An interview with Peter and Valerie Lewis who retired in February having served the Cornerstone Church, Nottingham for 45 years.
en: Briefly tell us about your conversions and how you first met?
Peter: I was a devout Welsh chapel boy with a high view of God but an inadequate view of the gospel. I became a Sunday School teacher at 12 but mine was a typical Welsh Baptist church, having had a liberal ministry for much of the century, and chary of anything resembling ‘born again’ enthusiasm as suspiciously ‘Pentecostal’.
An evangelist based in Bristol came to show a moving film about a young missionary who gave his life for Christ. The theme was the statement of Christ: ‘I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day. Night comes when no one can work.’ He gave a call but while two or three who had travelled for the meeting responded I was too embarrassed to stand. Nevertheless while praying I distinctly felt God say to me: ‘Peter, I have brought you to this family and this village so that you might be here in this place tonight. You must commit yourself to me and to the work of the ministry for the whole of your life.’
At the end of the meeting and after nearly everyone had gone I hung back and asked to speak to the evangelist. He understood. He showed me the nature of the atonement and my need of forgiveness, and he prayed with me. That night, in my bedroom, I knelt and committed myself as a sinner to the one who had died for me. I was 14. My first sermon was preached when I was 15. I preached regularly in the Welsh Valleys. Ever since, I have been an expository preacher who has never ceased to find in the Scriptures the voice of God, the centrality of Christ and the mainspring of my ministry.
Valerie: I grew up in a village just outside of London. No one in my family or locality attended church although my grandfather owned an expensive Bible which grandmother dusted weekly. There were two evangelical Sunday Schools locally. I attended both of these briefly and heard the gospel and the advice to read the Bible daily, which I did.
I went forward at a Billy Graham meeting at Earls Court, but didn’t pursue things. Spending a few months in Switzerland after school the Lord spoke to me unmistakably a couple of times. Returning home and entering art school I joined a small Christian group and wrestled with God’s calling on my life. I finally committed myself to him aged 17.
en: How did you first meet?
Valerie: I first met Peter in the book-room at London Bible College (where else?!). He seemed fairly safe to be friends with as he was going out with someone else. His Welsh accent was strong and, as he intended to minister in England, he was taking elocution lessons at the London College of Music and was advised to sit near people whose English accent he enjoyed and listen. Hence I found myself at breakfast, in my usual half-awake state, sitting by a lively conversationalist who seemed to find me at meal-times rather frequently. Three of my criteria for a future husband were that he be a committed Christian, that he be tall, and that he wouldn’t bore me. He fulfilled all three!
Peter: We got to know one another very well over that year. She thought: ‘Pity he’s so young’. I thought: ‘She’s far too mature and sophisticated to accept a date with me’. I still marvel every single day that God gave her to me as my wife and I have never ceased to give heartfelt and fervent thanks for her.
en: How were you called to Nottingham?
Peter: I had been accepted by the Baptist Union as a ‘pre-probationer’. I was put in contact with a church in a poor area of Nottingham. It had not had a minister for some years. It was small and not really evangelical but our hearts were warmed to those we met. Frankly I’d have gone anywhere just to exercise the ministry that was so strongly in my heart. We came in 1969. One of the principle leaders responsible, John Hopkin, is still with us, now 90. I calculate he has heard about 3,600 of my sermons and he has led the church with unfailing wisdom and grace!
Valerie: If you are married to a man who wants to be a minister his calling is often your calling. A substantial church in South Wales showed serious interest but I had a strange deep sense of foreboding about going there. Peter took that as his guidance and withdrew. The church in Nottingham was the next one. It was quite different, but we both felt at home with the congregation and I particularly liked the large church halls which could be used for all sorts of events.
en: The church has had a great ministry to Chinese students. How did that begin?
Peter: After Chairman Mao Zedong’s death his eventual successor Deng Xiaoping began the ‘process of liberation’. He sent the first scholars (most of them professors and lecturers) to Britain and to Nottingham University. They were encouraged to engage with the culture. A Singaporean woman who came to Cornerstone invited them to an international Christmas party at our home. Gradually they relaxed and began to enjoy the company, food and laughter. A few days later they came to a traditional carol service at church. It was their first encounter with living Christianity. They were ‘blown away’ and all came the next week and for the rest of their time in the UK. Since then at various periods probably several hundred have come in total and many have been baptised. At present we have a Mandarin-speaking International Student worker (English) and a COCM worker (Chinese).
Valerie: A year or two before this (about 1985) a member of the team came to Peter rather nervously saying that they believed God had told them he was going to ask Peter to go East. He would not want to go but he was to go and would know why later. Some time later Peter was asked to join the Theological Commission of the World Evangelical Fellowship. Their conference that year was in Singapore. On his return and at the beginning of the new academic year the first Singaporean students appeared. It was the beginning of a new chapter in our church.
en: The church has grown a lot. What advice do you have on church growth?
Peter: Ray Evans’s book Ready Steady Grow says it all as far as I’m concerned. Read that and you know us. At Cornerstone we have always majored on three things: expository preaching, contemporary worship and a warm and loving community life; running through these we have been blessed beyond measure by the presence and blessing of the God of all encouragement.
en: What has been the greatest challenge to your marriage as a ministry couple?
Peter: Neglecting my wife in the early years. I ploughed on with my books and preaching, single-minded, loving but blinkered, while my wife coped with a young family and poor health. I still feel guilty.
Valerie: One of my early learning experiences in marriage was to find that I had a husband with no idea what to do with DIY tools. It was I who went and bought a basic tool-box (artists are used to handling tools). The same went for gardening tools – the only thing that grew for us were radishes – and we discovered neither of us liked them. Household bills were another challenge for Peter. He was astounded at the amounts and sent them all back to see if they should not be reduced! By the time they came back the next ones had arrived. I decided to pay the bills in future but on a Baptist minister’s salary the bills got paid with a little money and a lot of prayer!
en: What gives you the most satisfaction looking back?
Peter: The growth of the church, the stimulation of new ministries, the ongoing effect of my books and online expository series, the stability, love and devotion of the Cornerstone Church and now my excellent successors here. Thanks be to God!
Valerie: My satisfaction is first found in family. Two super sons who both love and follow the Lord, a beautiful daughter-in-law and two delightful grandchildren. Not forgetting a husband who, to my amazement, improves with the years. We have been blessed with a church which has seen a succession of students, both from this country and abroad, over many years and which is continually being joined by young families.
We have moved from church building to church building and from school to school and finally to a lovely modern purpose-built facility. I have always wanted to mirror the best of today’s architecture and design in Christian buildings to demonstrate to the watching world that today’s church is alive and well and welcoming.
