In early 1980, and for a few years after, Emmanuel Church Loughborough, formed part of a number of Anglican churches in the town.
Like many other towns up and down the country,
the services held in these established churches followed a common and well
established pattern. Early morning
Communion, Matin’s at mid morning and Evensong towards the end of the day.
Due mainly to the fact that Loughborough had a
large student population, the Emmanuel incumbent decided that his church needed
a further, more music-led service at around 7.30 pm. Martin introduced the fourth service, this
new service was to be called Evening Praise.
Attracting mostly young people and a scattering
of the more evangelical adults, this service complete with guitar and drums was
to be a tremendous success. Speakers
from all around the country, some from different denominations, would come and
give their testimonies on many aspects of the Christian faith. Spiritual gifts frequently featured, with
prayer for many types of ailments, mental and physical conditions, and deep
seated personal problems.
To the grateful expectation of some and the
amazement of others, answered prayer became more than a little apparent.
Questions about what was happening at Emmanuel
began to circulate amongst other churches, and soon the expression ‘an Emmanuel
Experience’ was coined. It would not be
unfair to say that some of the other churches in Loughborough became a bit
dubious about Emmanuel, but I just spent every week looking forward to
attending.
It was thanks to the people there that I embarked
on a long weekend at a large country house some 30 miles from Loughborough. The
speaker was David Webb of the Birmingham Riverside Fellowship. That is where my whole life changed!
In short, I went there with no great
expectations. I was after all, ‘a church-going person.’ An unexpected event during that Saturday afternoon
caused me to become a very convinced Christian.
In just four words, THE PENNY HAD DROPPED.
David Taylor
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