I had no formal education after GCE ‘O’ levels, but since becoming a Christian had gorged on all kinds of theology, church history and biblical studies. However, nothing had prepared me for the academic environment. We trained amongst the students of 3 other colleges, Wesley (Methodist) Ridley (Low evangelical Anglicans) and Westcott (High Anglican). The staff of the colleges and wider university lecturers were amazing. But most of the work seemed to contradict all I had hither to learned. Although I was reading stacks of books and enjoying it all, I was beginning to develop a twitch in my right eye. I was surrounded by lecturers who seemed to be very liberal in their theology and my reading list grew to be more and more challenging. I remember studying lots of writers who seemed to be universalist in their approach to salvation. One of my life lines was to get hold of my next reading list, sort out what the tutor was looking for and then shoot down to the local Christian bookshop to find a book by an evangelical writer on the subject. I would read that book, work out a framework for my argument and then read the more challenging writers. This method of study has stood me in good stead for the rest of my life. I was also very indebted to my New Testament professor, John Proctor who pointed me to good books and gave superb lectures which sustained me in those days.
Another odd occurrence came about in my 3rd year. It was meant to be the year when we spent 4 days a week as student ministers working alongside an experienced URC pastor. I was told that I must go to a typical URC as I had very little experience of my denomination. Bizarrely I then ended up spending that year in a Local Ecumenical Project in Bury St Edmunds. OK it was technically URC, Baptist and Anglican. But the minister was Baptist and there were no URC members. The Church was brilliant and the pastor, Jonathan Edwards was a superb thinker and preacher and his ministry began to make me wonder whether I wasn’t really a Baptist. Jonathan's ministry was soon recognised and he later became the General Secretary of the Baptist Union in the UK. I am hugely indebted to Jonathan and his wife Sue for their love and support during that year. They took 3 years of study and made it real. Preaching at church members funerals and weddings, caring for folk and reaching out to the community all had deep and lasting effects on me.
In 1990 I was called back to the RAF to be a Chaplain and was thrilled. I felt that I was going as a missionary. I knew the culture and the language, I was one of them, but I had the gospel. My plan was to see people saved and to build churches on RAF bases where the servicemen and their families would be discipled and equipped to see the Kingdom of God come on the base.
I asked Roger Bayliss to preach at my Ordination at RAF Cranwell. For a reason I never asked him about, he preached that there would be dessert experiences in my ministry. More prophetic than he knew, I was soon in Bahrain and then Saudi Arabia and Iraq as the first Gulf War took hold and advanced. Three and half months at war, which nothing had prepared me for and where my quick answers didn't really help anyone. Whilst on the surface I probably did a good job, I was personally miles from God and struggling.
As a chaplain in the RAF I had been required to be part of ecumenical teams with Roman Catholic and Anglican Chaplains. Whilst I understood that this kind of team was the only way to function and I was at the forefront of developing them at the grass roots level, by the time I left the RAF I was very battered and vowed that I would never get involved in church unity again. I told friends that I would keep my head down and build our local fellowship and ignore the rest of the church in the city. Well as usual, I hadn’t actually spoken with God about my plans. Jehovah Sneaky had other thoughts.
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