While the past nineteen years of pastoring have been spent here in New York, I started out a world away at the Assembly of God in Birtley, County Durham, England. Both the town and the church had seen better days. With the pits closing down all around, this coal mining community was suffering incredibly high unemployment. The church to which I had been called now had 30 people at Sunday services whereas some years before that number was nearer 300.

It was July, 1970. There were challenges all around.

I only pastored that congregation for two years, but I learned a lot of things in that time.

1. I learned that God always provides. We had to get by on an understandably meagre income and yet we could tell story after story to this day of how God helped us through time and again.

2. I learned that however much some church members say they want things to change, most of them really don’t. All they want is a different outcome, but they want to continue to do things the same way. Pardon me, but isn’t that the definition of insanity?

3. I learned that people may applaud your suggestions, but that doesn’t mean they’ll lift a finger to implement them. Like when we agreed to change the seating layout in the church and had to move 300 fixed seats that had been screwed to the floor for decades. In the end I did most of it myself – without any power tools.

4. I learned to prioritize young people. We developed a strong children’s program and got a teen ministry under way. One of those teens is now a prominent church leader in the UK – not that I’m claiming any significant part in that.

5. I learned that the first benefit of Bible study is to the person doing the studying. We never had much of a crowd at our mid-week teaching services – like four to six people – but I put everything I could into them, so the time spent in God’s word enriched me.

6. I learned that preaching three times a week demands a whole lot of preparation. We had two Sunday services in addition to our Thursday evening Bible Study. I was a sermon machine, rolling them out. It was another world from preaching a couple of times a month which I had done prior to and during Bible College.

7. I learned that friendships keep you going. It was so good to be able to compare notes with friends from college who were starting out in ministry too. So good to know I wasn’t the only one finding it far tougher than I had imagined. And it’s great that we’re still connected to this day.

8. I learned to appreciate the other churches in the town. The local ministers’ fraternal reached out to me, inviting me to join them for their monthly meetings and I came to value each one of them – even dear old Father Joseph who couldn’t offer a closing prayer at one of our get-togethers because the poor guy had not brought a prayer book. Jesus doesn’t want us to be isolationists.

9. I learned to ask for advice and input from pastors around me who had been at it way longer than me. I gained so much benefit from men like Herbert Harrison over in Newcastle, Clyde Young in Sunderland and George Stout in Gateshead. They had a lot of time for this roookie pastor and were genuinely interested in being there for me. Guess that’s why I enjoy paying that bit forward nowadays.

10. I learned that you put in a lot of hours every week as a pastor. For the first couple of months I kept a time sheet, because since I was my own boss I wanted to be sure I worked a fair number of hours. I gave that up after a very short while and have never needed it since. I don’t make the mark on every level, but I am no slacker.

When we left Birtley in 1972, the church was marginally stronger but in all honesty not significantly different. Yet I was different. My training was continuing – out there in the real church world.