On 6th September 2001, I arrived in Taiwan for the very first time, knowing next to nothing about the place or how fundamentally it would shape my life. My intention back then was to spend a year teaching English / buying time while I worked out what to do with my life, then return to the UK. Well, I'm writing this in Taipei 8 years later, and my first few blogs are going to paint a picture of how I got here. I find it pretty hard to believe myself - I have gone from spiritually-confused 'singledom' to a being a married father of one, strengthened and inspired by my faith in Jesus.
Some Christians are very protective about their church denomination, be that Anglican, Baptist or any other label. The USA has 100 different denominations and one type of cheese; France has one denomination and 100 types of cheese. Church in Taiwan was Baptist-flavoured, but it was the friendships we formed there that kept us going. I loved and respected our first pastor because of his character and example; it didn't matter to me if he was Baptist or anything else. When choosing our first UK church, I hoped for another friendly church but one which was much less predictable in its services. In the main, the preaching and worship at Grace Baptist Church were good; the services just didn't allow for any variety or contributions from the congregation. Having experienced a different style of worship in Newfrontiers churches - great music, but the room for prayer, prophecy, testimony and spontaneous singing - I longed to experience that in my own church. Joelle had visited a cou...
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