But I was a scientist, how could the Bible as a literal truth be right with all the science saying other things?

I was brought up in the Anglican Church, attended the Sunday School, Church youth group and Bible studies when I was a young teenager but never felt I wanted to take that step as a teenager to get confirmed; and then I stopped going to church. I still believed in the values of my Christian upbringing and I went to a very church focussed school until I completed my A-Levels. But I was a scientist, how could the Bible as a literal truth be right with all the science saying other things? The world was not made in 6 days. The entire world was not flooded for 40 days. So how could God be real? I went away to university and thought nothing further of God.

After moving to Bitterne I visited some churches, with the intention to join a church so I could be married in it because I love the old buildings. But none of the churches felt right to join. I was looking for the feeling I had as a child in church, that it was a family, so it never happened.

We were actually married on Pentecost, because I am practical. The Monday after was a Bank Holiday and getting married on a Sunday is cheaper. I wanted family and friends to all be able to come without having to take time off work. I wanted them to be able to stay over the night before and after so nothing would be rushed as they weren’t very local. This year I actually wondered if maybe there was something else drawing me to that date. It is the first year I have thought about it as Pentecost, rather than Whitsun Weekend and a Bank Holiday.

As more of an adult I started to help my Mum in church related activities but other than that I didn’t practise Christianity particularly. We had our son and I wanted him to have a Christian upbringing and it seems those schools are a little hard to get in to these days as there are less Church of England schools around. So, we sent him to a local catholic school. Moving onto his next school I didn’t want him to lose the link to God that he had developed so I started thinking about finding a church.

The Christmas of 2023, I decided to attend a local church carol service; one I could walk to. I asked my son if he wanted to go and as he said yes. I found one that was at a reasonable time for a 9-year-old to attend, instead of Midnight Mass. He didn’t come in the end but that is how I came to TBC. Everyone was lovely and I came back after Christmas. For week after week every sermon had something in it that spoke to me. I wasn’t, that Christmas, intending to look for a church to come to on a regular basis and worship at, but I found that family feeling and at a church I would not have thought of to look for it. I became a member, joined the Worship Band, joined a Home group, proclaimed at work I was a Christian joining the Christian Fellowship. I then thought it was time to publicly proclaim I am a Christian by getting baptised.