We have asked some of our members to tell us how they came to know and follow Jesus. We share these personal stories below.
Sam
I can’t say I remember the specific moment in my life when I came to believe in Jesus. My parents are Christians, and they took my brothers and I to church. We were encouraged to participate. I grew up going to the children’s group at church, where we were taught stories from the Bible. I think even from a very young age, primary school age, I was comparing what Jesus said in the Bible with how we human beings were living, and I knew that we fell short of his high standards. For example, Jesus called people to love others as we love ourselves, but I could see that we did not live that way.
I recall at that age also often feeling very bitter. I was a timid boy with few friends, a Christian upbringing and worldview. I was black – at the time, at school, there was only one other black child in my year group of about sixty children. I really felt like I didn’t fit in, I was often bullied, and I was upset and bitter about that. I developed a kind of self-defence strategy where I learnt to focus on my own desires and goals, thinking that caring about others like Jesus taught only opens yourself up to being taken advantage of. Nevertheless, as I continued to learn from the Bible, I came to understand that the sense of entitlement I felt was actually a result of not appreciating the grace that God had shown to me. Mankind is disobedient to him, and yet, out of kindness, he provided a means for reconciliation and joy with him: his Son, Jesus. So over time, as I began to embrace Jesus more, I developed a view of myself that wasn’t so self-centred. Actually, it’s Jesus at the centre. I live for him.
Tess
Growing up, we went to church as a family. I knew that there was a God and I knew of Jesus Christ intellectually, but I did not live in submission to him. I was very rebellious as a child. Outside the home, people knew me as the quiet kid. But inside my home, I was a completely different person. A nightmare for my parents. My rebellion got worse well into my teenage years. I wanted to pursue my own desires and wasn’t really concerned how it affected others.
When I was 15, my cousin, who I grew up with when I was living in Ghana, died at the age of 13. It was a complete shock to my system. It got me thinking about death and about what happens after you die. Going to church I knew there was heaven and hell, and I was very certain that I was not going to heaven if I died. So I decided that I needed to be a good person in order to be accepted by God into heaven when I die. But however much I tried, I couldn’t change myself. In fact, I became even more aware of how sinful I was.
In my quest to become a good person, I stumbled upon an evangelistic webcast, where I heard the gospel of Jesus Christ very clearly. Jesus came to live the life I can never live and died the death I deserve to die, because of my sins against a holy and just God. By turning away from my sin and trusting in him I can be forgiven and have a certain hope of spending eternity with God. By God’s grace and kindness, my life was transformed from that time onwards. I now desire to live for God alone, love and serve him and his people.
Graham
I was brought up in India by parents who were missionaries – Bible-believing and practising Christians; so from very early days I was taught both verbally and by example, the truth of God’s word. I never seriously doubted that there was a God, or that He spoke to us through the Bible.
Being in that environment, I heard many people ‘give their testimony’ i.e. talk about how they became Christians and so I learnt that being ‘saved’ meant asking God to forgive you for your sins and trusting in Jesus Christ for salvation. So, on a number of occasions, usually just before my birthday, or the start of a new year, I would pray, asking God to save me. However nothing seemed to change.
I remember an Indian man talking with my Dad one day and asking him if his children were Christians. My Dad answered in a way that indicated that he was not sure if any of us were, I felt somewhat offended that he had said that, but knew that he was right even if I didn’t like it.
Then in my early teens, a presentation of the gospel brought home to me the reality of the final judgement and the truth that hell was real and that I had no grounds for being certain that I wasn’t going there when I died. Not long afterwards, an evangelist (Zac Poonen) held a series of meetings in the town we were living in and spoke about the prodigal son (Luke 15v11-33) – God showed me that in principle I had treated God as the son had treated his father, by living a self-centred and God dishonouring life. But also, that like the son, I too could receive a merciful and gracious response from my heavenly Father if I returned in repentance towards God.
Having prayed a few times earlier in my life, asking God to make me a Christian, I was still unsure that God would save me now, but was wonderfully reassured when Jesus’ words in John 6v37 were pointed out to me….whoever comes to me I will never cast out. I asked God to forgive all my sins and trusted in Christ, knowing that His death in my place guaranteed my acceptance before God and His resurrection meant that I no longer needed to fear death or hell.
My growth and development as a Christian has been stuttering and painfully slow, but ever since that day, God has kept me; just as He promises to do for all His children. He has given me the joy and security of being His child, the peace and joy of being granted eternal life, and the immense privilege of serving Him and enjoying the blessings and fellowship of being part of the family of God, otherwise known as the Church!