belonging

I have been in a number of churches in my life. As a young boy I was involved with a church in Lowestoft called Lorne Park Road Methodist church. My mum was the choir leader and my dad trained preachers for the local churches. In time a new building went up on the corner of Carlton Road and it became known as South Lowestoft Methodist church. The old one was demolished. Many a time I would stand over looking the sea believing that there must be a God and He was up there somewhere!

I moved to college in London and at the end of the three years, a time during which church took a back seat, I started attending a Baptist church in Wimbledon because the girls were pretty! Here I gave my life to Christ when I sensed His call one Sunday evening and the ‘God who had been out there somewhere’ became real, up close and personal.

I taught in Hackney one of London’s more interesting suburbs and attended Kensington Temple in Notting Hill which today is one of the largest churches in the country. During this time I met my wife to be and moved to Norwich and attended with her and her family a Brethren Assembly. There was a marked contrast between Kensington Temple, a Pentecostal church and this one. When we got married we began attending an Anglican church which was walking distance from where we lived. With a growing family this was handy. During this time we were involved in starting a ‘Youth For Christ’ centre.

Our desire to work with young people in a single church centre led us to move to S.E. London to the Ichthus Christian Fellowship – a growing church in an urban setting. At that time there were approximately 20+ congregations which made up the total church. It was an exciting time with outreaches across London and praise marches through the streets

However we felt called back to Norwich and after six years we began a small church from scratch on the east side of Norwich. It was hard work and we began to suffer from isolation – we needed to belong somewhere. During this time people would speak with us and say things like ‘You belong in Vineyard’. After many trials, in 1997 we became Norwich Vineyard and it felt to us like coming home. At last, after all this time this is the church we belong to.

And this is our desire – that people may come and feel that they have come home or that they belong. This can happen way before they might decide to follow Christ for themselves. It is just that they are beginning to know that God accepts them, welcomes them and loves them just as they are!