Dear Editor,
I am a Christian and retired. I imagine a good number of your readers are in the same situation. My wife and I are keen members of our local U3A* organisation (University of the Third Age) – a totally secular national interest/education group.
We have run a group called Christianity Explored for well over five years. When we proposed such a group [to U3A] we were ‘interviewed’ by the then chairman who expressed concern about us ‘pushing our Christian beliefs’ on others. We responded by saying we simply wished to read the Bible with friends and felt the Bible would actually speak for itself. At that the interviewer burst into tears saying she used to believe, having once been a Church of England reader!
The point of this letter is to encourage Christians to start such a group in their local U3As. We have read through John’s Gospel, The Acts and are now beginning Galatians. There have been people who have been offended by what they read in the Bible, but this has been by far overshadowed by the wonderful ways we have seen God at work. One lady whose husband died (both were members of the group) has subsequently been amazingly helped in her grief, and is now ‘a leading light in the group’ with her knowledge of the Bible and personal trust in Christ.
The days of people (even the retired generations) coming into churches are pretty well past and running such groups under the auspices of secular organisations in neutral settings such as our homes/village halls is an effective way forward, in my opinion.
Yours sincerely,
Iain Maitland Sherborne
