We’ve been working recently on writing down some of our stories at Hope Community Church. That is to say, they’re more like God’s stories written through our lives. We started with 4 basic questions and in each case different members of Hope have given their answers.
We hope you enjoy a few words from Donna (D), Pete (P), Liz (L), another Pete (P2) and Sam (S)…
1. What was your life like before you became a Christian?
P2: Less settled than it is now
D: Because I was young, I’m not sure what it was like
P: I grew up in the late 1970’s/early 80’s with my parents and my sister Christine. I was a pretty normal kid, a little shy at school but fairly happy.
2. What/who got you interested in Jesus in the first place?
P2: Hearing / seeing miracles happen when people prayed in Jesus’ name. Especially when it has been clear-cut immediate healings. It’s family and close friends [with a Christian faith] – it makes you question.
L: Bible Club, [Christian summer] Camps, family history
P: The first reason I got interested was that my parents became Christians shortly before having children, so they told us both lots about Jesus. Secondly, I started to read the Bible for myself and as a kid I actually saw happen some of the same things that the New Testament said Jesus or His followers did. That was pretty amazing and made me wonder whether the Bible might, in fact, be true. Thirdly, I went through a painful time at school when after trying lots of different ways to cope – none of which worked, my parents challenged me to start praying about it. So I did. And absolutely nothing in my circumstances got any better for 2 years. Nothing outside of me changed, nothing improved. But something inside of me happened. The only way I can describe it is that I believe I was given a peace that passes understanding and a patience to put up with it that bit longer without being totally miserable. This taught me a lot about prayer. I learned that Jesus is not a genie in a bottle, and He doesn’t always do what we expect or ask for. However He gives people the strength to keep going until things do eventually change. And also, I should add that I learned to forgive the lad who was being a bully and to move on with my life.
3. What convinced you that Jesus rose from the dead?
P2: For 4 reasons: (1) The historical record of the Old Testament prophets whose predictions came true in Jesus’ life. (2) The 500+ witnesses Jesus appeared to (1 Corinthians 15:6). (3) A living God who is still active in performing miracles today. (4) I also believe that if God is intelligent enough to create everything we see that exists, He must want people to know He exists. The very fact that there is good in the world shows me that He is a loving God. If He was an evil God, there wouldn’t be anything good in the world at all. Because we didn’t create good, so the origin of good has to be Someone Else.
S: The point at which I owned my faith a bit more was when I was about 11 years old and I decided to get baptised. I still believe and God keeps. God has met me in some really difficult times in life.
P: Following on from the earlier story, it was during this tricky time at Junior school when I think my faith grew more and more. By the age of 13 I was pretty convinced that Jesus hadn’t just lived 2,000 years ago but that He rose from the dead. Maybe I had seen enough miracles like the ones written about in the Bible, enough examples from family and local church of how a Christian faith can be lived out practically. And by age 14 I was determined to follow Jesus for the rest of my life. It was then that I was baptised and that same year I experienced more powerfully God’s power and forgiveness. This year in particular things really changed. I had gradually grown more and more aware of my own selfishness. I had become convinced that I couldn’t fix it myself, and in asking Jesus to forgive me (and help me forgive others), I actually felt clean inside, lighter and freer than I had ever done before.
4. What practical difference does this make to your daily life?
S: I’m a more patient person – I used to have a terrible temper when I was a kid. I still lose my patience sometimes but it’s much less often.
D: It means for me less worry, because God has set a plan out for you, so you shouldn’t worry about the future. I can see the worry going down generations, and I don’t do it as much.
L: I’ve experienced the “peace that passes understanding”. Even when things are going wrong, you leave your problems at the foot of the Cross. And you feel a peace you shouldn’t feel. When I had a car crash, my fear got worse and worse… Now I avoid driving if I can get away with it. A psychologist told me recently, “you cannot talk yourself out of fears, it’s hard-wired into you.” But God can take that away. And I think that He does.
P: I’ll try and give you 3 examples. (1) In family life– I’m not a patient man and perhaps even less a patient father, and God has spoken to me a lot about becoming more patient with our kids. I often have to ask God to help me when I’m struggling or need wisdom as a dad. And this really helps me work with my wife as we try to love our kids the best we can and raise them to think for themselves, to trust in God and to love others well. We need a lot of grace towards each other, especially living in quite a small house we can easily get irritated but I want the kids to see a glimpse – no matter how flawed – of what God is like as a Heavenly Father. (2) In prayer and Bible reading – This is an amazing part of my life, not always dramatic, but life-bringing. I read things in the Bible and it’s like God has written them just for me, or just for someone I can pray for or ring or visit. And as this happens I talk back to God in prayer. And I don’t always know how to pray but I love these moments when it seems like God’s Spirit is right with me and speaking to me. My wife and I have seen quite a few answers to prayer including someone’s ligament injury get healed, miraculous provision of money when we really needed it, and lots more. (3) In local church – I work a pretty tiring job managing a branch of a homeless charity and this doesn’t leave me with much time left during the week for anything else. Despite this, in my spare time I pastor a small community church in East Manchester and it’s an honour to be involved in trying to build people and help them make disciples of Jesus Christ. I’ve got basically everything still to learn and have 2 mentors who help me, and together we are carrying this vision to reach out to new people, to grow spiritually and to raise up new leaders.
P2: It means that I’ve never “nailed it” but I’m still learning, developing and growing. I recognise the wrong in myself. Some people justify what they do and I can’t have that because [sometimes] it’s not “OK”. Some of my desires have changed since I became a Christian. Being bitter, for example… I’ve learned that you have to let go.
Hope Community Church (MCR) 