A REFLECTION
ON JUNE 8, 1997, the Administrative Bishop R O Brown inducted me into the pastoral position here in the Reading New Testament Church of God (NTCG) Church as the pastor, with additional responsibility as the Reading District Overseer. This included responsibility for Aylesbury, High Wycombe and Oxford NTCG Churches.
At the time of my appointment, I was employed by Virgin Trains as a train manager and revenue inspector, based at London Euston. I was also serving as pastor of the Luton NTCG Church and District Overseer for the Luton District.
So, in 2000, after forty years on the railways, I retired and bought a house in Reading where I live now. My decision to come to Reading was made with the full support of my first wife.
Having been an active member of Churches Together in Luton, I soon joined Churches Together in Caversham (CTC) and engaged in its ethos. I also became a member of Reading Racial Equality forum and the Independent Advisory Group, working with the police.
The past twenty-five years have gone so fast; however, they were wonderful times, sharing in the development of various projects with CTC. My vision is that REinspired will be the main tool for evangelism for all CTC members.
My thanks go to the Clergy for their welcome and enduring love and respect. I am blessed to have had such a memorable time with these men and women of God.
I also sincerely thank all those members of NTCG who opened their homes and kitchens to us during our commuting days and have been there for me, after the death of my first wife. I am now remarried and looking forward to a loving and happy life after retirement.
I will leave with you these verses from Paul’s letter to the Church in Corinth: “But as you excel in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you, – see that you excel in this act of grace also. I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”
2 Corinthians, Chapter 8, verses 7-9.
God bless
H R Gayle
Dr Alison Johnston, Caversham Bridge, 2017 (Editors Login)