In a few months' time it will be 50 years since my first introduction to rural evangelism. Easter 1963 was a time of profound spiritual experience for me. I was seventeen and during the year before this God had been working in my life. Looking back I know that this was in answer to faithful prayers made on my behalf by others.
Most of my teens had been spent seeking to get away from the church influence that had been so strong during early childhood. However, God had found ways of speaking into my life even then. As a member of a semi-professional boy band I had performed such numbers as "I believe" and "When you walk through a storm". At the same time I came under the influence of an RE teacher, Robert Dingwall, who showed how science supported scripture through archaeology and regular "Fact and Faith" science based Christian films.
At some stage in 1962 I began to realise how strong the force of sin was in my life. Then an incident in a drunken party brought me face to face with the truth that in a way that mattered my life was out of control and heading for disaster. I dug out the Gideon New Testament I had been given at school and started to read. A tract given to me by a stranger in the street brought home the message of John 6:37 that I did not have to make myself acceptable to God, Jesus said I could come to him as I was. In the privacy of my bedroom I asked God to accept me and come into my life.
Nothing dramatic happened at that time but as I look back I can see how God continued to work as I approached Easter 1963 when I was to be baptised by immersion, having confessed that Jesus was my saviour a few months before at a youth meeting. But my lifestyle was still not what it should be and I had far more doubts and uncertainty than faith. But that Saturday evening I attended a meeting of Hastings and District for Christ on Hastings Pier and heard an evangelist called Sylvia Smith (a member of The Evangelisation Society) speak about her faith and work and then to speak on the prayer of Jesus from the cross, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do". That night the gospel migrated from my head to my heart, and I surrendered my life without reserve into the hands of God.
So it was that a radically changed young man was baptised that Easter Sunday evening singing with new enthusiasm "And can it be" and "To God be the glory". Within just a few weeks of that weekend I knew myself called to be an evangelist. Exploring that led me into contact with a small organisation that undertook village evangelism part time and by May 1963 I was part of the team as a trainee. The organisation grew into a national ministry with a core evangelistic team, a network of associates, and a contextual training programme. I grew alongside it my ministry developing and diversifying along the way. From 1968 pastoral responsibilities came along and a teaching ministry also developed. While the pastoral and teaching aspects have always felt right I have tried to stay faithful to God's call to be an evangelist and I have almost exclusively sought to express that in responding to the challenge to re-evangelise the rural areas of the UK.
This Wednesday and Thursday the Rural Evangelism Network will hold a conference for its members in Selly Oak, Birmingham. It is to this event that I ask you to focus your prayers please. Approximately one person in six in the UK lives in a small rural community or in an isolated rural dwelling. In the main the churches have small congregations, often overwhelmed by maintenance issues and with feelings of inadequacy and uncertainty when it comes to evangelism. Many are saddened to find some Christians in the village who commute to nearby large thriving town churches.
The Rural Evangelism Network was established in 1982 out of a meeting of representatives of national Churches and rural evangelistic organisations. This was a new and unique forum that sought to encourage the sharing of our insight and experiences in rural mission, and together to encourage good practise. I drafted the first constitution and since its start until now have provided the administrative services. Over the years it has run valuable conferences, produced workbooks on rural evangelism, and generally had a helpful influence.
This week around half of the member Churches and organisations will be represented. It's Lent and getting people together for a national gathering these days is a challenge. In my opinion the value of the Network has been diminished by several factors. The conference seeks to call the members back to the original vision and develop a road map for realising its potential. Rural communities and the church scene have changed much since 1963 but the underlying challenge is much the same. Today there are fewer identifiable evangelists working in the rural areas and it seems we are all working with smaller budgets. We used to say that UK rural evangelism was the Cinderella mission activity, and I guess that's still true today. So how can you pray?
Most of my teens had been spent seeking to get away from the church influence that had been so strong during early childhood. However, God had found ways of speaking into my life even then. As a member of a semi-professional boy band I had performed such numbers as "I believe" and "When you walk through a storm". At the same time I came under the influence of an RE teacher, Robert Dingwall, who showed how science supported scripture through archaeology and regular "Fact and Faith" science based Christian films.
