I’m Alison Fabé and St. John’s was the church I grew up in.
There is a song by Tasha Cobbs Leonard called 'The church I grew up in' and the last part of the chorus says:
“If you wanna know
Why I am the way I am
It’s the church I grew up in”
I remember bits and pieces from my childhood at church. I was too young for Sunday School but also didn’t want to leave my mom, so I used to be with them for the Sunday morning service sleeping on her lap. When I moved to Sunday School, boy oh boy, was that fun. Each standard “grade” back then had a teacher and every year it was so exciting moving up and progressing and learning more about Jesus and the bible stories.
It was there that I developed my passion and yearning for Deliverance Ministry. I wanted to cast out demons just like Jesus did. I must have been 7 or 8 at the time and that passion followed me all the way through until just before my 50th birthday when God released me into my ministry.
There was a lot of foundation teaching at St. John’s. When I progressed to youth, which was held in the “Committee Room,” that was off the wall. We had church in that room. Praise and Worship and good teachings every Sunday. Sometimes we ran longer than the church service. We loved each other’s company and would meet on a Friday night for youth in the same room in the Selby Taylor Hall.
But youth was not just us, we had many inter-parish get-togethers at the hall. We had fun evenings, like barn dances, stay-awakes, or volleyball. We got to meet and know the parish youth from the other 4 churches (Emmanuel, St Luke’s, Christ Church, and St Philips). There was fellowship and friendship, which were not only limited to Sunday or Friday, church but grew outside of church. I can't forget the camps all over CT but my favourite was Murray’s Farm. Progressive Suppers were also a favourite when Pierre (my brother) was in youth group. We'd drive from house to house and eat different meals that the parents prepared.
Our youth was known as BASIC – Born Again Servants in Christ. When we grew up we renamed ourselves YAG – Young Adults Group. I was also involved with scripture reading and spiritual dancing at the church. We used to re-enact the songs by Carmen with drama and dance or when youth took over the service.
Graham Fenton and Allan Smith were the 2 ministers in charge when I was growing up in the church.
St John’s had an amazing choir, wow, the voices were beautiful, and the back of the church was filled with so many amazing voices.
I loved my time at St John’s and despite leaving to grow in my Christian walk, I always returned home. St John’s is home to me, it will always be my home. It is the church I grew up in and gave me a firm foundation in my relationship with Jesus Christ.
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