Born in Great Malvern, Worcestershire, England, John Belham has a scientific background, but for most of his life has had the privilege of serving with some very wonderful people, first in suburban ministry, then as Rector of a group of country parishes, and more recently assisting with city ministry. Married with four grown-up children, he delights in the Lord God – his word, his people and his creation.
His spiritual journey
A Praying Teacher, a Crystal Diode and Winter Wheat
A twelve year old lad, headphones on, oblivious to the world, sprawled out at the top of the stairs, right in the way – fiddling with a very simple radio receiver; a crystal set. Will it work? Only if he can get the little wire to touch on the crystal at such a point that it makes a one way electrical gateway; a diode. He tried this way and that, between times adjusting the tuning condenser to search for the different radio stations. Nothing. Then, suddenly, he hit the spot. The little wire, known as the cat’s whisker, was now making contact with a ‘sweet spot’ and the whole device sprang to life.
A live broadcast filled my headphones and ears. Was it music? Was it the news, the weather or a discussion? No, it was none of these. It was a preacher preaching!
Was it the preaching or the fact that the little, home-built radio set worked? I don’t know. But I listened right to the end and, when it finished, determined that I wanted to hear more. The preacher’s talks were being relayed by telephone line to a local church, and I asked my Dad to take me to hear him. No razzmatazz, no great build up, nothing visual, just a song and a talk. But through it the Lord God spoke as clearly as any voice, ‘John, it is you I want.’ I nudged my Dad but he was quite unmoved and, in talking with the minister of the church we attended as a family, he was assured, ‘Don’t worry, of course he’ll soon get over it.’ I would have done, but for Miss Gibbs, a teacher at school who taught both English and what was known in those far off days as ‘Scripture’. With hindsight, that lady plainly not only taught her youngsters but coveted them for the Lord and prayed for them. It was Miss Gibbs who recognised that the Lord God had begun a work in my life and patiently encouraged me to begin to read the Bible.
The little seed of faith began to grow, springing up like wheat sown in the mild autumn weather. However, as a family, we moved away very soon after that and the next ten years proved to be a very severe spiritual winter, with little or no Christian fellowship or encouragement. Spiritual life withered away, like the wheat in winter; yellowed and to all appearances dead and finished. Until, that is, a spiritual springtime in my twenties saw faith rekindled and the winter-sown wheat vigorously sprouting.
It was the second, tiny ‘chance happening’ under the hand of God. David, a friend in the local actors’ club, offered me a lift.
He was going to a church in ‘West Ken’, which I took to be a few miles down the road in Kent. It wasn’t, it was in Kensington – yet here was the vital Christianity I hadn’t encountered since a young schoolboy.
After a while, I was even willing to heed a long-known, nagging suspicion that the Lord God would have me ‘turn my collar round’ – to become a Christian minister. It culminated in a prayer that you won’t find in any prayer book, ‘O.K. Lord, you win.’ My employer’s reaction astonished me, ‘But of course,’ as did my landlady’s, ‘Yes, it is about time you stopped messing about.’
I have had the privilege of marrying, bringing up a family and working for many years among some wonderful people in both city and rural ministry. Day by day I remain thrilled and amazed by the gracious dealing, mercy and love of the Lord God, and just so grateful for his kindness, mercy and patience with such a difficult and wayward son. Yet an adopted son I find myself to be, and one rescued and redeemed by the precious cross of his Son. In the apostle Paul’s words, I gladly confess, ‘I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.’ ‘Of course, he’ll soon get over it.’ But, by the grace of the Lord God, I haven’t yet, and that was said over sixty years ago!
As you can see, it is the story of God’s gracious dealing with a rebellious and unwilling child and could well be summed up as it began – ‘saved by a cat’s whisker’.
In this setting of great thankfulness to my heavenly Father, the phrases of the Lord’s Prayer became such a precious spur to worship and guide and compass for life; that I had to scribble a little book on it to share its jewels with others.
Other publications
Exploring and Applying the Lord’s Prayer
A Prayer to Change the World
Given understanding and a willingness to take it to heart, the Lord’s Prayer will not only teach us to pray, it will revolutionise the way we think and the way we live. It is so much more than a gentle murmur. It is a prayer to change the world – beginning with those who pray it.
This is a book highlighting the practical out-working of this greatest of prayers. Chapter by chapter you are invited to explore and apply each phrase, as if you were exploring the rooms of a great mansion. There are questions for personal reflection or discussion.
