Oral history 6) An Inescapable conclusion

Third, ecumenical relationships became vital.  Thrust into working with key people in the student world, such as Oliver Barclay (IVF), David Head (SCM), Martin Conway (Church House, Westminster), Douglas Brown (Methodist House) I discovered exceptional kindness and sharing.  Encounters like these deepened my appreciation of other denominations and laid a foundation for positive engagement in the future, attending national ecumenical conferences and seeking to represent a Baptist perspective.  

Four, a growing sense of call to ministry So many elements of my BUGB life contributed to a nagging conviction that I should test this call.  Obviously, being thrust into positions where I was expected to lead, preach, and encourage others helped to pressure me.  Paradoxically, a bitter experience played a part in my call too. Visiting a morning serv ice to enlighten a congregation about what a BSF mission might mean, the minister stood up just before I was due to speak.  With anger he turned on his people, berating them for their lack of care for him and his family on this their anniversary.  The shock, sadness and angst of this outburst headlined all that I feared about ministry.  Yet right within this sadness I sensed that God was saying to me: ‘Yes, ministry can be hard but it’s my calling for you.  And I will be with you.’

Carol’s church, Chatsworth West Norwood became my church. Traditional testing of the call began.  I undertook lay preaching with the LBA beginning with midweek services.  During an evening service in Chatsworth itself a decisive event occurred when, in the middle of my preaching, I heard (so it seemed) God’s voice calling me to be a preacher. I have chronicled this unique event in my book 360 degree preaching.  Many other reality checks occurred as well as interviews. In only our first year of marriage the whole process was hard on Carol for whom the implications were largely foreign to her experience.

All this searching crystallized with recognition by my sending church, London Baptist Association (which gave me a tough interview in the Shakespeare Room), and by Regent’s Park College, Oxford that I was indeed called to Baptist ministry.  This meant leaving BUGB after only two years.  Yet those two years had been pivotal and though other influences were strong, I cannot overstate how this immersion in the BUGB shaped me and prepared me for what was to come.  BUGB was a positive kaleidoscope of influencers.  Far too many to name. Years later, talking with Earnest Payne, I suggested that I write a book containing biographies of leading Baptists. By then I had met many of them and been impressed by their stories. He was enthusiastic, though the project (like others in my life) never took root.  But, it shows just how many people I had grown to respect.  And, as I look back, I see how this all led to an inescapable conclusion.  A Baptist shaped conclusion!