Helen Laing
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I’m the youngest of four children and was born and brought up in Devon, though I’m quite thankful that I don’t have a Devonian accent. Maybe that’s because both of my parents were from the North of England.
My Mum has gone to church for as long as I can remember and so as children we went to Sunday School at the local Anglican church. At the age of 13 or 14 I was confirmed, though even then I didn’t really understand what it meant to be a Christian. I thought believing in God was enough.
I studied for ‘A’ levels at a sixth form college while I continued to live at home. At that college there was a Christian Union. I remember becoming aware of some of the students who attended the CU, thinking I didn’t want to be identified with them because they just seemed so untrendy or ‘uncool’.
It wasn’t until I went away to Manchester University to study Pharmacy that I met Christians who really challenged me with the gospel by their lifestyles. I was living in a hostel or hall of residence with over 100 other girls. While there I developed deep friendships with two Christian girls, Ruth and Kathryn. It was through their lives that I began to understand what it meant to be a Christian – it was more than simply believing in God.
One night in my room (Decemebr 10th 1982) I realised I had to make a decision. Jesus, and the claims he made are either true or false – there was no middle ground. If they are true then they would radically influence how l lived my life. If they are false then they wouldn’t make any difference. However, in my heart of hearts I knew they were true and there was no way I could deny that truth. I got down on my knees and asked God for his forgiveness and that he would help me to live for him. I remember feeling overwhelmed by joy.
God’s calling to work overseas
It was at the end of my time at University, before I started working as a pharmacist at Guy’s Hospital in London that I went on a short-term mission exposure trip to Morocco with a mission organisation called ‘World Horizons’. The month proved to be a time of testing experiences, but also tremendous spiritual growth. It was on that trip that I really felt God was calling me to live and work overseas.
When I returned to the UK and moved to London to start my new job I wondered if I’d got caught up in the emotion of going on such an expedition and began to question if this really was God’s purpose for me.
Passage to India
In 1990 I went to India for a year to work as a pharmacist in a Christian Medical College and Hospital in Ludhiana, Punjab. This was a time during which God confirmed his calling to me to work overseas and so, on my return to the UK, I studied at a Bible College for two years where I met Mark and, as they say, the rest is history! As I’m sure many of you know, Mark and his family have had a long association with Larbert Baptist Church.
Mark and I joined Interserve in 1996. Interserve is an evangelical, international, interdenominational mission organisation. Mark was interested in working in the Middle East. For me, my heart was very much in India. Having spent time praying and looking at opportunities it really did seem that India was the right place for us to go.
We spent a year studying hindi, the national language of India, in Mussoorie in the foothills of the Himalayas, Uttar Pradesh, before moving to the Christian Medical College and Hospital in Ludhiana, Punjab where I’d been before. Mark worked as dentist and I as a pharmacist. We were there for two years and during our time there became very involved in student ministry – discipling and teaching medical and dental students and felt that God was leading us away from medical ministry into a Bible teaching ministry.
After spending some time in London where Mark did some further studies in theology we went to the Union Biblical Seminary in Pune, Maharashtra in 2001. UBS is an interdenominational and evangelical bible seminary. Students come from the four corners of India to study here. A minority of students come from other countries, especially neighbouring Nepal.
Mark teaches missions to students studying for a masters in divinity and I teach part-time on a course for the wives of the students. The majority of the students who come to study at UBS are male and mature. Quite a number are married and bring their wives and children with them. Because the wives are busy taking care of their families, they simply don’t have the time to study on a full-time course. In addition, many don’t have the educational background to admit them on to a degree course. The course for the wives is part-time, informal and gives the women opportunity to receive some training in preparation for future ministry. Mark and I are also both pursuing further studies.
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