Our Calling
Thomas Godden might’ve been the first member of NBC to serve overseas as a missionary, but he certainly wasn’t the last.
When it comes to serving Jesus, one of the great challenges is being willing to listen without bringing our own agendas. Often that has led our members to going to serve in unfamiliar places, or giving up possessions and wealth in order to facilitate the growth of the church and God’s Kingdom in Newbury. Some of these stories are charted on our story board.
Many of our current members will remember Marguerite Rule, with some going to serve with her on short-term mission trips to Kolkata. More recently we have supported members going to countries in Asia and the Middle East, where political sensitivities require them to use different names in their correspondence with the church.
Below is a short story of two other members who felt the call to a deeply dangerous place during a deeply troubled time. As you reflect upon the way God calls his followers, why not prayerfully ask what or where he is calling you today?
An African Adventure
In September 1944, the church commissioned two of its members, Walter and Bertha Fulbrook, to serve with BMS in Congo.
Walter had grown up attending Ashmore Green Chapel and had recently been ordained following ministerial training at Spurgeon’s College. Bertha had prepared at Carey Hall Missionary Training College for Women in Birmingham.
Their calling to a remote part of Africa as war raged across the world was a considerable step of faith. In the late 1800s Congo had earned the nickname ‘the shortcut to heaven’ owing to it having the highest death rate among missionaries. The faith and courage of the Fulbrook’s was recognised during their valedictory service, when the minister Rev Arthur Stanton, delivered a moving tribute:
“Our friends have given themselves in complete surrender and love-loyalty to the very last command… I know why they are going - because they have definitely been called, because not to go would be disobedience to a heavenly vision. They are going because they hold and are held by the Gospel, because they know Africa will remain darkest Africa without it.
“You go in a world at war, with a message of peace in the thick darkness of the present time, as ambassadors of the Light of the World…With all our hearts we say and pray - may God go with you.”
They would go on to pioneer work in a remote village, accessed only via river. They planted citrus trees and developed a poultry farm to provide a steady supply of food to relieve some of the serious hunger problems locally.
After their time in Congo, the Fulbrook’s were called to serve the Baptist church in St. Austell, Cornwall, before later working for the United Society for Christian Literature.