25 Years Reflections 01

[1989?]

In connection with the recent celebration I've been doing some thinking and prepared something to say. It begins

When I was 10 I wanted to be a scientist. When I was 12 I was converted and by the time I was 14 I'd decided that what I really wanted to be was a minister. I probably had as much idea of what a minister was as I did a scientist but I was sure that was what I wanted to be. More – what God wanted me to be. And that's what I've been for the last 25 years. I now have a little better idea of what a minister is and my sense of call is stronger than ever.
The time between feeling called and actually becoming a minister I spent studying and preparing in other ways. I did O and A levels then an English degree in Aberystwyth and got my teaching certificate in Cardiff – I didn't want to become a minister because I was unable to do anything else. All the while I was learning to preach – something I was quite poor at initially. I kept listening to good preachers like Geoff Thomas though and began to get the idea.
In 1981 I came to study here in London – at LTS in Finchley. Although throughout this time I'd often thought of overseas work (I spent 5 weeks in India in 1978) it seemed to me that the thing to do was get some training at LTS then pastor a church somewhere in Wales. I didn't really like London. Too big, too busy, too unmanageable. Londoners seemed to me rather blasé – never excited about anything. (I now realise there's too much going on to get excited every time). It's single advantage it seemed to me then was people. There's no shortage of people in London, people from every nation. I sometimes say to people if you really want to be a missionary – come to London!
Anyway in January 1983 I preached here for the first time. I didn't know where Childs Hill was. I remember Philip Eveson the Principal assuring me it wasn't far. Anyway I left nice and early, caught the bus and found it was quite close. I remember that Sunday morning. It was quite cold. I didn't have a coat on. My mother always made me wear one and so I suppose I was rebelling. Rebellion leads to suffering! Anyway because I was early I spent a lot of time trying to keep warm while waiting for them to open up. Eventually an old lady called Violet Hunt, now with the Lord, arrived and let me in. Over the next few months I got to know the situation here.
There were two groups I suppose in the church – younger and older. The younger people were mostly students and had discovered Reformed teaching, chiefly through the efforts of a slightly older couple Mike and Cathy Peat (who now live in Woking). There were some tensions over this and similar matters but I felt I could understand where both sides were coming from.
I think they approached my LTS contemporary and fellow Welshman Bernard Lewis first. He declined, however, and took the easy option – he went on to be a missionary in Papua New Guinea! Having failed with him they asked me to be pastor and I was glad to accept. Here was a small church, committed to right doctrine, a church with a variety of people who I felt I could relate to. They didn't mind too much that I was single and only 24. I particularly liked the efficient way they dealt with calling me too. I only preached here 3 times if I remember rightly, though I spent quite a while with individuals. Then they grilled me one night in the parlour. Oh yes, they took me up on the heath and tested my skills with a Frisbee one time too. The only snag was that it was in London! But then that's where the people are. So I came.