What a Thrill

In October, I preached at a new church plant in Newmarket, the Journey. It was a pleasure to have an opportunity to speak to an enthusiastic group of believers there. As a part of my message encouraging people to share their faith, I told the story of my conversion. I shared how I had grown up in a home where neither of my parents was involved in church life. I attended Tereora College in Rarotonga and was in the fourth form. One of my friends invited me to come with him to an afterschool Christian group run by a man by the name of Brian Chitty (that is him in the photo above). I explained how I had come to faith, found it hard to maintain that faith through my teens and early twenties, but then recommitted my life to Christ in my mid-twenties some ten years later. I went on with the message which was well received.

I was stunned after the service to be approached by a woman, Rhema, who told me that she was Brian’s daughter. Unbeknown to me she attended this church and was equally shocked to hear that her father had led me to Christ some forty-five years prior. She shared with me that her dad was well and living in Auckland and that she had invited him to church that day, but he had not come.

Anyway, I returned again to preach in the Journey again yesterday and I did a quick summary of my former message and further encouraged the church with ideas as to how they could share their faith into the community more effectively. I mentioned Brian in passing and a voice called out from the congregation. It was Brian’s daughter Rhema who called out, “he’s here today.” At that moment, I noticed for the first time the man sitting beside her and it was Brian! I was thrilled. I could not help myself and left the lectern in the middle of my message causing rapturous applause and hugged him with much agapē love. It was an amazing and emotional moment. I felt a little like the prodigal in some way. Brian and I had connected a few years ago, but this was a moment that transcended that.

I am deeply grateful to Brian. He is an example of one of those evangelisers the world does not notice but who for years has planted the seed of God’s word in the hearts of many people in the Cook Islands and beyond. I am a Christian because of him. Any good I do in the wold in my ministry of teaching and writing is a credit to him and his faithfulness.

This is how Christianity works. Humble, seemingly non-descript people, share the gospel faithfully in small groups around the world, and some like me believe it, and we pass it on. That is why there are over 2 billion of us and Christianity is the world’s biggest religion. It is still growing at an extraordinary rate in many parts of the world, even if not in our western contexts. It is because of people like Brian.

I pay tribute to Brian and the millions like him who are good people, who pass on their faith, and people’s lives are transformed as a result.