Who are we?
Testimonies
Below are some of the stories of different members of the congregation. Do come along and meet them!
Caroline Bridgewater | Jenny Ivers | Claire Brown
Caroline Bridgewater
Caroline was interviewed as part of our Guest Service on the 26th June 2011. It's available to download here.
Jenny Ivers
Suffering and sadness are among the main reasons people cite for not believing in God. Or they feel that if he does exist, he’s either indifferent to or powerless in the face of pain.
I’ve been a Christian now for around ten years and can trace that commitment directly back to a sad childhood event – my parents’ divorce.
They separated when I was around eight and the most immediate impact was that my week was split in half.
I spent weekends with my dad, who is a Christian, and started going along to church with him on Sundays. Before the divorce, I had stayed at home with my mum who is not a Christian.
I quite enjoyed Sunday school and later youth group, and gradually learnt about Jesus. He seemed quite an impressive figure with his miracles and wise words but I wasn’t too sure what he had to do with me.
When I was around 16 I did a course at church which provided opportunities to look at what the Bible said about Jesus and ask questions. I became convinced Jesus was who he claimed to be – God himself – and that I needed to be forgiven for living as if he was of little relevance.
I didn’t have all the answers, and still wouldn’t claim to, but the Christian message made sense of life.
I discovered Christians are not exempt from suffering now but in Jesus we meet the God who suffered for us on the cross so that one day we never will again.
My parents’ divorce was distressing and continues to have difficult repercussions but I am convinced that God used it for good – bringing me into a situation where I could come to know him and his solution for a troubled world.
Claire Brown
My name is Claire and I’m married to Tom. I moved to Sheffield to study dentistry and am now in my final year.
I had been brought up in a Christian home, which was a huge blessing even if I didn’t realise it at the time. Although I understood that God loved me and that He was powerful I didn’t understand what it meant to have Him as my Saviour. I thought that whether God liked me depended on how long my prayers were or how well behaved I had been in Sunday School. I generally thought I was alright with God because of my actions and the fact my parents were Christians.
During my early teens I had the opportunity to go on a Christian summer camp. It was here that I begun to understand that there was nothing I could do that would make me acceptable to God, I could never meet His standards. I learnt that I needed to know Jesus as my personal Saviour so that I could be right with God again and I needed to accept God’s grace and forgiveness. Sadly one year on the camp we witnessed a plane crash in which the pilot died. It brought home to me that I didn’t know when I would die and that I needed to act on God’s gift of forgiveness now. I committed my life to God and asked for forgiveness.
Being a Christian is not just a Sunday hobby, it affects every area of your life. I felt a sense of relief knowing that I was accepted by God, no matter what. It was still difficult to grasp that God gives His forgiveness and salvation freely as I knew I didn’t deserve it. I still felt that I had to be good to try and please God. But over the next few years I learnt that I could have confidence knowing I was accepted and that my identity is in Christ and not in what others think or how the world views me. It is reassuring to know that even when I do sin that God still loves me and has forgiven me.
