Dave: who?

I write this short bio not because I think I will amass an international readership of people who do not know me. I write it because if you do know me (and I'm assuming you do), you probably don't know everything about me, and in particular certain developments and parts of my journey that led to this blog, and the part of my journey which it represents.

I'm from a Christian background

I am immensely grateful to my parents for bringing me up in a stable, loving and Christian home (in Reading, amongst other places), and for involving me in the life of a local church from birth right on through. Through these experiences, and from their example and teaching, I came to really love Jesus, and as an early teenager I committed to Jesus personally and was baptised.

I do not look back on this time of my life negatively, though of course there were struggles. I was extremely happy, comfortable and looked after by my home family and my church family.

It was during my late teens that I sensed a very strong and personal calling on my life to commit to full-time Christian ministry, and decided to study some theology to help me with that.

Questions, questions, questions (and some new answers)
Boy does theology throw up a bunch of questions! Lots of things I'd always just assumed to be true were thrown into question. Some of them I concluded had been right all along. Some of them I felt compelled to change my view on things.

To give an example, I wrote an essay in response to the question, 'What was Paul's view of the role of women in ministry?' It's a big question, and an important one. I set about reading fully expecting to have to write (and already mentally crafting) a concluding paragraph that set out the complementarian position, trying to very graciously, lovingly and helpfully write that God's design did not include women holding leadership over men. I never wrote that paragraph. I read and I studied and I got stuck into those texts in the New Testament which are crucial on this issue, and I came out as an egalitarian. I did not expect it, but having taken God's word seriously it was the only position that I felt I could take and maintain my integrity and commitment to the Bible. (I may well write a blog on this issue at some point, so watch this space if you're interested.)

On other topics and issues, having studied and grappled in the same way, I ended up writing exactly the concluding paragraph I expected to write. I don't want to give the impression that my church or home upbringing were consistently – or even often – wrong. Quite the opposite. But I was on a journey and it involved questioning a lot of things. And still does (see blog on 'Limping').

So that is one battle – theology, doctrine, beliefs.

I married Mel, who is Chinese

But there has been more to me questioning than just stuff that the church believes in our heads or teach in our sermons/lectures. What we do and how we as churches function also came into the spotlight at university.

I met, fell for, and eventually married Mel (makes it sound simple, eh?). I love her. She is wonderful. And we are quite different in lots of ways. Mel is not from a Christian background, or from the UK, certainly not Reading (we can't all be). As a result, she doesn't have the same set of assumptions about life or the church that I have ingrained in me.

This comes out in little ways, like a surprisingly large number of surprisingly long conversations about the best way to wash up. But it also comes out in bigger ways, like when Mel questions something about what we do in church that I have literally been doing my whole life and about which I have never asked the question, 'Why?'

My response is often one of defending it to her without really allowing myself to question it properly. It is in part the realisation that I often do this which led to this blog and to my more intentional commitment to questioning with nothing off-limits.

I know I won't always get to the bottom of things, but I want to be an authentic Christian who truly believes the things I believe, not just accepts them. I also want to be a leader who can justify the ways I lead things, not just say 'Well, my minister back home did them' (again, I love my minister back home).

I should also say that Mel totally re-opened my eyes to who Jesus really is, setting me free from what had become a pretty un-radical faith, and releasing a whole world of proper theology and life-giving praxis. Of people who are fully human and not fully anything else, she is easily top of the list in terms of benefit for me and inspiration as I seek to love and serve God and people. (Thanks Mel!)

So, that's me

I'm sure bits and pieces more about the journey I've come on will come out as I blog, but this is the underlying journey I've been on which is now surfacing in a more deliberate (and blog-like) way.