I grew up in a Christian home. My Dad was a Baptist and was always active in all the churches he attended as the choir leader or as a deacon. My mum was a younger sibling to a former Anglican archbishop of Nigeria! I was brought up to trust in the Lord and to know that Jesus is always with me. I always wanted to study in the UK and my dad was supportive - the only condition was that I had to finish university first in Nigeria as I would then be mature enough to be on my own. I left Nigeria in my early 20s and remember how on the hour-long drive to Lagos airport, my dad asked if my Bible was in my luggage. Even though I gave an affirmation, he still did a detour to a bookshop and came back to the car with a Bible for me. Going to church was always part of me and something I really do enjoy - worship, sermon and friendship. My acceptance of Jesus Christ as my Lord is a relationship that has built over time as I 'matured', but when he saved me in a litigation case (see below), I knew I had to commit myself fully to him. As a student back in the 90s, you were permitted to work only 20 hours a week (legislation has since changed). As a postgraduate student, I had a lot of 'free' time and foolishly copied some of my friends by working more than permitted. This went on for a while. One day, my pastor preached about always doing the right thing and this hounded me for weeks. I kept telling myself that I would resign but kept procrastinating. One day I went into work and the police turned up and arrested me. I was charged for immigration offences and bailed. The police officer was very clear that his wish was that I should be deported. Four times I reported to the station but, on each occasion, the Home Office did not attend. On the fourth occasion, the same officer said that if they didn't turn up, he would charge me in court. Sure enough, the Home Office didn't turn up – they wanted that I be given a warning instead. We arrived at the magistrates’ court and a male judge didn't want to hear the case; he said he would send it to a higher court. My barrister argued that this was a litigation case that should be dealt with at a magistrates’ court and quoted a few similar cases. The judge was not willing to answer but adjourned the case to the following week for the barrister to provide the rulings of those cases he had mentioned. On the day we were back in court, I saw a church doing early morning prayers so I joined them. Nobody knew me there but at the end of the hour service, the pastor said God has a victory for someone in the gathering and I knew straightaway it was me. In court, the judge had been replaced by a female judge. Within 5 minutes, she gave her ruling - she was happy that I understood why laws should be followed but, as I was guilty, she had to give a sentence and I was given 80 hours of community work. For years, I wouldn't apply for certain jobs but then God's word says that all his works are perfect. I applied to visit the USA and during my interview, all I could see was the police report on the desk … but my visa was granted. God also opened the door for me to work in the financial sector. Praise His holy name!

From Prison to Praise is the title of a book that had a big impact in my life and is a fitting description of it. I was born into a traditional Christian family in Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), India. My parents were not regular Church goers and attendance was limited mainly to Christmas and Easter. They encouraged me to attend Sunday School and, being interested in dramatics, I participated in plays and later also the Church Choir – although I enjoyed music and singing, getting to know girls was really the main attraction. I gained a degree in English and Sociology, and secured several short term sales jobs until I was offered a position with the New Delhi YMCA. I had to leave home and move to Delhi. Something that made an impact on me was when my aunt visited us before I left to read Psalm 121 and pray for me. I attended Church whenever I could, but I saw faith as moral values and attending Church, something I felt I was expected to do. I hadn’t understood the profoundness of a personal relationship with Christ. Despite attempts by aunts and other family matchmakers, nothing seemed to happen on the relationship front. Then in January 1975 I was introduced to Ethel. I had spent Christmas in Lucknow with family; she was a missionary in Nepal and was on her way home in the USA. She visited Lucknow to deliver a parcel for someone and visited my home church. The pastor introduced us and we found that we were on the same train to Delhi. Ethel had booked to stay at the YMCA in Delhi for a week and at the end of it, we decided to get married. But getting to the USA for the wedding was not straightforward. But in a wonderful way the Lord worked it all out and I arrived less than 48 hours before the wedding! Still I had not taken the step of making a personal commitment to Christ. In September 1977 the YMCA organised some special meetings with a speaker from the Philippines and it was at one of those meetings that I made a conscious commitment to Christ. 1981-83 were difficult years for me as I went through a time of depression and struggle. I was gripped with a fear and strange feeling as if the ground was giving way from under my feet. I felt that something was wrong with my mind and that I was being attacked. I was unable to sleep and afraid of going into the office and facing the day. It was only by God’s grace, the prayer support of my wife and church friends, the Bible and a book called Prison to Praise that I came through it. Prison to Praise emphasised the importance of praising God especially when things were not going right. Looking back, I believe God allowed this time to make me rely more on Him, become an encouragement to others and take on greater responsibilities in my work. Coming to London in 1989 on a 3 year posting was not an easy decision as it meant uprooting our family with all its uncertainties. Conditions in Delhi changed and we made the difficult decision to remain in UK. As I look back, the theme of my life is that God has been there all the time. He saved me through Jesus when I accepted Him into my life in 1977. Since then He has been working in my life drawing me closer to Him through the various ups and downs in my life and will continue to do so as He has promised till the end. He has brought me out of prison into a life of praise

