Andrew and Lynne Spencer Exposed! Part 3

In the last issue of NDC News, the lovely Andrew and Lynne
Spencer told us how they became romantically involved, got married and began to
pastor a thriving pentecostal church. Now find out some of the challenges and
obstacles they encountered in the early days and how they overcame them!

Rejection, Persecution and Hardship!

Lynne – As if I hadn’t jumped over enough hurdles, Andrew’s family and the entire church at Bedford disapproved of our engagement. I couldn’t understand why as I was a born again
Christian now and they were supposed to love me. People said that I wasn’t good
enough for Andrew. Many called me a witch and a wayward woman (as I’d had two
kids out of wedlock).

We almost didn’t make it; through pressure Andrew
finished with me. I prayed straight away and God said that Andrew would honour
me. Astonishingly, Andrew called the next day and we reunited. There was also
friction with some members of the original congregation who didn’t approve of
me snatching Andrew away from the more eligible spinsters in the church and who
questioned my competence generally. Despite the intense, often malicious,
opposition, we got married eventually.

I wish I could say that we rode off into the sunset and lived happily ever after,
but the reality was that we had very little money in those days (for some people
this may be hard to believe seeing how mightily God has prospered us
financially). We really had to live by faith in those hard times. In fact
during our courtship, Andrew would ring me from a payphone and even after his
money had run out the telephone line miraculously remained active. He received
a job offer on our wedding day and we were ecstatic although the pay was a
meagre £5,000 per annum.

On 3 or 4 different occasions, we didn’t have food to
eat and after crying out to God for mercy, placed a pot of water to boil on the
stove by faith. Soon after the water began to boil, people would knock on the
door bearing bags of groceries. Things were so tight that I used to walk an
hour to work and another hour back as we couldn’t afford to pay for public
transport.

Call to Ministry:

Andrew – Mine wasn’t a typical
‘call to ministry’ – I simply saw a need for a preacher in the neighbouring
town of Northampton and told our Bishop at Bedford that I was willing and
available. So with the Bishop’s permission I started to go over to Northampton
and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ there.

Our original congregation
comprised of 5 old ladies and an old gent! For 2 whole years there was no
growth and then suddenly people began to come round from the Bedford church (Simon
and Alison Shefford for instance) because the Northampton meetings were more
convenient for them. We moved into a school hall at Trinity Middle School and
soon after there was a growth explosion.

Dissension and Division!

Andrew – After about 6 or 7
years, the congregation we nurtured split into different groups due to
differences in opinion. For instance, some members of the original group felt
that all church members should be subject to a more formal dress code during
meetings whereas others felt that the state of one’s heart was more important
to God. In the late 90s we moved from Trinity Middle School to the Guide Hall
on St Katherine’s Street. We are now based at Vernon Terrace Community Centre.

I have experienced many challenges both in my personal life and in the course of
Christian ministry but God has been my source of strength. The most challenging
experience so far was having trusted brethren betray me during the church
split. However, God has also blessed me with a genuinely loving and caring congregation.