| Liz Jenkins: My Story |
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My faith was very much an ‘instinctive’ faith and not based on true knowledge or a firm foundation because my mother (who died when I was 16 and was ill from when I was 11 years old) either lost her faith or had no faith – I don’t know which but... it left her an atheist (agnostic at best) and she was determined that my head was not going to be ‘filled with that nonsense’. So, I was not allowed to go to church or Sunday school although mum did allow me to be confirmed following a campaign by my aunt/godmother. I became an infrequent churchgoer in my 20s and when I had my children, I became a regular churchgoer because like all parents, I wanted my children to have all the things I didn’t have as a child – which in my case was church, Sunday school and a Christian upbringing. We moved to the Isle of Wight and started attending a church there. I got roped into teaching Sunday school I wanted to say ‘thank you.’ 
I wanted to say ‘thank you.’ 
and frankly, I was so ignorant of the basics of the Bible and what it was to be a Christian that I was learning at the same time as the children! ‘Christianity Explored explained it all to me, filled in the gaps and answered my questions.’
‘Christianity Explored explained it all to me, filled in the gaps and answered my questions.’
As my children hit their teens they tired of attending church and we drifted away. Then, in 2004, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and found myself clinging to my faith and returning to church. I felt that the Lord carried me through all my surgery and treatment, answering my prayers and I felt truly loved by Him. When treatment was over and I felt well again, I realised that the Lord was not prepared to give up on me. I wanted to say ‘thank you’ and the best way I could think of doing that was to get to know Him in a way I should have done when I had been young - so I enrolled on Christianity Explored. I can honestly say I wish I had done so years beforehand. I had so many questions, so many huge gaps in my understanding of Jesus which held me back ‘At last I have the firm foundation I always needed.’
‘At last I have the firm foundation I always needed.’
and stopped me developing as a Christian. Christianity Explored explained it all to me, filled in the gaps and answered my questions. Before CE, I believed Jesus was the Son of God and that He loved me but now because of CE, not only do I believe this but I know it to be true and my faith is now based on fact and the Bible and is less ‘instinctive’. At last I have the firm foundation I always needed. Discipleship Explored is an excellent follow-on to CE because at the end of CE you know about Jesus, why He came, why He died and where one fits into all that. DE puts CE into practice. CE gives you the information you need to know about Jesus and then DE enables you to learn how to live an appropriate life for a follower of Christ. Liz Jenkins |
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