Earl Soham Baptist Church - who are we?
Lydia Gibbons
If we had woodworm in our building—which thankfully we don’t much—then the Gibbons family would be as much part of the furniture as the diminutive anobium punctatum! Lydia is the youngest of the Framlingham family and a life-long attender.
Lydia can’t remember when exactly she became a Christian, but reading the Philip Pullman Spyglass trilogy at around 15 prompted some deep questions, principally “is all this true?” She concluded it was, but it was a gradual process to take it on board for herself. Now, however, she is involved with the Soul Group (young people’s group who meet on Sunday evenings) and Youth Workshops (our name for Sunday School). Before Christmas she helped them distribute hot chocolate on Friday evenings to young people in Framlingham, which we gather was much appreciated. She also helps her mother Prue with fund-raising events for the church and with “Prue’s Place” at the Greenbelt Festival, where Lydia has been nearly every year. With the Soul Group she has also been to “Soul Survivor” a couple of times.
After A Levels at Thomas Mills school she spent eight months in Australia, where she went to the vastly larger Hillsong church. They do a lot of community work and she joined in with a conference for 4,000 women. In contrast, she went to a church in Tonga with a congregation of only 20 people, all in Tongan and with some great singing! Now she has started an Art Foundation Course at Suffolk College and hopes to go on to a degree in Fine Art. Then… ? Only God knows.
Of the church she says, “I was brought up there and know all the people. It’s like a family, and I’m committed to it.” In particular she likes the informality, the “creative loons” (whatever they are!) and the fact that there’s always a challenge: “People don’t just accept everything, they have lots of questions and want to understand things better.”
Are you a “creative loon”? Or looking for a challenge? Or really quite normal? Whichever you are, you’re always welcome at our services at 10.30am.