Our Evangelists

Meet James

Growing up, I lived with my mum. I saw my dad regularly, and he would take us to church. He had become a Christian after seeing Billy Graham in 1986, but my mum wasn’t religious. In my early teens, I thought church was boring, irrelevant and was just an obstacle in the way of me sneaking off for a cigarette. As I got older, I started to experiment with drugs and became depressed and aggressive, resulting in me yo-yoing from living with my mum to living with my dad. I had fallen out with my older brother after I had acted badly towards him and eventually my behaviour became too much for either of my parents to manage, so I left home. I was living in a flat, by myself, and I was starting to think that things had to change.

My older brother came to visit me, and I thought it was going to be difficult because of what I had done to him, but instead of being angry, he forgave me. It was as he left and I closed the door that I suddenly felt God’s presence fill the room. I felt an overwhelming sense of peace, excitement and hopefulness all at the same time. I remember punching the air and saying to myself, “This is it now — I want to live for you, God!”

I started reading the Bible, and, when I got to Acts, reading about mission journeys. I thought, “This is what I want to do.” It was a really exciting time. Later, I met my wife and started looking for ways to be involved in ministry, to build community and to find restoration and reconciliation. I began searching the internet for church planting and evangelism training and discovered Church Army. I applied and started the training towards being a Commissioned Evangelist.

But it wasn’t all plain sailing; things became quite challenging and difficult for me. After commissioning, I began my first post with CA, but, for a lot of different reasons, I decided to leave. I felt a lot of self-doubt and embarrassment, and I let that get the better of me. I started a job as a support worker, to rebuild my confidence, and it was there that I began to talk to people about faith, offering pastoral support. One of the people I was supporting came to faith because of our chats, and I knew that evangelism was my true calling. I contacted Church Army and had a meeting to unpack what had happened in my previous role. They encouraged me to start again and to apply for a position in Bradford. This was the start of my new beginning; I found my passion again and was successful in applying for the role.

I have worked for Church Army since, and I am now the Pioneer Evangelist at the Suffolk Centre of Mission. Looking back at my first post with CA, I realise that I was quite broken, burnt out and disappointed. But after taking time and speaking to people, I knew that I still had gifts and abilities and that God could use me in meaningful ways. With the help of CA, I took things back to basics and started again. I believe I am God’s child, and I will function wherever he takes me.