At some stage in 1962 I began to realise how strong the force of sin was in my life. Then an incident in a drunken party brought me face to face with the truth that in a way that mattered my life was out of control and heading for disaster. I dug out the Gideon New Testament I had been given at school and started to read. A tract given to me by a stranger in the street brought home the message of John 6:37 that I did not have to make myself acceptable to God, Jesus said I could come to him as I was. In the privacy of my bedroom I asked God to accept me and come into my life.
Nothing dramatic happened at that time but as I look back I can see how God continued to work as I approached Easter 1963 when I was to be baptised by immersion, having confessed that Jesus was my saviour a few months before at a youth meeting. But my lifestyle was still not what it should be and I had far more doubts and uncertainty than faith. But that Saturday evening I attended a meeting of Hastings and District for Christ on Hastings Pier and heard an evangelist called Sylvia Smith (a member of The Evangelisation Society) speak about her faith and work and then to speak on the prayer of Jesus from the cross, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do". That night the gospel migrated from my head to my heart, and I surrendered my life without reserve into the hands of God.
So it was that a radically changed young man was baptised that Easter Sunday evening singing with new enthusiasm "And can it be" and "To God be the glory". Within just a few weeks of that weekend I knew myself called to be an evangelist. Exploring that led me into contact with a small organisation that undertook village evangelism part time and by May 1963 I was part of the team as a trainee. The organisation grew into a national ministry with a core evangelistic team, a network of associates, and a contextual training programme. I grew alongside it my ministry developing and diversifying along the way. From 1968 pastoral responsibilities came along and a teaching ministry also developed. While the pastoral and teaching aspects have always felt right I have tried to stay faithful to God's call to be an evangelist and I have almost exclusively sought to express that in responding to the challenge to re-evangelise the rural areas of the UK.
This Wednesday and Thursday the Rural Evangelism Network will hold a conference for its members in Selly Oak, Birmingham. It is to this event that I ask you to focus your prayers please. Approximately one person in six in the UK lives in a small rural community or in an isolated rural dwelling. In the main the churches have small congregations, often overwhelmed by maintenance issues and with feelings of inadequacy and uncertainty when it comes to evangelism. Many are saddened to find some Christians in the village who commute to nearby large thriving town churches.
The Rural Evangelism Network was established in 1982 out of a meeting of representatives of national Churches and rural evangelistic organisations. This was a new and unique forum that sought to encourage the sharing of our insight and experiences in rural mission, and together to encourage good practise. I drafted the first constitution and since its start until now have provided the administrative services. Over the years it has run valuable conferences, produced workbooks on rural evangelism, and generally had a helpful influence.
This week around half of the member Churches and organisations will be represented. It's Lent and getting people together for a national gathering these days is a challenge. In my opinion the value of the Network has been diminished by several factors. The conference seeks to call the members back to the original vision and develop a road map for realising its potential. Rural communities and the church scene have changed much since 1963 but the underlying challenge is much the same. Today there are fewer identifiable evangelists working in the rural areas and it seems we are all working with smaller budgets. We used to say that UK rural evangelism was the Cinderella mission activity, and I guess that's still true today. So how can you pray?
- Pray that we will discover a sense of God's presence among us as we come together with diverse visions and from various Christian traditions.
- Pray for a vision of what God is doing and wanting done in rural evangelism in the UK.
- Pray for discernment regarding the role of the Network within the wider life of the churches in rural Britain today and tomorrow. If it cannot fulfil a unique and profitable role then it would be better to spend energy elsewhere.
- Pray for the team that has been leading over recent years. Two of these have now retired and a new team is needed to take the work forward.
- Pray about my own role. I am not ready to cease activity but certainly do not want to hold onto ministries that should pass to others.
- Pray that in some way the 24 hours we spend together this week might serve to fulfil God's purposes for the millions who live in the rural areas and still need to hear the gospel and see it being lived out in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Thank you.
Barry
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