Food for Thought

Steve shares his a part of his faith journey from creationist to evolutionist

A new discovery for me, Richard Beck, discusses how meritocracy has deprived the white folk of coping mechanisms

John Hobbins suggests history and eschatology are just two sides of the same coin

And Bruce Hamil gets excited about an 11,500 year old temple

Turning Points

Well, I do not usually use this blog as a platform for introspection but the ticking over from the "noughties" to the "tennies" or alternatively to the rather hopeful sounding "one-ders" has made me feel like I should at least stop a little while to reflect on what has been and what will come next.

The year 2000 saw me begin my working life as I finished my music degree in Lancaster and took up a trainee pastoral role in a middle sized small town south Devon church. Two years of fulfilling and exciting ministry followed. Those years were, without a doubt, the time I have been most aware of God using me and at work in me. The church congregation were incredibly supportive of this very young and earnest young man and the pastor was especially generous in giving me opportunities and experience. I also got to learn to windsurf and started running long distance along the gorgeous Devon coast. After only two years, though, the call came to serve at a church in London. It was a real struggle to answer it but day after day there seemed to be countless little signs that God was asking me to move on. I began to feel increasingly discontented until I finally made the decision.

The church in London was much smaller and the ministry much less exciting. There was a wonderful community there though and once again I was incredibly blessed by the way the church family made a space for me and accepted me. But I struggled. It seemed so much harder to make a difference in the inner-city context. Windsurfing was out, and before long I gave up running as the concrete was wearing my knees out. I started to ride a motorbike, which was fun, and met a beautiful Kiwi girl who seemed to have a thing for biker pastors, which was nice . . . ;-) So we got married.

About this time two other things were happening. 1, I was beginning to increasingly appreciate the benefits of study for ministry - up to that point I hadn't really seen the need. 2, I was beginning to feel increasingly passionless about what I was doing - I realised I couldn't continue in ministry much longer unless that passion came back. So my new wife and I decided that our next move would be to NZ, so that she could be near her mum when we started our family and I could go to Bible college to study and hopefully rediscover my passion for ministry. So that is what we did.

After a few twists and turns I ended up studying at Carey Baptist College in Auckland where I have been for nearly four years, mixing part time and full time study with work and raising a family. This year, 2010, I will finish my Masters in Theology (I really will, honest guv!) and will need to once more discern to what and to where God is calling me next. Through all the major turning points of the last decade I have been strongly aware of God's guidance and provision for each step of the journey. Looking back I can see his hand even more clearly than I did then. In the times when I doubt and struggle with my faith that experience of guidance and provision is one of the things that inevitably stops me giving up.

It is worth saying that that guidance has never happened in the timing and way that I would have chosen. But it has always happened. 2010 is another major turning point for me and I have no idea where it will lead. But I am looking forward to finding out.

I know not what the future holds, but I know in whose hands it is held.

I'll keep you posted, :-)

The faith journey of Matt McMurray

I am always interested in different people's faith journeys. I am especially intrigued by the interplay of our circumstances and those experiences which we perceive to be revelation that lift us out of or transform our circumstances. Matt is an old friend of mine from university, but reading this on his blog today I found out a number of things I didn't know about him. Most interesting for me is the way he since found his way to a very 'traditional' form of Christianity. In some ways this reflects Phil's journey related elswhere on this blog, in other ways it is very different.

I was also very touched by his experience of finding a role model in Jesus as a fatherless teenager, and a father in God as a man.

Phil Baiden's faith journey, thus far...

[My thanks to Phil, a regular commentator on this blog, for sharing something of his story about moving from Liberal Christianity to a Reformed faith. Phil has also started his own blog http://philbaiden.wordpress.com/, check it out, but only after you have read Xenos :-p]

A while ago Jon asked me to write about how I came to be where I am now – a historically Reformed minister in a liberal mainline denomination. Jon and I were at school together and were also involved in church youth events in East Kent. We once shared a two-man tent together on a church camp when we were 16. And yes, it did smell bad.

However, as I moved from Kent and began my A-Levels I entered a period of rebellion from the church. The Jesus I'd been taught about in Sunday School wasn't fitting with the Jesus I was reading about in the Bible. So I left it. I still believed in God but there was no way that Jesus was anything more than a bloke with some weird ideas.

I went off to Sheffield to study for a Biblical Studies degree. I have no idea why. It was a secular, liberal course that taught the Bible as ancient literature but not as God's Word. That suited me just fine.

That began to change when we looked at the Bible and the Arts. As part of that course I watched The Gospel according to Matthew by Pasolini. In that film I was confronted by the words of the Jesus I had rejected but now they didn't repulse me - they attracted me. Over the Christmas break I started going back to church. I went to everything. On the 2nd January 2000 I realised that I was nothing without Jesus and I broke down.

I was baptised and started going to the local United Reformed Church. It was an old Scottish Presbyterian Church with in depth preaching and a great minister. Every sermon seemed to be speaking to me and I began to feel that God was calling me to ministry. And so after a time of testing that call I was accepted for training.

At the time I considered myself to be a good liberal Christian. I was campaigning for left-wing causes, questioning whether Jesus really said that and dismissing John's Gospel and Paul's letters. But I also had a burgeoning love of church history, especially the Reformed heritage.
I then was sent to Madagascar in my third year of seminary. There I saw people that prayed and meant it. There I saw real poverty and the hypocrisy of aid. There I read the Bible like I'd never done before. On my return I read The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter and I realised that being a minister wasn't about being a social worker. I've since looked back and seen that I was never that liberal to begin with - I had a commitment to the Bible and to Reformed beliefs above and beyond my contemporaries.

God has opened my eyes to the glories of his Gospel.

And so now I'm a minister to two churches in Doncaster, England. I realise that my zeal for the Reformation of the church puts me at odds with a lot of my peers but I keep the words of Paul to Timothy in my mind at all times: “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” I've already seen God blessing that work and I pray that he may continue to do so.

So when I come and cause trouble on this blog, you'll know where I'm coming from.
But it doesn't matter about me. So I'll sign off with those watchwords of the Reformation:

Soli Deo Gloria – Glory to God Alone!