Kathryn

I have been brought up in a loving Christian family where I was always encouraged and pushed to live bigger and better. I made my own decision at the age of 12. Since then I have grown massively in confidence. I no longer depend on other people for affirmation and my self-belief. I know that I am wonderfully made and that God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose.
 
I’m just trying to follow God’s plan for my life which led me to Gloucester this year where I am being stretched and challenged beyond my expectations. I love being part of FAX and being able to serve in part of such an incredible church. Not only that but I also have an amazing new job and some great friends!
 
God is good!!

Emily

Having been brought up in a Christian family my whole life; people may say it’s easier. But there comes a point where you have to make your own decision with what you actually want to do with your faith.
After my parents split up, I moved to a theological college in Nottingham with my mum and sister, so my mum could train to be a vicar. It was there I felt like I didn’t have to try as hard because of my surroundings but yet I still really enjoyed it.
After seven years, we moved back to Gloucester and my mum was a priest and in charge of a church. After a while I started feeling like I was just going there to give support to my mum and not for God. I came to a service at One Church for the first time and I really enjoyed the liveliness of it and how nice everyone was.
It was here where I felt a better and stronger connection with God. I already feel a more confident woman and a year ago did not think I’d be doing what I’m doing now in this church.

Ryan

 
I was brought up in a Christian home, which meant I was taught from the start what is right and wrong, and I was set strong moral ground to grow on by my parents. You’d think with this upbringing I’d have an established connection with God and I’d lead a life full of confidence and happiness? Not at all.
 
As a child I struggled with a low self-esteem and a learning difficultly, which grew into a pessimistic outlook on life that I carried into my teenage years. My relationship with God was always there, but I never called upon it.
 
I constantly prepared myself for the worst and believed that I could offer nothing good to the world, I worried about what people thought of me and at 15 I was facing depression.
 
Through several personal experiences, God has broken and remade me into something totally new, now at 18, I have a gift of compassion for people. Do I still struggle with my negative mind set? Of course! But is it only through God that I can face each day with a smile? Totally.

Kye

I am 18 and have grown up in church.
For a long time all that mattered to me was having a girlfriend and my reputation.
A year ago I made a big mistake which could have led me down the wrong path. However, God opened my eyes to the bad attitude that I had, and helped me to turn my life around.
Since that point in my life, God has blessed me with a fantastic job, a boss who not only helps me with my career but also with my faith, and a long term relationship.
I no longer feel that I need to live up to a reputation, and can therefore be the man that God has called me to be. I’m certainly not perfect, but I know that God loves me even when I make mistakes.

Jon

 
As a child I came to church with the rest of my family, thinking it was the way it was, not knowing any different, but not a confident person. One year we went to a conference called ‘Grapevine’ held in Lincolnshire, I remember seeing three guys getting up onto a stage and picking up instruments and playing songs without any music sheets, cycling through songs and the presence of God falling, completely unknown to me. All I could focus on was the three musicians on stage leading the worship, and simply saying ‘I want what they have’.
 
Now I’m part of a Music team leading within worship, taken on leadership roles, and have confidence to be who I am through God. This had led me to take such roles on and grow me into more than I have been, with a stronger faith and hope for what God has planned.

Louisa

Looking back I now realise that there was a part of me that was always looking for God. When I was a teenager I questioned things all the time and had an opinion on everything.

I enjoyed life. I had a job, boyfriends, a great family and social life, but I remember always feeling like something was missing. I remember lying in bed almost every night thinking about life and death and feeling this overwhelming feeling that I was missing out on something that I was supposed to be a part of but didn’t have a clue what it was.

Through a series of events I ended up at Robinswood church where I finally found all the answers to my questions in a relationship with Jesus. Someone once said to me that everyone has a God shaped hole in their lives, that was me, I didn’t realise what it was until God filled it.

The knowledge that God has a plan and purpose for my life gives me peace and confidence in everything I do. I have been a Christian now for nearly 23 years and I have never looked back.

Ian

Up until I was 30, my life had nothing to do with religion whatsoever! Then one day last summer I was reading a fiction book that had a part that involved the life of Jesus. As I was reading, a thought just suddenly crashed into my head, ‘This man, Jesus, spread the teaching of love, respect and hope, and died because of it for us!

Isn’t this man worthy of your worship?’

After this experience I just wanted to find out more about Jesus, so after a few weeks of soul searching I bought a bible and began reading it (much to the shock of my partner who thought I was just a big atheist!) and things just started to make sense in my life. Now I find myself just wanting to seek out more about Jesus and worshiping God!

Ben

Ever since I could remember I have always been in and around Christians, I have been raised in a very strong loving, caring and fun family who really love me and appreciate me.

I’ve been a Christian now for 10 years and God has really blessed me. I’m really the type of person who if I decide not to do something you will know about it but with the way I am, God has always used my character to the best and positive advantages of my life.

I will do anything for my family and also friends closest to me even though they might not do the same for me.

Alan

I was 33 years old before I let God into my life. I had turned my back on Christianity. It had no meaning and I hated religion. Then one day, whilst my wife was pregnant for the first time, God broke into my life. My mother-in-law was a Christian and suddenly spoke to me in a ‘foreign’ language, but I knew she did not speak anything other than English. She then interpreted what she had just said: “If you want to know if I exist, seek me before your child is born!”
 
Out of curiosity I visited Robinswood church, where I felt the presence of God and realised for the first time that God was indeed real!
 
Since then my life has been transformed. I cannot understand how I lived without Jesus. Even in the most difficult circumstances (and there have been a few), he has never let me down.

Katy

I always believed in God but never had a strong relationship with him. At school it was more day-to-day and I HAD to go as it was a catholic school. So when I finished I rebelled and felt like I could go and do what I wanted.

I would drink most weekends and would always be out with my friends without a care in the world, and God was soon pushed out the way.

I would pray when I felt things were hard and that would be it, but I never felt satisfied in day-to-day life, relationships, friendships, or in any part of my life.

After taking “too much” I begged God to come into my life, and was truly lifted to my feet like a gush of wind and I have never looked back. I now have God in my life everyday and we are the best of friends!