In January two adult members of our congregation were baptised by immersion. Andrew and Mel King (brother and sister) have been worshipping with us for the last 2 or 3 years and wanted to make this public statement to family and friends about their faith in God. We are grateful to St Justus Church Rochester for allowing us to use their church facilities for the afternoon.
You can read their testimonies below
Andrew’s Testimony
Growing up in a largely Christian family, and attending church regularly since I was a small child, has meant that I have always had a concept of God. I guess I always believed in him, and I often prayed from a young age, but for some reason He just didn’t seem real to me. Then something happened that meant my life would never be the same again, when I was just seven years old my nan and granddad passed away within a few months of each other. I was very close to my Nan and I couldn’t understand why God had taken her away from us, so in my head I decided that God was there but just wasn’t bothered about me or how I felt.
As I grew older my understanding of Christianity and what God had done for us by sending his one and only son, grew more real to me and started to make sense, but even if God was all loving obviously I had to be an exception to the rule. I sinned, I did nearly all of the things that the bible said God despised and I couldn’t for one second believe that he could just forgive all that. So I plodded on through life believing that I was the only person that God wasn’t bothered about.
Then, when I was 14 years old, I got a letter from WYnet, who are the youth division of Wycliffe Bible Translators. They had come to our church 3 years before and told us about the work they do with youth around the globe, so I signed up for their mailing. Three years on and I was old enough to become a member, which meant I could go on the youth camp they ran in the summer holiday. To this day I will never know what compelled me to go, but for some reason I read the letter and decided that camping in a field in the middle of the Cotswolds, with 50 other teenagers might actually be fun … and I was right, it was an absolute blast and I made some awesome friends that week who I am still close to today. But more importantly I realised a truth that would make all the difference to my relationship with God. One night, a guy gave a talk about his time in mission in Africa and he told us that God has a plan for each and every one of us! No matter how small or useless we felt, that wasn’t the case and God had still given us gifts that we could use through life. My usual thought process told me that this might be true for every one else in the room, but I was a special case … God broke the mould when he made me and I really was useless and not important enough for God to love me. Shortly afterwards we had a prayer meeting and I was sitting there pondering just how useless I really was, when a leader named Dave came up to me and put his arm round me, he told me that God had something he wanted to say to me … he said that God loved me and had made me unique just like everyone else, and that I wasn’t insignificant or in anyway too small for God to love, that he had given me gifts just like every one else and that God was going to use me, even if I didn’t know it yet! I was stunned … he knew, he knew just how I felt and I hadn’t told a soul … and suddenly, there and then it dawned on me … God really and truly did love me, Jesus didn’t just die for everyone else on the planet, I was included in that too! That week I gave my life to God.
I thought that would be it, I thought great, now I’m a Christian my life will go really smoothly and I will never be unhappy, lonely, sad, upset or anything bad again. Of course that wasn’t the case and not long after that, problems arose in the church I had attended for 14 years. My relationship with my pastor was basically non-existent and I began to wonder if I would ever learn to trust again, but I didn’t know just how bad things would get over the next three and a half years. After a lot of pain and heartache, and times when I thought I would slip away from God … believing that running away was easier, me, my family and many of the people I had come to love and cherish had no choice but to leave the church I had now been at for nearly 17 years.
Where would we go, did I want to go anywhere else? Maybe it was easier to be a Christian and not go to church. We tried a few places, there were some shocks and some that simply made you want to crawl under the pew and hope that no one noticed you were there, so we came to All Saints! We already had family here and I knew that the Church was warm friendly and welcoming. However, I didn’t know that I would find a church family that have become my rock and my strength. I don’t think I would have ever recovered from the events at our old church if it hadn’t have been for the unfailing support of everyone here at All Saints.
I understand now that my Nan and Granddad are in a better place and have gone to meet their saviour, and one day I will join them in heaven. But first we have this life, I have an amazingly supportive family, my mum and dad are awesome parents and even if my brothers and sisters pick on me the most I still love them for it! I’m still here today and I cant wait to see what plans God has in store for me and my life, it excites me so much and drives me forward everyday and I live in the security that God Loves me, no matter what!
I have chosen two people to be my sponsors today. I have chosen my cousin Kirstie, who has been an amazing support to me. She has welcomed me into Church with open arms and encouraged me in joining the music group and her amazing Youth Team and has always been understanding. I have also chosen my Auntie Mandy. Mandy has been awesome through everything that has happened, and despite her own pain and heartache she never once let that get in the way of giving all her love, encouragement and support to me. These are two truly selfless and amazing people!
Mel’s Testimony
Church has always been a big part of my life having grown up in a Christian family. I always enjoyed going to Sunday school and youth club and at 15 helping with crèche. I also enjoyed it when we dressed up in Dickensian costume for the Dickens festival where we served food and evangelised by acting in plays, which were Dickens stories with a biblical twist.
I had never seriously thought about being a Christian till I was 17 when I started asking questions and was looking for answers. It was when one of my youth leaders who I had spoken to on several occasions about faith, took me along to a course called Christianity Explored. It is similar to the Alpha course at All Saints. It helped me realise that I was a sinner, that I wasn’t worthy of Gods love, but thanks to his grace I was saved. Some of the questions I had before seemed irrelevant now.
Nearly 2 years ago I went through quite a traumatic time for someone who had newly become a Christian and I felt my faith tested because some of those I had been close to for some years I felt had let others down over the way they treated some people and I felt grace, forgiveness and the need to restore relations was not offered. Although this did not involve me directly I found I could not sadly stay at the church I had been to all my life.
After several weeks attending various churches I settled at All Saints and found the welcome and the care encouraging. I was soon allocated a home group, which really helped me to focus on biblical things and also to get to know a few more people a little better.
Throughout all this time every other Sunday or so two long term friends of mine Paul and Beryl ( who are my sponsors ) invited a group of us youth who were experiencing the same thing, to a bible study and meal at their home. We studied the 7 ‘I Ams’ of Jesus. One of which being I am the way, the truth and the life.
I found the sessions so helpful, we could discuss how we felt and pray together and it kept me focused on God. It also helped me to realise that it is human failing that let us down but never God. I have been thinking about baptism for a while and it was a case of when and that when came the day Bryan said he was leaving. I felt I wanted Bryan to baptise me after the support both he and Rachel have given me over the last year and a half.
