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MY FAITH STORY – David V

My mother came from a Baptist background and my father had been brought up in the Church of England.  To their great credit, since we lived around the corner from a Presbyterian church, they decided they would align ourselves there and bring the family up within this particular church setting.  I was happy to attend Sunday School and then graduate to Junior Church, which was great preparation for moving on into the grown-ups’ church.  What really struck me about my Junior Church leaders was that they were not clergy but “ordinary” people with daily jobs who could nevertheless relate to us teenagers and have the confidence and ability to present the Christian faith.  They had something real to talk about.

Whilst I was at Secondary School I was struck again by the way that senior lads at school were strongly enough grounded in their Christian faith to lead weekly Christian Union meetings, and discovered that a few members of staff were keen enough to attend or lead meetings as well. As a “lower” school pupil I was particularly touched by the friendship and help shown to me by the Head Boy who was a Christian.  It started when I passed out in assembly one morning and learned subsequently that it was he who picked me up off the hall floor and carried me down to the First Aid room.  He was solicitous about my recovery and joined me at lunch table the next day quoting a verse from the King James Bible (Luke chap 18, v 1) to the effect that “...men ought always to pray and not to faint.”  That appealed to my sense of humour and I appreciated the fact that he as Head Boy was humble enough to engage with me, a mere second former – a real servant attitude that sprung from his Christian faith. He was a great example and witness to me and I soon found myself enrolling in the Confirmation class at church, desiring to know more of Jesus as the One on whom the Christian faith is founded and to align myself with others such as I had encountered at Church and Christian Union.

It has to be said at this point that Christianity and personal faith were not regular topics of conversation at home but my parents were totally supportive, encouraging and at one with me through everything.

The next impact on me as a Christian was when I went to university and became a member of the Christian Union, which was like a church in itself with branches in Halls of Residence, prayer groups, a major weekly meeting with significant speakers giving biblical teaching, missionary support groups, and evangelistic campaigns.  I was also able to attend services of worship in different denominations, experience the over-riding unity of Christian faith and fellowship, and build up friendships which broadened, strengthened and affirmed my trust in God and in Jesus as Lord and Saviour of mankind –including me as an otherwise insignificant individual.

What followed after my degree was no less affirming as I found myself led into voluntary work abroad for 15 months and – with no planning or foreknowledge on my part – was brought into contact with one Christian group after another, all of which was amazing evidence of God’s gracious providence, and which encouraged and strengthened me in my faith.  I was introduced to Missionary Fellowships, invited to speak occasionally in school services and Sunday Schools, led school Bible studies, took part in Children’s Beach Missions in South Africa and travelled into Rhodesia (post UDI); it was as though God had taken over my life and everywhere I went was in the fellowship and through the hospitality of Christians.  I was overwhelmed by the fact that I was truly a member of the universal family of God and was borne along by His Spirit.