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Amos Selvaraj

I’ve grown up in a Christian home of sorts. Mum did a great job leading and teaching me about Jesus given the circumstances. But even with that guidance I just coasted along for many years-  going to church, bible studies, youth groups and other Christian activities- without any real interest. To be honest I can’t say I even wanted to be there.


I’ve been attending Drouin Presbyterian church since about 2011, but for the most part of the first 5 years I am not proud of what my relationships with God, family and friends were like. But even through all the mistakes I’ve made and pain I’ve caused, I can confidently say God has been with me.


In 2015-2016 a lot changed for me, especially my relationship with God and in turn that has greatly affected my relationship and attitude to family and friends around me. I can now see what is important in life and it’s not me. I now understand what God has done for me in giving his son to die on the cross for my sins. I’ve realised that I am a sinner and that I need Jesus to help me. I’m still far from perfect, but knowing what Jesus has done for me makes me want to help and encourage others to follow him also.


Galatians 2:20 says “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”


From now my only hope is that I live my life by Gods word, and fully rely on his strength and not my own. Becoming a Christian has given me such a feeling of freedom, it’s incredible. And I am so thankful knowing that Jesus has taken what I was owed, and restored my relationship with God.


Daniel Patchett

June 10, 2020
At the end of the day, I’m a Christian because of God’s grace. This relentless mercy has been shown to me time and time again, largely through the Christians in my life that I’ve been blessed to know, and who provide an example of what it means to be a follower of Christ. One of the things I find most convincing and compelling about the Gospel is the implicit rightness of Jesus and his actions, how he epitomises everything that we instinctively know to be good and just. It’s by his self-sacrifice that I’ve been saved, ‘for by grace you have been saved through faith, and it is not your own doing, it’s a gift of God’ (Ephesians 2:8). I grew up in a Christian family, and my parents served as missionaries in Ethiopia for several years. They’ve been outstanding examples to me of imitating Jesus’ self-sacrifice. But I don’t want to rock up to church every week just because my parents do, because faith isn’t genetic, and I’ve found it difficult recently to challenge and question my own beliefs whilst retaining obedient faithfulness. Here, I’ve found discussing issues with other believers very helpful.  I’m still an immature Christian, still doubtful and still torn between God and the world at times. Hopefully that will change by God’s mercy and his Holy Spirit.

Graeme Lowe

June 10, 2020
It was a great start in life to have Christian parents, but it didn’t make me a Christian. Being a missionary kid I heard and saw amazing examples of Christian faith and God at work in PNG – but rather than inspiring me to become a Christian I felt that I wasn’t good enough and that God was probably too busy with more important things than to take notice of me. I never doubted the many stories of the Bible that I learned at home and church and the way God worked in human history - but it never seemed to be my story. Around the end of primary school my family attended the Easter Convention at Belgrave Heights and God used the preacher not only to convince me that my sin was part of the reason for Jesus’ death, but that in His death Jesus paid for that very sin and every other sin I had committed. Like the people in Acts 2:37 , I was “cut to the heart,” asked God to forgive me and found out He wasn’t too busy to take notice of me. It was profound to me that I now knew God - because previously I only knew about Him. Through all the ups and downs of life from that moment and to this day God has shown me that I have a place in His story – now and forever. 

Emma Lang

June 9, 2020
I have loving Christian parents and grew up in the church. However, as a Pastor’s daughter, I felt a burden of expectation that I could never live up to, nor that could relate with my adventurous spirit. In my early teens, I stopped going to church altogether. My interests and identity were shaped by my worldly friendships and culture, and while I knew about Jesus, I “neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him”. I worked hard at school and work, finding my worth in the acceptance of others. I gratified the desires of the flesh through partying, drinking, immorality, and the like. The world was my oyster, and I did what I wanted. Even so, I wasn’t totally estranged from Christianity. My parents had given me a Bible with a front cover that appealed to my interests, and I was curious enough to occasionally open it and start reading, but never for long as it didn’t make sense to me. When I was 17, that began to change. While travelling alone overseas, God widened my perspective as He put me through uncompromising experiences that quelled my pride. Although I came to know the Lord was to be revered, I was afraid of losing the acceptance of my friends and the freedom to follow my own interests. When I returned home, my world was shaken even more. One of my sisters was battling aggressive cancer and undergoing chemotherapy. I was staring into the face of death; but I realised it wasn’t hers, it was my own. While I was scared and angry, she was able to praise her Lord whom she trusted. I would criticise her faith, but she was not ashamed. For her, Jesus was even more precious than life. I was forced to ask again; Who is this Jesus? Living out of home, not knowing where else to turn, the Lord brought me to read Romans and for the first time my eyes were opened to understand the gospel. God’s love and mercy weren’t based on my efforts nor my will but on His faithfulness and sacrifice. All my life I had heard people telling me who they thought Jesus was, but now I finally knew Him, revealed by grace, through his Word. Christ brought me into new life through the Spirit as I called upon his name. Although I sometimes struggled with my old habits, they no longer defined me; I needn’t be afraid or put to shame. Each day through prayer and reading the Bible give me new encouragement and freedom from the sin that once enslaved me.  I have come to know Jesus Christ not only as my Saviour but also my Lord. It is no longer I who lives, but He in me. Whatever is given up, Jesus promises incomprehensibly better. He has given me a new identity and living hope, setting my eyes on the glory and riches of eternal life with Him. Praise be to God.
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