I was born and grew up in Burnley, moving to Accrington about ten years ago. My parents are Christians, so I grew up in a home where God and the Bible were often a topic of conversation.  As a young child I was taken along to Sunday School and Church, where I learned much about God, the Bible and the Lord Jesus Christ.  By the age of about 8 I felt I knew quite a lot about the 'religion' of my parents and thought that because I understood the stories of the Bible, that made me a Christian. As time went on, even though I would sometimes pray, I knew that I did not have a good relationship with God.  As I began to listen more intently to the Bible as it was explained in Church and Sunday School, I realised that I had not recognised that I had personally broken God's law and was therefore in rebellion against him. Yes, I previously had accepted that I was a sinner because I believed the Bible, 'All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  However, it was something that I thought about in my head but never felt in my 'heart'  Now God seemed to be speaking to me in a very personal way.  I began to see how losing my temper or telling lies was against what God had commanded me to do in his word, The Bible. After realising that I had committed actual sins against God I was afraid that I would be separated from God forever when I died. I also knew that God was a God of extraordinary love.  I knew God loved sinners enough to send his only son into the world so that he could die upon a cross in the place of sinful men, women, boys and girls.  I admitted to God the wrong that I had done and asked that he would forgive me.  I trusted that Jesus had died for my sins, instead of me, upon the cross.

I was in the last year of primary school when I became a Christian and began trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ as the one who could rescue me from the position I was in, separated from God. Over the years of trusting in Christ Jesus as my saviour I have realised that Christianity is more like a relationship than a religion.  I now have someone who loves me and cares about me so much that he died to pay the debt I owed and is going to prepare a place for me in heaven, where I will spend eternity in his presence. I recommend this Saviour to you as the one who can also rescue you from your sin and the guilt of your sin - will you take time to find out more about Jesus?

 © peel street baptist church 2006