It is as if you are personally invited to spend time as an honoured guest in a great house. You have complete freedom to enjoy the magnificence of the splendid rooms, but also have freedom to visit the more practical rooms – the kitchens, store rooms, even the bathrooms and security rooms. You are free to meet with members of the household, to admire the furnishings, to pause at the windows and enjoy both the lovely gardens and the fine sweeping views across the estate.
Such, and infinitely greater, is the wonderful invitation given to every disciple within the lines of the Lord’s Prayer. Rather than a prayer to be repeated, it is more like a magnificent house to explore.
‘Packed with a very great deal of Christian devotion and Biblical teaching . . . with a pastoral touch throughout.’
Richard Bewes, a former Rector of All Souls Church, Langham Place, London
ISBN 978-0-9537489-4-5
Exploring and Applying the Parables
The Parables of Jesus found only in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark
This book continues the series begun in Exploring and Applying the Parables of Jesus found in the Gospel of Luke. The aim is to explore each parable in its original setting and then apply its teaching to our current situation in the world today. Like the earlier volume, the book is not intended to be an academic text, but a book for group or personal consideration. Each parable is followed by questions for personal reflection or group discussion.
ISBN 978-0-9537489-5-2
A Collection of New Testament Essays
For the encouragement of those with ‘ears to hear’
These essays were originally given as talks and the author had no intention of submitting them for publication but, after strong encouragement to do so, here they are offered in print.
This collection of New Testament Essays is not intended to be an academic textbook, but rather as the title suggests, a little book of nourishment for today’s hungry Christians.
The essays are arranged in New Testament order, and each essay stands alone and is followed by questions for personal reflection or discussion.
It is offered with the prayer that the Lord God would use it for his glory and the encouragement of his people.
The contents include essays on, Matthew, the woman of Samaria, Zacchaeus, Pilate, aspects of the cross, Thomas and the resurrection, Pentecost, Paul in Athens and in Corinth, the Christian church in great danger, the challenge to keep ‘looking to Jesus’, and the circumstances of our Lord’s promised return.
‘These essays bring to life, in a vivid way, the landscape in which they take place. The accounts are clearly laid out, with the historical contexts explained . . .’ H.R.K.
ISBN 976=0=9537489-7-6
Postscript
The very last word . . . a funeral plan!
Outrageous! Preposterous! Completely out of place!
But you must make your own judgement . . .
A few words recorded in June 2016
I do apologise for breaking every convention with regard to appropriateness, decency and order, but I did want to take this, my absolute last chance, to have a word.
First, to thank you for being here to support one another. While able, I never ceased to thank the Lord God and pray for the wonderful set of family and friends with which he has surrounded me.
Don’t weep for me, for I really do believe in ‘the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting’ and long that each one of you might, do so also.
Like all of us I am only dust and, quite literally, within a very few weeks, to dust I shall return.
Yet, in life, this was dust that the Lord God had bothered with; dust on which he had set his love. Mere dust, and yet, by the kindness and mercy and patience of the Sovereign Creator God, I find myself to be like the Christian believers the apostle Paul describes in the first chapter of his letter to the Ephesians. Mere dust, and yet, ‘chosen before the foundation of the world’. Mere dust, and yet ‘adopted’ and made a child, a son, of the living God. Mere dust, and yet ‘redeemed’ by the precious cross, the blood of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Mere dust, and yet called to live, and even to die, ‘to the praise of his glory’. And, finally dust, ‘destined’ to an ‘inheritance’ with him in glory.
I do believe in the forgiveness of sins; God’s amnesty for those who have been living in his world as if there were no God. A way of forgiveness provided for those who turn to the Living God and cry to him for mercy; a forgiveness offered to us at the cost of the cross of the Lord Jesus. I do believe in the forgiveness of sins and the resurrection of the body; the resurrection of the whole person – though this body returns, as it must, to the dust. And I do believe in the life everlasting – life in fellowship with the Lord God and his Son the Lord Jesus that not even death can snatch away. To be ‘with the Lord’.
I believe – may I ask, do you?
The charge against King Belshazzar, on the night before he was swept away, was simply this, ‘The God in whose hand is your breath and all your ways, you have not honoured.’ Isn’t that terrifying charge a charge that could stand against each one of us?
But God’s amnesty, the Gospel invitation to forgiveness and peace with God, is wide open. Whoever will may come and drink of this water freely. God so loved the world (you as well as me) that he gave his only Son that whoever believes on him will not perish but have everlasting life.
May I beg you to be reconciled with Almighty God. As I have been able, may you sing with Paul, the apostle, ‘the life I now live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me’.
May we part with words from the memorial of the Squire of Gressenhall ringing in our ears:
‘God be merciful to me a sinner.’
‘Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me.”’
‘I know in whom I have believed.’