John Barr - Vicar

My journey of faith has been a mixture of ‘Emmaus Road’ and ‘Damascus Road’ type experiences. On the one hand, there has been a gradual dawning of the light of Jesus Christ. On the other hand, there have also been some key moments of breakthrough in faith, and a response of commitment to Jesus Christ.

Christian faith for me has been formed in the Anglican tradition. Baptised as an infant in the Church of Ireland, my faith was initially nurtured through family and Sunday School. However during my teenage years I experienced a wilderness period of doubt and questioning, when I thought that Christianity was something for bigots and hypocrites.

It was while a university student in England, that I was encouraged to look beyond the Church, and to encounter Jesus Christ afresh. The death of my grandfather, who was a committed Christian, proved to be an important catalyst in getting me to think about life’s ultimate questions. While visits made to the university by people such as Billy Graham and David Watson certainly helped to ‘scratch where I itched’, it was the company of Christian friends, and the witness of their lives, that eventually helped me to make a fresh commitment to Jesus, the One who says “I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full” (John chapter 10, verse 10).

Since that time over twenty years ago, I have travelled some distance, both physically and spiritually. The journey has had its ups and downs, and being a Vicar certainly doesn’t make me immune from times of doubt and despair. Indeed, when I look at the Church as it is, and compare it with what Christ calls it to be, I still sense that frustration I had in my teenage years!

Nevertheless, although I am not an optimist, I remain hopeful, both for the Church (including myself), and for the World. This hope is not founded on human merit or technological progress, but on the sheer grace and mercy of God shown to us in Jesus Christ. Through Jesus, I have come to see the ‘Big Picture’ of God’s Kingdom, that wonderful vision of a New Creation in Christ. And God’s Spirit, dwelling within, encourages me to play my part in living and working for the fulfilment of that glorious vision. Of course, that is sometimes easier said than done!

For me, faith isn’t a finished product you receive when you sign on a dotted line. Rather, faith is an invitation by the One, who knows me and loves me through and through, to allow myself to be shaped into the John Barr that I can become in Jesus Christ. I also hope that my life points others to Jesus. I am certainly grateful to God for the privilege of walking with others on the journey of faith, and of encouraging the Church to live up to its calling as God’s dearly beloved people.

May God bless you in your own life and journey.

John Barr