A few words from a member of the church
Gerald tells his story...
How I became a Christian? Well, it's not very exciting - no Damascus road stuff here. I was brought up in a Christian home and every Sunday, without fail, my parents dragged my sister, my brother and myself to church. When I was smaller, this didn't really mean much - it was just something we did. I spent countless Sundays learning about Jesus, who he was, his actions and his words. I knew he said things like "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through me", but I couldn't really understand the gravity of it all. It seemed like a good idea to trust him though, and I would pray to him every now and then. Whether this was faith, I didn't really know - life was simple then, I didn't even think about it.
As the years went on, I was beginning to understand what I was being told. On numerous occasions, the Sunday school teachers would challenge us to trust Jesus, and he would give us eternal life. This all seemed very well, however death seemed a long way away. By the time I was 11, the church was organising summer camps for the children, where we could learn more about Jesus and have a good time, so off my friends and I went to sunny Somerset for a week. It was here I learnt how fragile life was - I don't know why, nothing out of the ordinary happened. Every evening at the camp, there would be a talk about Jesus, the punishment we deserve for our sins - however big or small they were, our own inability to make up for them. About his crucifixion and how Jesus would take our place, granting us forgiveness, if we put our faith in him and let him have control of our lives. I remember thinking how terrible it would be if I died without giving my life to Jesus and so I made a conscious decision to trust Jesus with my life, and asked him to take control. Now I don't know if I had faith in him before that, but that didn't matter so much, as I knew that I trusted him then.
I can't say life has been easy since then. For a short period while I was at university, I began to doubt God quite seriously, and my desire to be in the presence of God seemed to wane. With that, my life began to lose direction. However, Jesus never left me, he restored my faith and restored my direction. It was then that God's loving protection was demonstrated to me and became a reality.
Even now, I sin and I keep on sinning, and I feel like I have failed Jesus. Yet I am amazed that Jesus will still forgive me. How amazing, that God loves me so much that he should die for me!
Gerald.