As a young child, I stood by the garden gate asking passers by if they were "Prodestant or Cat-lick" I suppose I was interested in the spiritual side of life because our family belonged the local Methodist church where my Grandfather was the Sunday School Superintendent, my Mother was a Sunday School teacher and my Father ran the young people's group and later became a Methodist Lay Preacher.
As a teenager having recently left school, I became rather vocal with my criticism of the sermons of lay preachers. I suppose it was partly meant as a challenge and partly in the attempt to shut me up my Mum said "Andrew if you can do any better, do it yourself!" This led me into a conversation with the local minister where I asked him how I could become a lay preacher.
He told me I couldn't be a preacher because I wasn't yet a Christian; I argued the point with him. He said all the family connections I had and all the church services and events I attended didn't make me a Christian. He didn't actually tell me what to do to become a Christian, but he made me think and set me on a journey that resulted in me asking Jesus into my life and eventually becoming a preacher.
As a result of the studies, the possibility of going to Bible School was something I considered, and in September 1979 I became a student at Cliff College in Calver, Derbyshire, UK. Although Cliff College is a Methodist college, there were people from other denominations in attendance and my beliefs were challenged and revised as a result of the teaching I received and my conversations with other students.
By the end of my studies I was a fundamentalist, evangelical, pentecostal and charismatic Christian believer. This resulted in me leaving the Methodist church after working for them as a Pastoral Assistant, to join what my Grandfather called "the happy clappies." I was surprised by his attitude and the way that going to a Methodist Bible School could mean I no longer fit within the church I grew up in.
(to be continued)
No comments:
Post a Comment