Gaukroger is Huguenot French. His ancestor was Gauche Roger - left-handed Roger. Gauche Roger was a prince persecuted for his faith who fled from France and came to South Yorkshire, where the 'Gauche' was hardened and became 'Gaukroger'. John Marsh talked to Stephen Gaukroger.
EN: I had not realised you were a Yorkshireman.
SG: My father came from Halifax and I was born in Sheffield, but we moved to Leamington Spa in the Midlands when I was young. My father taught maths at the Leamington College for Boys in the early 1960s. Then we moved north to Preston, so I finished my schooling at Preston Grammar and was brought up at Carey Baptist Church there.
EN: When did you become a Christian?
SG: I can hardly remember a time when God was not real to me, but I suppose I date my commitment to Christ to when I was about six or seven. I remember kneeling at my bedside and saying sorry to God, and asking him to be my Saviour. I did not pray a very theologically correct prayer - 'Dear God, I'd like whatever it is my parents have. Please be my Saviour.'
And then I was baptised at Carey when I was 14. I later became youth group leader for a number of years. Looking back now, I think how gracious they were to me as a teenager. I was given the opportunity to lead services which shows a great deal of trust in a big church of 300 people.
Leaving school
EN: What happened when you left school?
SG: I elected to read business studies and went off to a college in Bolton. It was non-residential and I commuted 30 miles every day in an old banger that my parents helped me to get and which fell apart at regular intervals.
It was very much a transitional time for me. When I went to college I was really searching for what I was meant to be doing with my life.
EN: Was there a Christian Union?
SG: Yes. I got involved. In fact I was president within a few weeks. There were all the problems of a non-residential college where you have to hold CU meetings in the lunch-hour or late in the evening. I had a lot of help and input from the UCCF Travelling Secretary.
Even before starting my sandwich course I was not sure of what I should be doing, but it became clear that God was calling me to do something other than business. I talked to my minister a good deal and my parents. I felt increasingly that God was calling me to teach and preach.
My practical year out was to be the final year so I took a substitutive year as the assistant minister of a church in Herne Bay in Kent to work with J.J. (Jack) Brown.
I had applied to Spurgeon's College and they asked me to do some New Testament Greek in preparation. In those days they wanted you to have some Greek before you started college. I had done Latin but no Greek at school and at this stage I was taught by Geoffrey Reynolds, who had produced the Translator's New Testament. He was a super guy whom I really appreciated. He must have been in his 70s when he taught me. He was very patient and I was not. I was 21 and wanted to get on and preach the gospel and not waste time on Greek verbs! But he was very gracious and patient with me.
I was there a year and then went on to Spurgeon's. The Principal then was Ray Brown and he was great. I did three years there and then a fourth year postgraduate. I enjoyed Spurgeon's immensely and learnt a great deal.
EN: What was the best thing about it?
SG: The formal training was good but almost more important was meeting with others studying for the ministry. You learn a lot from late night conversations over coffee: 'Iron sharpening iron'.
I love sport and played a lot. Also I was one of three students who were 'House Officers' and so was involved with the faculty and especially Ray and Christine Brown. I had the opportunity to pick people's brains and talk theology.
I am a voracious reader but not always of the books that I was supposed to be reading!
EN: Was Spurgeon still revered at the college?
SG: Yes. He was a great communicator in his day. I have been reading his John Plowman's series again recently.
Certainly there was a great emphasis on preaching and as a student I cut my teeth on many unpromising situations in small chapels.
Love in the USA
EN: Where did you go next?
SG: While still at college I was called into the Principal's office and asked if I would like to go to the States for a year. Spurgeon's had a link with the First Baptist Church in Dallas and I had a great year working there. They gave me the opportunity to fly to many conferences and working in a mega-church. I also met my wife Janet there!
Janet was working for a nursing degree in Dallas and was responsible in the church for arranging Bible studies for students.
She invited me to take one of these soon after I arrived and I took her out to coffee afterwards. We got engaged but she stayed in Dallas to finish her degree. I came back to the UK and when I found my next post in a church, I went back to be married in Dallas.
Life in Luton
EN: What have you been doing since?
SG: I went to the Stopsley Baptist Church in Luton. We were very happy there on the edge of Luton and they looked after us very well. The church grew from 90 to 400 in that time. (We have just started at Gold-hill, in Bucks.)
EN: What was the reason for growth at Luton?
SG: Two main reasons. The flourishing children's and youth work and the preaching and teaching ministry. My work was the bedrock of teaching and preaching, mainly expository, going through the books of Scripture. The children's work was a reason why people were drawn to the church. We had 50 to 60 children under the age of five.
My wife Janet did not go on nursing when we came to the UK. It would have meant retraining for UK conditions and there was lots of other things to do. As you know from her writings she has been deeply involved in thinking through how very young children respond to information, which leads to the practical question: 'How should children under five be exposed to Scripture?'
She believes that many churches in the UK have missed the boat in this area. Under-five's get baby-sitting only when it is possible to engage them with simple Bible concepts. She worked hard.
We eventually had a staff with an associate minister, a youth minister and two community workers.
EN: Tell us about the community workers.
SG: They had a ministry among people on the fringe of the church, single mothers etc. The local doctors, not necessarily Christian doctors, came to use them. They would warn patients who needed support that the support had a Christian slant but was available and would be a help to them.
Meanwhile I became known more widely as a teacher and this was another reason for church growth.
EN: I know that you have been preaching further afield. How did you come to be President of the Baptist Union?
SG: The Presidency is a position of influence but has no executive authority and is decided by a popular vote. For a year I travelled the land speaking about 200 times.
EN: How did your own church cope?
SG: They were very good. They agreed to let me go and the staff and the elders took over in the two Sundays a month I was away. It was an interesting year and hard work, so I am quite glad now to be kicked upstairs as a past President.
Learning to preach
EN: You have already said that your preaching and teaching ministry is the bedrock of what you do; can you tell us more about this?
SG: My preaching is expository. It is not too hard to give a Bible lecture but to apply the truth is more difficult. I am fascinated by the whole question of cultural relevance. How are we to make sure that people are not put off the gospel by the things with which we wrap the gospel round? Too easily, people see the church as a religious club and people reject the club and the gospel with it.
It is my role to preach so we make obscure subjects clear and understandable to a very mixed congregation. An A level student and a retired person may have very different problems on their mind, but the human condition is such that biblical teaching should have something for all those hearing it.
EN: How do you get feedback on how you are succeeding? Does Janet tell you?
SG: Well, she does not hear me very often as she is also teaching, but I am very self-critical and analytical of my own performance, and listen to my tapes from time to time.
EN: How do you relax?
SG: I am not very good at it. I play squash and work out in the gym when I can. I support Manchester United and also enjoy watching cricket, and I relax at home with the children, Bethany aged ten, Cara, eight and Samuel who is five.
EN: Tell us about Spring Harvest and Word Alive.
SG: I am now on the executive committee of both. There is a different emphasis in the weeks but it would be wrong to make too great a distinction. I have heard excellent teaching and preaching at both.
The Word Alive audience are probably used to longer expositions but the worship is more exuberant at Spring Harvest. They are both growing and doing a great job.
EN: What are you going to do next?
SG: Well, I am just about to start at Goldhill in Buckinghamshire. My hope is two-fold. To let Scripture speak for itself and to help people to see how it addresses the contemporary scene. I follow Jim Graham at Chalfont St. Peter, a gracious and godly man. He is going to have a six-month sabbatical and then come back as Director of External Ministry to develop extension studies to help clergy and Bible teachers, which we feel is much needed.
