Bethel Evangelical Church, Clydach
Sunday 24 February, 10:30am
Sunday Morning Service (Mark Barnes)
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    Stories of changed lives
    • Brian — I found direction and purpose
    • Marlene — I started to feel happy again
    • Keith — I realised I wasn’t the nice guy I thought I was
    • Stuart and Jan — For the first time I felt clean
    • Friends of Bethel
      • Garin Jenkins — God has been with me all my life
      • Henry Olonga — God was calling me to speak out
      • Billy Burns — He tried to kill me, but when I met him, I liked him
      • Tamar Pollard — The freedom and power of forgiveness
Stuart & Jan’s story

I knew that if I didn’t get right with God, I wasn’t going to heaven

Jan: I had a great upbringing but I was known as the black sheep in the family, wanting to rebel against everything. During the early 70s I was heavily involved in the drug scene and festival cultures like Bickershaw and Glastonbury.

Stu: Being brought up in a religious family, going to church was the norm. Looking back it was only when I was about 14 that I started to take a real interest in wanting to know more about God.

Jan: Three years of partying left me utterly confused. Someone once asked me ‘who or what do you worship?’ I said ‘trees’ – I wouldn’t even sit on park benches as I thought I’d hurt the feelings of the wood! I was just depressed and felt rubbish and unclean. Stu: During 1963-1964 it was the factory scene. We’d work hard in the week and then the boys would let loose on the weekend with drinking and girls. But something told me that God was real so I didn’t get involved but continued to find out more about him.

Jan: I really tried to get a better life but I just couldn’t. Then a man called Ceri Jenkins one day asked me to go to a Christian meeting. I went along thinking this would be a laugh but I heard how Jesus loved me even though I’d been a rebel against him. I felt the urgency of getting right with God knowing that Jesus was coming back. I knew that if I didn’t I wasn’t going to heaven. That night I prayed God would change me and for the first time I felt clean! My dad gave me two months at being a Christian. It’s been 40 years! I keep reminding myself that the Bible says, ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’

Stu: To be honest I can’t pin a date on when I became a Christian. Looking back it was as though God had been directing my life. My friends were living one way but God was pulling me to him. By 1971 I knew that God had made me a Christian, and I was committed to following Jesus, so it was then that I got baptised.

Stu & Jan: We met in 1982. Three weeks later got engaged and six months after that, we were married. We’ve been blessed with two boys and a granddaughter. There have been many joys! But we’ve both struggled with our health for a long time. Jan has been in and out of hospital for almost 30 years. Stu almost went blind in the early 90s.

But we know the realisation that God is with us in our struggles. We don’t always feel it but we know and trust what we read in the Bible. When difficulties come we learn to trust God and remember this verse in the Bible that says Christians can have a ‘peace that passes all understanding’. It can get a bit frustrating sometimes because of things we’d like to do but can’t. But God gives us what we need and with that we can be content.

Stuart & Jan’s story is not unusual at Bethel. Many have found that God has given them lasting peace and happiness that they never expected to find. Why not come along to one of our meetings and see for yourself?
Impact
Impact is a meeting for young people in High School. It takes place in term time every Tuesday evening 7-8pm between September and May (location will vary so please get in touch). There are games, discussions and talks from the Bible, all in a relaxed atmosphere with light refreshments. The club is free to attend, and…
More about Impact…

What’s on this week

  • Sunday 24th February
    • 10:30am Sunday Morning Service (Mark Barnes)
    • 6:00pm Sunday Evening Service (Mark Barnes)
  • Wednesday 27th February
    • 7:00pm Prayer and Bible Study (Mark Barnes)
  • Friday 1st March
    • 11:00am St. David's Day Coffee Morning

Connect with us

Latest news

  • Carol singing at @CoopClydach with @ChrisPavett and Calvary Church! [link], on 17 December, 2016

Recent sermons

  • God is the God of the individual on February 17, 2019.
  • Glory Everlasting on February 17, 2019.
  • How should we then live? on February 10, 2019.
  • The Greatest Answer to Prayer on February 10, 2019.
  • The Greatest Leader on February 3, 2019.

 Bethel Evangelical Church, Heol-y-nant, Clydach     Tel: 01792 828095     Registered charity: 1142690