As I wondered what to call this piece, two ideas popped into my mind. One was the haunting KJV version of Acts 27.27, where we read that before the shipwreck ‘we were driven up and down in Adria [the Adriatic]’. The other was the equally haunting title from old Etonian, social critic, master satirist and beautiful writer George Orwell: Down and Out in Paris and London. Suddenly my own title was fully formed in my mind.
So, now, my story
My wife and I moved to Canada in 1979. Principal James Houston had recruited me to teach theology at Regent College, which I still do. God’s call was clear. Our only uncertainty was where we might find a spiritual home. New Westminster Diocese, of which Vancouver is the see city, was decidedly liberal, and its few evangelical clergy seemed to be keeping their heads down. But in 1978 my oldest friend among Canadian clergy, Harry Robinson, became rector of St. John’s Shaughnessy, nearby where God gave us a place to live. So that problem was solved. Called as I am to be a pastor, alongside my teaching duties, I became Harry’s honorary assistant. (For the record, I am now the longest serving clergyman in the St. John’s team.)
At St. John’s in 1979, a few evangelicals were scattered through the Sunday attendance of some 120. But the congregation as a whole started from cold on the Bible, the gospel, and spiritual church fellowship. At the zenith of Harry’s ministry, however, Sunday numbers were not much under a 1,000, partly due to a fantastically successful evening youth service, but mainly by reason of Harry’s preaching of the biblical gospel and his skill in leading individuals to Jesus Christ the Lord. St. John’s was then, as it is now, the largest Anglican congregation in Canada.
