Karen Soole is a writer, speaker, and women’s worker at Trinity Church, Lancaster. She is the chair of the Northern Women’s Convention and a trustee of The Proclamation Trust.
1.How did you become a Christian?
I was adopted from Spurgeons Children’s Home by Christian parents. We lived in a nursing home where death was a reality, and I knew for as long as I can remember that this life is not all that matters. I turned to Jesus at a young age, with the usual ups and downs through my teenage years, until I was convicted by a talk on 2 Timothy 4v10: “Demas has deserted me because he loved the world.”
2.What lessons have you learnt since that you would want to pass on to a younger Christian version of yourself?
Growing up in church is not enough – don’t be arrogant, you need strong foundations in the Word. I became caught up in false teaching once I left home, and it nearly destroyed me. The Lord mercifully kept me and rescued me.
3.How would you describe your prayer life?
Both a joy and a struggle. It is wonderful to know we are always with our Lord and can pray at all times. It is encouraging and helpful to pray with others. It is hard to pray on my own for long; I’m still learning to base my prayers more on Scripture.
4.Which two or three Christian books apart from the Bible have most influenced your faith?
So many wonderful books, it is hard to reduce them to three. Douglas Moo’s commentary on Romans was life-changing – I was very muddled about what being dead to sin meant, and his perspective has been foundational for me. Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer helped me understand the nature of Christian unity and fellowship, a small book which still continues to prove invaluable. Finally, my favourite recent book is Prayerfulness by Peter Adam – full of his hard-won wisdom and challenges for my prayer life.
5.Who or what have been your biggest Christian influences?
My husband has taught me since the time we met and has constantly encouraged me in my walk and ministry.
Dick Lucas, now in his 101st year, is a faithful teacher and pastor who helped me read, mark and learn God’s Word. I am so thankful for his ministry; he helped equip me, along with many others, to go out with the gospel.
6.What are the main challenges you believe Christians face today?
The call to radical discipleship and living wholeheartedly for Jesus is essential but we are increasingly risk-averse, insecure and self-absorbed. Back in the 1980s, J.I. Packer wrote a book called Laid-back Religion, criticising a trend towards personal pleasure over devoted service to God. I don’t think we have changed much, except that we live in a culture that prioritises “me” time more than ever, and we seem to be increasingly fragile.
We need to help one another become committed disciples. It is easy to drift, and we have many things to distract us – no age group is immune to the pull of our phones. The culture is invasive in our lives, and we don’t notice that we have absorbed its priorities and values rather than building our foundation on God’s Word and His priorities. We need to heed the rebuke in Hebrews 5v11-14 and make sure we train ourselves with solid food and urge one another on, so we are not hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
7.What encourages and what discourages you?
People! Seeing my church family persevere in suffering, faithfully serving and growing in their love of Jesus is a joy. Someone drifting away or rejecting the gospel is heart-breaking. Both of those things often happen simultaneously. Sometimes the work of the gospel feels very fragile and slow, and I get discouraged when I forget that all gospel growth is God’s work and I can trust Him with it all.
8.What makes you laugh?
My family, my grandchildren and my dog [Oti - see picture].
9.What would you want to say to the wider evangelical world?
Don’t get side-tracked or burdened by theories developed from management models, sociology or psychology. Don’t add to Scripture. Don’t lose confidence in it. Keep the main thing the main thing. Don’t despise the day of small things. Persevere. We need to call people to repent and believe. It is the gospel that is the power for salvation and Scripture that will thoroughly equip us. We have a mighty King; we can be confident in Him! We have an urgent task to raise a new generation of gospel workers who will preach the word in season and out of season, correct, rebuke, and encourage with patience and gentleness. There is much work to be done.
10.Which Biblical person (other than Jesus) do you most look forward to meeting in glory and why?
I‘d never thought about this before, but I think I would feel intimidated by them all! I’d love to be brave enough to say thank you to them for their faithful ministry – especially Peter, Paul and all the apostles – we owe them so much! I would love to hear from the other disciples about what they did after Pentecost, as their stories have not been recorded.
