understood family unit increases constantly with each flourish of the governments pen.
All of this goes against the will of God, but what should a nation care when it has openly turned its back on God in defiance. Christians who are prepared to stand up and be counted, who are prepared to state their faith without fear, are being marginalised constantly. For so long the churches have been relatively empty because people have found what they consider 'better' things to do on a Sunday. Businesses, in the search to increase and maximise their takings have treated Sunday as an inconvenient trading day that needs to be converted to a normal trading day, and to this end employees are given contracts that do just that, being expected to work on Sundays despite their beliefs.
There is no doubt that, as the church and all it stands for has been marginalised, so Christians are facing persecution for their faith. This might well herald the salvation of the church however, for when the church is persecuted it often starts to grow stronger in order to repel the persecutors. It must also be said that for many years the church itself has been responsible for its own demise by moving away from the concept of the bible-based church and more into the business arena. Often more concern appears to be for maintaining the wealth of the church than for the salvation of lost souls. An attitude of 'Well, they know where we are if they want to come' has been all too prevalent in many churches, the result being that numbers have often dwindled to such a low that the church has finally shut its doors for good. Yet surely the church should be reaching out into the community instead of waiting for the community to reach in!
Of course, in so many churches, when people do take the step of attending a service, they find that the message of the Gospel has been so watered down that it offers nothing more than a placebo effect. Liberal theologians, in their attempts to explain the meaning of Scripture, have often been guilty of removing the element of 'God' from their teaching to a large extent. Clerics have preached variously that the Virgin Birth did not happen, there was no Resurrection, that the miracle of Healing is something which happened only in the past --- if at all, and much more. If this is how those who are appointed to teach carry out their duty then how can the people whom they teach learn anything but these false teachings. Many preach a Social Gospel, yet this is no gospel at all in Kingdom terms.
Jesus Christ said, "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. no one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6). That's good enough for me, and I consider it to be good enough for everyone else, no matter what their faith or even lack of faith. When Jesus died on the cross at Calvary He gave up His life as an atonement for the sins of ALL mankind, for all time. He paid the price of sin that God demanded. He opened the door to reconciliation with God for all who choose to accept Him and repent of their sin.
One important factor in the lives of human beings is that they are made up of flesh and spirit, the body and the soul, and whilst the body eventually passes away by reason of age, infirmity or accident, the soul will continue eternally. Where it continues is the choice of the individual. Jesus Christ stated that the only way to the Father is through Him, and I believe that statement implicitly. I do not subscribe to a universal gospel where all will go to heaven, irrespective of their belief, neither do I believe that people will get to heaven by simply 'being good', no matter how good they might appear to be.
So, back to my walk with the Lord. Jesus calls people with the words, "Follow Me". I heard that call and responded to it, and I will follow Him wherever He leads me, no matter the cost. I will bear a concern for the lost and preach the Gospel message as His Ambassador, recognising that it is His message and not mine. I merely share the Good News, I do not create it. In sharing the gospel message I am sharing Christ, yet no matter how I might wish it to be otherwise, I cannot save even one soul from destruction. I can be God's postman and deliver the message. I can be His signpost and point people in the right direction. But the only one who can complete the work is God the Holy Spirit. My walk has brought me a long way so far. It has been an amazing journey with many blessings along the way. It has often been a journey over hard and uneven terrain, yet it has been a journey that has transformed my life and given it meaning. long may it last!
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