Why we’re still serving after all these years
Over almost eight decades, Elim churches across the UK have been blessed to welcome stalwart servants Norman and Beryl Polden to their congregation. James Hastings caught up with them…
Every church has them. They are the people who switch the lights on before the service starts and turn them off after lunch in the hall has finished. Whatever job needs to be done, they are the people who step forward.
Elim churches in Bournemouth, Worcester and elsewhere have been blessed to have two such stalwarts carrying out just such a quiet ministry for a combined 130 years.
Beryl Polden and her husband of 57 years, Norman, have worked faithfully promoting the gospel at youth groups, on street missions and, more recently, through Flame Radio on Merseyside which they established in 2000.
Despite approaching their eighth decade (they’re both 79), neither has any intention of slowing down, not least Norman, who lost part of his leg in 2018, or Beryl, who presents a popular Sunday morning programme, Prepared to Worship.
“A true Christian never retires,” explains Beryl. “There is always something you can do. I have difficulty walking and getting out of the house but that doesn’t mean I should just sit back and say I can’t do the Lord’s work any more. There is a task for everyone.” Beryl has been spreading the Word mainly through Elim churches but also wherever she knew God was calling her from a very tender age.
“I gave my life to the Lord when I was just seven years old,” smiles Beryl.
Strong faith
“I remember reading a Stirling annual with a Christian story of children who needed rescuing, a bit like Enid Blyton’s Famous Five. I realised that I needed God to rescue me, even though I was so young. I needed God for every obstacle life may throw at me.
“My mum ran the Sisterhood at Springbourne Elim in Bournemouth, which was a wonderful place. She had a strong faith, which she passed on to me and so many other children.
“Mum became a Christian during the George Jeffreys campaign in Bournemouth in 1926, while Dad followed shortly after. He was a conscientious objector in WWII and then an Elim minister in Petersfield in the late 1940s.” Norman attended a nearby Sunday school in Bournemouth, which Beryl’s parents planted and organised: “My parents told me to go there probably because they thought it would be good for me,” he laughs.
“I didn’t have a strong faith when I was younger. I sort of flowed into Christianity. One Easter, I watched one of those old movies about Jesus and it really made me think. I decided to make a commitment to the Lord and was helped by the wonderful example and teaching at Springbourne Elim in Bournemouth. When I was 15, I was baptised in the church’s terrazzo marble baptistry.”
The couple has shared a lifelong attachment to various Elim churches and groups. Beryl lived in Elim Bible College in Clapham in the early 1960s and was a member of the London Crusader Choir.
The couple served in Springbourne Elim from the late 1960s to the late 1980s under pastors Arthur Gorton, Jack Osman and David Holmes. And two members of the Elim Crusader group they led have gone on to become Elim ministers, Lionel Currie and Malcolm Dyer.
And it was David Holmes who got them involved in ministry at Christmas time.
“He suggested we do something for the ‘old folks’ at Christmas,” Beryl recalls. “We only had a simple church kitchen so somehow we cooked, on borrowed camping stoves, a full turkey dinner with Christmas pudding. While that was being prepared, around 30 elderly people were whisked off in people’s cars on a surprise countryside tour, and after the meal, impromptu entertainment was had.
“The Senior Citizens’ Christmas Dinner went on to become a popular annual event, and a team of happy helpers built up.”
Happily married
Norman and Beryl were in the same primary school class and later in the same Elim Crusader group.
They were married in 1966. When asked for the secret to their long and very happy marriage, Beryl explains: “For a Christian, God must be central to your relationship with your spouse.
“He speaks to each of us and we need to listen. If I get angry or irritated over something, I stop to listen to Jesus. Maybe He’ll tell me to examine myself and ask if I have played a role in an argument. He challenges each of us.
“Sadly, today, many people focus on themselves and their human rights. They take offence so easily and never stop to listen to the Lord if they even allow him into their marriage. They are not keen on give and take, only take. That is how problems begin and fester and then destroy a marriage.”
While Norman worked in the civil service and in telecommunications management and the couple raised two children, they both continued to play active roles in Springbourne Elim church. Whatever task they were asked to do, whatever job needed to be done, they stepped up unassumingly to the role.
“We taught in Sunday school and ran Bible clubs midweek,” adds Norman.
“Some children came from very poor families and rough areas,” says Beryl. “Their parents didn’t have cars, let alone money for the bus, so the church organised a free bus to bring them over. Norman often drove the bus. Those were wonderful times when Jesus touched many, many hearts.”
In 1989, Norman felt God telling him that the couple should up sticks, leave their beloved Bournemouth home and move to Liverpool to work, living on the Wirral. The couple didn’t hesitate. After ten years, the opportunity to move into radio materialised and Christian station Flame Radio was launched in May 2000.
Facing trials
Recently, Norman lost part of his left leg. “In February 2018, I felt a terrible pain in my leg as I was driving my car.
“I was sent to the hospital where doctors discovered a blood clot which led to my leg above the knee being amputated,” he explains. “When I am asked how I feel about this suddenly happening to me, I quote from James 1: ‘Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.’”
Flame Radio is now an integral part of the Christian and secular music scene across Merseyside.
“There is such a diversity of music, people and faiths here that we try to cater for them all. In the early days, Flame broadcast for an hour a week in Chinese as Liverpool has the oldest established Chinese community outside Asia.”
Today, the station puts out a full schedule. “By being so diverse, we can attract listeners who might never think about tuning into a Christian station.”
Beryl’s Sunday morning show features hymns old and new, but mainly old: “I love old hymns because the music is so wonderful and the theology in the words really hits home.
“God speaks to us through these hymns in a special way. People love them and tell me they understand the Gospel by listening to them.” The couple have no plans to slow down, saying the word ‘retire’ is not one they accept as Christians.
“Jesus has been so good to us all our lives, so we couldn’t possibly tell him we’re going to start gardening or watch the TV more,” laughs Beryl.
“We will continue until we die. We’re not afraid of death. During the pandemic, it was all the news spoke about and it drove fear into people. The Christian life has prepared us for death.
“We have witnessed in different ways during our lives, now radio is our means of spreading the gospel and letting people know about the certainty we have in Jesus.
“I love the witness of Corrie ten Boom. She just quietly got on with her ministry, travelling the world and never seeking to promote herself.
“God has done so much for Norman and me. We will never stop doing his work as long as we can breathe.”
For details on Flame Radio and how to listen worldwide, go to www.flameradio.org
This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.
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