Ken

Ken, from Holy Nativity Eastfield is a member of the Stepping Up group in Scarborough. He shares his story of faith.

My faith story goes back many years to 1954. One of my earliest memories is when I was 5 years old. I was brought up a Catholic and I attended my local church. At first it was quite a frightening experience, as the Mass was then in Latin. However, I soon got used to it, and by the time I was 10 I went to church 7 days a week. From Monday to Friday I went to a church opposite my school after lunch every day and did the stations of the cross. On Saturdays I went to confession. However, by the time I was approaching 12 I fell out with the Catholic church for reasons I won’t go into here. I fell out with the church but never with God.  

For the next 50 some years I attended either CofE or Methodist churches but only very occasionally. That was, until we had our grandson christened at Holy Nativity church and met Sam the Vicar and Jo the curate. At that time I had never been in a better place in my life and strongly  felt the need to find a place of worship to give thanks to God for all I had in life. I discussed it with my wife and we agreed to give Holy Nativity a chance. We were so impressed, the next week we took our grandchildren.  

We both soon got very involved with the church, helping out wherever we could. After a a while I got re-baptised into the Church of England and both my wife and I were confirmed at Holy Nativity. Soon after, my wife became the Synod rep and I was a deputy church warden. We then joined a church hub group which met on a Sunday evening where we would read various religious texts and discuss them. We were then lucky enough to be invited onto a Mustard Seed Stepping Up course. Both my wife and myself have thoroughly enjoyed this course. I personally have developed a great deal more confidence and have learnt a great deal about our local community and the workings of the church. I am now the Deanery Synod rep and Deputy Churchwarden and my wife is a Churchwarden. 

 At first I didn’t really know where to go with the knowledge I was gaining. Then I had a really strong feeling to set up a male only group around the area of ‘it’s good to talk.’ My idea, along with three other men from our church who have volunteered to help run it, is to have a group where men can come and talk in confidence (taking all safeguarding  measures into consideration). We are there to purely listen but not to advise. We will, of course, have a list of resources available if anybody requests. The wonderful Bernie, Manager of Westway Open Arms, has offered us a room and help with advertising. I now need to run it by the PCC and dot the I’s and cross the T’s, so hopefully can soon get it up and running.