It all began on a flickering screen

Colin Sinclair

Little did I realise how much my life was going to change when, aged ten, I sat watching flickering images of a Scripture Union camp and went home to persuade my parents that I should go. The activities looked so attractive that I was sure I could put up with ‘the religious bits’! In the event there was a seamless connection between what was shared at the meetings and the activities during the rest of the day. The singing was enjoyed, the talks were gripping and relevant, yet the voices didn’t change! The same people who cared for and involved me throughout the day now told the story that provided the key to their lives. I found myself wondering what it was that united this collection of students, teachers and others who led the camp. Their only common characteristic was that they took Jesus and the Bible seriously.

I can still remember, almost 40 years later, the first time I heard the story of the cross. It made such a deep impact on me. However, all too soon, camp came to an end, and so did my encounter with the Christian faith. Until the next one and the one after, for I was hooked. It was while I was with SU for the third time that, slightly self-consciously, I asked Christ to be my Friend and Saviour. Although I repeated that invitation throughout the next few years every time I was at camp, he was faithful to that prayer. ‘Crusaders’ eventually helped build in some level of consistency, but camp remained the key. I think that as well as hearing the faith clearly, simply and systematically explained and applied, there was a holistic nature to the message that I only appreciated in retrospect. I sensed the importance of Christian community. There was continuity between the faith of the meetings and the work in the kitchen, and the activities on the mountains, rivers and sports fields. All life could be enjoyed, for God gave all. Conversely, if Jesus was Lord, he was in charge of every area of life not just ‘church time’.

In fact church came relatively late on in my agenda. We had been encouraged to go but my forays had proved fairly unfruitful. Indeed I thought, for a while, that church-going was part of the ‘cost’ of being a Christian! After school, the University Christian Union took my faith forward and helped me grow up. Leadership responsibilities during term balanced time playing rugby (and some studying!). Church now became important and enjoyable, and holidays spent leading at SU camp set the pattern to this day. I was studying economics and it came as a surprise (not a particularly pleasant one) when I began to wonder whether God was calling me into the ministry. I remember asking my minister after struggling with this issue. He told me to ask him again a year later! I did, and he told me he didn’t need to tell me now because I already knew, and he was right: I did. I was accepted for the Church of Scotland ministry but, before beginning my studies, SU invited me to work in Zambia. I went for three life-changing years that shaped my future ministry. Living in a car, travelling the country, I had time to find out how much my faith was mine, what parts were cultural and what authentic, and to discover the kind of minister I was going to be. I also saw how much the Bible could transform lives and longed to help people discover what others had help me to — the ‘Oh, I see’ moments.

The years that have followed — as minister in Ayr, as General Director of SU Scotland, and now in a church in Edinburgh and Chairman of the Spring Harvest executive — have been the outworking of these formative years. Supported throughout by my parents, and strengthened by my wife of 21 years, Ruth, and our four children, I am so glad that I went to that SU camp promotion so many years ago. Weekly as I teach the Bible, whether in church or conferences, its relevance and power never fail to thrill me. I could never have envisaged how enriching following Christ was going to be. It is a rich privilege to meet wonderful but ordinary people worldwide who seek to follow and serve him where they are placed.

© Scripture Union