Chris Newsam

Lives in Skelmersdale, attends Southport Meeting, age 51, works for Asylum Link Merseyside.

My spiritual journey is unusual, but not unique. I was born into the Church of England and confirmed into that faith at the age of sixteen. At the end of the 1960's I became, like many, deeply perplexed and disturbed at the state of the world and anxious about the then seeming likely destruction of humankind by nuclear warfare. At that stage in my life I needed certainty and clearly defined answers, and yes, 'truth'. I came into contact with Jehovah's Witnesses who offered clear and precise answers to my questions and an explanation as to what accounted for world disorder and wickedness.

Thirty years later, married with six children, and having served as an elder with Jehovah's Witnesses for sixteen years my ideas about God, the Bible - and life itself, were undergoing radical change. I needed space to explore and experiment and to learn to trust my own 'inner voice'. I needed freedom from creed and doctrine and a community of fellow travellers who didn't want to impose their ideas on me or to seek to change my lifestyle, but who would be there to provide loving support, when I needed it. That's why in nutshell I'm now a Quaker.

Quaker Meetings for Worship offer me a weekly space, a quiet time to reflect and worship, beautifully simple, unfettered and uncluttered. My faith now isn't based on some notion of certainty but on the daily experience of the divine within and, occasionally brief glimpses of an external presence beyond myself and in creation. From my time spent in silence in Meeting for Worship I have been prompted to become involved in assisting asylum seekers in Liverpool and this has led directly to the formation of Asylum Link Merseyside, which is now a registered charity. Something has touched my life which has drawn me into this work and concern and which seems to be drawn from a common stream of experience and compassion running through the Quaker movement since its beginning 350 years ago. To me Quaker worship follows the direct line of mystic religions down through the millennia and is where I feel at home.