1. How did you become a Christian?
I was blessed to grow up in a Christian family, attending an Open Brethren assembly in Banbury during my childhood. When I was eight, I went to a Christian boarding school in Bath for ten years. I was known as a Christian at school, but had no real relationship with Christ as my Lord and Saviour and rarely wanted to read the Bible on my own.
While I was taking my O-levels my parents moved to a newly formed church where each of the three elders had previously attended Westminster Chapel, when Dr Lloyd-Jones was minister. That summer in 1985 I heard preaching as never before. For the first time, aged 16, I began to see Christ in all the Scriptures, the Bible as one consistent living book which spoke directly to me, and realised that I was a sinner.
I was regularly playing cricket on Sundays and would put cricket ahead of everything else. It was my idol. I was awakened to feel my need of Christ and came under deep conviction of sin, through the Fourth Commandment. I had used the Lord’s Day for my pleasure and not for my Creator’s glory. Soon my whole outlook and priorities changed. I came to know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour, wanted to read the Bible and to be hearing the preaching of God’s word and to be with other Christians. The world had lost its appeal.
2. What lessons have you learnt since that you would want to pass on to a younger Christian version of yourself?
In my university years especially, I sometimes tried to live two lives. As a result, I was unhappy in both. I had to learn some hard lessons. To realise that as believers we are called to be ‘in the world but not of it’. We must draw clear lines and establish strong disciplines to protect ourselves from the influences of the world, the flesh, and the devil – he is a roaring lion, seeking to devour whom he may. Young believers are a favourite target. I needed to be often in the word and build a life of prayer and reading.
3. How would you describe your prayer life?
Prayer has always been a struggle. The temperature of our Christian lives are best assessed by what we are upon our knees and in the secret place. Prayer is the greatest battle in life, where we will face most temptations. I have slowly learned that prayer is the source of power and lasting blessing. We must draw near to God hourly. He promises to draw near to us. I have learnt that prayer is not just the set pieces of daily devotions but should be like breathing. It must be natural and habitual. Spurgeon built a habit of starting and ending every significant activity with prayer. Vernon Higham spoke of never leaving our pillows or resting on our pillow without starting and ending our day in prayer. I seek to do this every day.
4. Which two or three books apart from the Bible have most influenced your Christian faith?
A.W. Pink’s The Sovereignty of God reshaped my thinking and theology away from a man-centred, Arminian view of salvation which I heard as a child. I read it just after attending a Billy Graham mission in the late 1980s, having seen first hand the ‘decisions’ made by friends which did not result in changed lives. John Bunyan’s The Holy War has increasingly been of help as I have grown in faith. Its analogies and illustrations are so real. I have also benefitted from J.C. Ryles’ expository thoughts on the Gospels and recommend these to every new believer or seeker.
5. Who or what have been your biggest Christian influences?
My mother was a quiet but major influence. She was not brought up in a Christian home. Her father was an alcoholic and lived on a canal barge. He died while she was young. Encouraged by a Christian schoolteacher she took herself to Sunday School aged 14 and soon came to faith. She became a godly woman, being willing to serve the Lord quietly and humbly, and was a help to many. She died in her 50s of cancer, yet many who knew her still speak of her thoughtfulness and grace.
Given where I have worshipped and lived (in central London and Bedford) the larger part of my Christian life has been ‘bookended’ by both C.H. Spurgeon and John Bunyan. They now take up a large section of my bookshelves! I have also been greatly helped by many ministers, some in my wife’s family.
6. What are the main challenges you believe Christians face today?
The distinction between the Christian life and the world has become so blurred. Many teach that there is only one kingdom, not two distinct and separate kingdoms (God’s kingdom of light and truth vs. Satan’s kingdom of darkness and deceit). A Christian is one who is called out from the world, set apart by God and for God, to be separate and made holy for Him. We are to ‘love not the world, nor the things of the world’ e.g. its fashions, tastes, music, pastimes and pleasures.
The rapid development of new technologies presents massive challenges, but also opportunities. We are needing to learn how to use this technology helpfully, rather than letting it and the algorithms run us and have the ‘mastery over us’. Many have been slow to realise the mood changing, dopamine releasing and mental health depleting characteristics. In this context, I have come to see that evangelistic Sunday Schools are a major attacking weapon for the gospel.
7. What encourages and discourages you?
I go into the prison in Bedford most Tuesday mornings, with one of my deacons. We are so encouraged when we see men with such broken lives, listening attentively to the word of God as it is explained to them simply. They need hope and a fresh start. The gospel of Jesus Christ is their only genuine hope.
As a pastor, one of the hard aspects of ministry is to preach the word of God faithfully and then to depend on the Lord for souls to be saved. He knows when and how to bring fruit in a way which will glorify Him. In so doing, He humbles us to be in utter dependence on Him. He often puts many links in the chain leading to salvation.
8. What makes you laugh?
I look back and laugh within my heart at the many remarkable providences of God. How doors and opportunities have opened up which I never planned or dreamed could happen. We started the Jude Conference in lockdown, and people watched from over 60 countries. Who would have thought that a young Indian believer who joined our church just a year ago, would recently be employed as a Prison Officer in the prison we take Bible studies in, and is now able to encourage men to come to the Bible Studies we conduct.
My family also know how to make me laugh. They know how to highlight how I pronounce Bible words wrongly, as well as the many deficiencies and eccentricities of my life. I have learned to laugh with them!
9. What would you say to the wider evangelical world?
We live in dark and perplexing times. Yet as Solomon teaches us in Proverbs, it is wrong to look back to previous eras and wish we lived then. The Lord has put us where we are, for ‘such a time as this’. Genesis 6 tells us of a time when ‘the thoughts and imaginations of men were only evil continually’. That was a very bad time.
The fragmentation of media and many technological innovations mean that we can reach almost anyone in the world without leaving this island. We have so many advantages today, and whilst it is spiritually dark in this country, it is not so universally. China and Iran and many other countries have rapidly growing churches. In the darkest of times, the light and pure authority of the gospel shines out and will be heard most loudly. The worst of times are the best of times for the gospel.
10. Which Biblical person (other than Jesus) do you most look forward to meeting in glory and why?
I love Nehemiah and the account of returning to Jerusalem, restoring Divine worship and rebuilding the broken-down walls. Like many of those chosen to do a mighty work, just when it is needed, He was plucked by God from relative obscurity, while in Babylon as an exile. Though he was the secular leader and Ezra the spiritual leader, as a man of God his project management and leadership skills stand out. They were applied to the work of God. They built on his love for the Lord and His word. He also took the initiative, standing firm when mocked and attacked. As a pastor, I can draw so many lessons from his life.
Oliver Wyncoll is pastor of Providence Baptist Chapel, Bedford