For as long as I can remember everyone has called me Ashkan. I was born into a Muslim family but when I was a teenager I decided to leave Islam, partly because of all the rules – all the dos and don'ts of Islam and partly because I was not able to communicate with the god of Islam who was distant and remote. In 2015 I left Iran and I went overseas to study – first on the island of Cyprus and then later to Italy. It was during my time in Italy, that my roommate, who was Christian, invited me to go with him to church one Sunday morning. Before that my family had moved to Sweden because my parents had become Christian believers. They invited me many times to believe in the Lord Jesus like them, but, because of my mentality and also because of my tiredness with the rules of Islam, I did not accept to be acquainted with Christianity But one day I accepted my friend's invitation and we went together to a church in Torino, in Italy. It was the first time I had ever been to church and it was a very interesting experience for me. Everyone worshiped God in song and with joy, and a spiritual atmosphere was created for me which helped me start to become acquainted with Christianity. I also contacted my family and told them that I had been to church and they continued in lots of ways to help me with my introduction to Christianity. When my studying came to an end I had to return to Iran. I truly believed in the Lord Jesus there in Iran. Jesus was my strength and my healer because he healed me when I had been sick in Iran. He was also my Lord and Saviour because he forgave all my sins. I now know that God is not remote and distant, but in Jesus God came into this world to rescue me. Today I am so happy because I have been born again and on Easter Sunday - Resurrection Sunday, the day of the resurrection of Jesus, I was baptised; and I ask God to make me grow up more and more in my Christian faith.

I was born and raised in Jamaica - St Catherine. Growing up I lived with several different family members, but mostly my grandmother (my mother’s mother). We were not one of the fortunate in our community. Life was hard as it was only my grandmother taking care of three of us. I remember that she would have us go to church with her, even if we didn’t want to go. To be honest, most of the time I didn’t want to go, because I found it boring. And she was always talking about the goodness of God, praising him daily, and praying. Occasionally, I found it irritating - we could barely find food and she kept telling us to trust God. But I would grow to trust in God, because I would see that no matter how rough it gets, we always made it through the day with a warm meal. She would pray for things, and no matter how long it took, her prayers usually came through. I slowly start believing in God. Aged 19 I met my husband. We married after 3 years together. We started going church together, but it wasn’t anything serious. We mainly went because we knew it was the right thing to do. In 2011 he migrated to the UK and a year later applied for me to joined him. We lived in Ilford, and that’s when I came up Ilford High Road Baptist Church, while going shopping. I saw my flag (Jamaican) hanging outside and that really got my attention. I’ve been coming ever since – but not regularly, mainly because of our busyness of life in a new country, trying to balance our expenditures.... and also me enjoying the world of sin. About six years back, I started putting more interest in God, and tried to come church more regularly, read my Bible and pray more. Around that time I was trying to conceive, and it wasn’t possible. I remember praying to God that if he blessed me with a child, I would serve him the way he wanted me to. Looking back … who do I think I was? Thinking God needs me, when I am the one actually needs him. Despite me still living for the world, my prayer was answered - God not only blessed me with one child, but two beautiful daughters, and another one on the way. I tried living up to my promise, but kept falling short. The final straw was early this year when I was feeling pain in one of my breasts. I went to the doctor who referred me to the breast clinic. I never remember praying so much in my life! I prayed for it not to be cancer as I come from a cancerous family. Then I made another promise to God that I will serve him, if it was not cancer. They did a biopsy and it was not cancerous. I think about how hard it is on earth living in sin, I know for sure I don’t want to go through afterlife in sin also. This time around I will be keeping my promise. I am tired of having one foot in, one foot out. In all my times of trouble, the Lord has always been there for me. The thought of him dying to save me, the thought of him loving me despite my sinful ways, the thought of him willing to forgive me and give me a new life – he has to be God. I am happy to ask God for his forgiveness of all my sins, the ones I knowingly did, and even the ones I am unaware of and to ask him to create a new spiritual life in me. After sharing her life story, K was baptised on Resurrection Sunday, 17 April, 2022

I am 24 years old. I was born in Iran where I grew up as a child. I want to share my story of how Lord Jesus has changed my life. I grew up in a Muslim family and Friday prayers at the mosque were the most important time of the week. But when I reached 17 years of age I realised that my father was not practising his Muslim faith anymore. When I asked him about this, he told me that he had changed his religion. He shared with me the story of how he had become a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. I was shocked and upset and I became indifferent towards him. But then five or six months later I had a very bad accident and injured my back severely. I had to go to hospital, and the doctor told us that I would need an operation. But my family were not very keen on this idea. For a few months I went to see a physiotherapist. He had a hydrotherapy pool. I went into the water and walked slowly but I did not feel any better. I couldn’t walk on my own. I couldn’t sit in a chair. It seemed that each day I was getting worse and the pain was more difficult to cope with. One day my father came to my room and asked me to let him pray for me. I told him that I did not agree with him and did not believe in his god and his new religion. But I respected him because he was my father and therefore if he wanted to pray for me then I would let him do it. So he prayed for me. A few days later when I woke up one morning I felt a little better. I did not feel the same pain. I managed to get out of bed without any help. When my family saw what I was doing my father was so happy and said, ‘Thank you, Lord’. I still had a little pain, but most of it had gone. When I saw my doctor again and he examined my back, he said that it was a miracle. There was no other explanation for what had happened to me and why I could now walk and move without pain. Until that day I didn’t believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and did not accept the Christian faith. But through this miracle God began to show himself to me. A week later I told my father that I wanted to know more about the Lord Jesus Christ and the Christian faith. He gave me a memory card for my laptop which had the Bible on it. As I read the Bible I started to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Five years have passed now. I have changed completely and found the true God in a real way as I trust the Lord Jesus. During these five years I have learned more and more about the Lord. One year after I committed my life to the Lord we moved to Sweden. On 3rd June I was baptised and began to serve in the church there. Some months ago my family and I came to England. It is easy to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but it is very important to stay on this path … and that is not always easy at all. But it is definitely the right way.