Cambridge, in the providence of God, has played a vital part in my life. Born there in 1933 I went to Park Street Church of England - Primary School where I had my first encounter with Christian teaching. From there I went to the Perse Preparatory School for three years, before entering the Upper School on a Foundation Scholarship.

We weren't a church-going family except when we went to stay with my stepfather's parents in Yorkshire. In mid-teens, for a reason I can't account for on the human level, I felt a desire to go to church, and as St Paul's was the only one with which I was familiar it was there I went. I really knew nothing then about the different groupings in the Church of England, but in the Lord's merry He took me to a solidly Protestant Evangelical church. These early visits came to an end, however, again for reasons I can't explain as in my last years at school I would have counted myself a Christian and knew that Jesus had died to save sinners.

When I was called up for National Service in 1952 I took my Bible with me and read it through using the Prayer Book lectionary. For a while I was stationed at Bury St Edmunds, and being able to get home most weekends I began to go to St Paul's again. It was there, on Good Friday 1953 that the significance for me personally of God's great love and the Lord's death at Calvary came home with saving power.

Soon afterwards, though, it was off to Eaton Hall in Cheshire for officer cadet training, and then to Germany as a second lieutenant in the Northamptonshire regiment. I continued my Bible reading, went as often as I could to Sunday services and was frequently roped in to read the lesson, but I lacked the Christian fellowship and instruction, which would have encouraged more spiritual growth. Back in Northampton, though, the regimental depot chaplain asked if I'd ever considered ordination. The reply was negative.

I returned to Cambridge to go up to St Catharine's College in October 1954 to read English and prepare for a career in teaching, but whole-hearted involvement at St Paul's was to change that. First came my confirmation, and preparation for it on a one to one basis with Mark Ruston, honorary curate at St Paul's and just about to begin his long ministry at the Round Church. I became the leader of St Paul's Covenanter group, trained as a counsellor for the Billy Graham relays, and was elected to the PCC. All this, plus the regular Sunday ministry of Kenneth Hooker, Christian Union contacts, other Christian friends, and reading IVF and missionary books, led to an inner sense of call to the ministry and a selection conference confirmation after that. This meant a change from two years of reading English to a year's Theology. Far from shaking my faith, as some feared, it strengthened it still more.

In my last term I met the girl I was to marry. Olive Richardson was a newcomer to Cambridge, working in the local Dr Barnardo's Home from where the staff and girls came to St Paul's every Sunday morning. We were engaged in July 1957 and married the following March - in St Paul's! Nearly 47 years later we are glad we can still share together in the Lord's service. I am also very thankful that both my mother and stepfather made professions of faith in the Lord while I was at University.

On Dick Lucas's recommendation I had applied to Clifton Theological College to prepare for ordination. Hearing Alec Motyer preach in St Paul's made me absolutely certain it was the right place for me. While there I took the Protestant Reformation Society's examination for ordinands and managed to win the scholarship. More important though, the reading of Luther's Bondage of the Will , one of the set books, convinced me, against my initial hostile reaction, that so-called Calvinistic doctrine represented the true teaching of Scripture. The other study book was Marcus Loane's Masters of the English Reformation that gave me a clearer spiritual understanding of the period and the issues for which the martyrs died.

From Clifton it was on to Hereford for ordination in May 1959 and a first curacy. Further moves were to Uphill, Weston-Super-Mare to work on a council estate, then to Reading and the English Churchman, the Kensit Memorial Bible College and baptism at Wattisham Chapel, Sandown High School as Head of RE with fellowship and ministry at Avenue Road Evangelical Church, and finally to Bethesda Baptist Church in Felixstowe. Here I ministered for just over 21 years. During this last period I helped for a while on the editorial board of Evangelical Times, and for 16 years chaired the London Theological Seminary Board. From a convinced Anglican I had become an equally convinced Grace Baptist, still Protestant, still Evangelical, still preaching the same Gospel. Dr Lloyd-Jones's position on Christian unity made a real impact on my thinking.

Our family was blessed with four children in the early years of our marriage. Andrew now leads the work in Immanuel Community Church, Soho where he has lived and worked for 19 years. Paul is a Fire Officer in Ipswich. Both he and Andrew are married, and Andrew has three children. Our daughter, Catharine, is in Mozambique as a VSO, working among a very needy group of people. Rachel, our youngest, suddenly and unexpectedly died in 1993, when she was 26, from anaphylactic shock caused by peanut allergy. It was a time when we experienced the sustaining grace of God in a very special way, and were supported too by the great love of the Lord's people both in Felixstowe and further afield. It has been a great privilege over the years to make Christian friends in so many places who have continued to pray for us.

When I first encountered the Protestant Truth Society in 1965 it never entered my head that I would one day chair its Council. These are vital days for the Gospel in our country and for the Society as well. Please do pray for the Lord's will to be done.

Gordon Murray