The Rev Peter Blake remembers well a drive from Sydney to Wagga Wagga, during which he announced to God that “he would never, never, never, never get me into ministry”.
Yes, he was a Christian. He couldn’t remember a time when Jesus wasn’t his Lord and Saviour. He was just dead set against going into ministry.
Of course, God has a habit of turning our pronouncements on their heads, which is precisely what happened to Mr Blake. He’d been in the Army for nine years, working as a logistics officer and recruit platoon commander. He enjoyed the adventure the Army offered, the pay and the respect.
He’d been convicted early on in his military career by the importance of living for Jesus, thanks to a birthday card from his father, the Rev Michael Blake, while he was training at the Australian Defence Force Academy. The card contained the challenging verses of John 6:66-69:
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God”.
“It really served to help me nail my colours to the mast and live for Jesus,” Mr Blake recalls. And yet, despite his faith, ministry was definitely not an option.
“I was firmly a Christian, but I didn’t read my Bible because I thought that God would convict me – because I know how God works! I deliberately kept myself immature so I wouldn’t go into ministry.
“Then I had a conversation with someone who asked me, ‘Are you in danger of thinking that you’re Christian enough?’ That hit me a bit, because once we start thinking that we’re Christian enough... it’s a sign that we’re not really living a life of repentance and faith – we’re living a life of convenience. And I thought, yes, I am just trying to be Christian enough.”
At the same time, Mr Blake began reading his Bible in earnest. When he got to 1 Corinthians 7:26, he was struck by how the Apostle Paul spoke of a “crisis”.
“A little further down he says that what he means ‘is that the time is short’. And I’d never really thought of people who were non-Christian as being in a crisis before, or in distress. But that’s the way that God sees it, and that’s the way that we should see it.”
Mr Blake then started a doorknocking group at his church and, as they went from suburb to suburb around Wagga Wagga, they asked people: “Who do you think Jesus is?”
“Person after person said, ‘Hopefully he’ll let me into heaven if I’m a good person’... and I thought, “I’m in the Army trying to protect Australia from a crisis, when in reality there’s a much bigger crisis [here] – what’s being done for these people?” he recalls. “That’s when I realised that I needed to go into ministry.”
He describes his ordination for work as an assistant minister in Normanhurst as a “very solemn” event. Exciting, yes, a great privilege and something to rejoice in, but also very serious because the commitments he made before God are of such importance.
“I remember William Taylor said once in a Summer School talk that when people asked him what he did he said, ‘I prepare people for judgement’. And I think that’s the nature of what we do: we are preparing people to meet their Creator,” Mr Blake says.
“We’re encouraging people, rebuking people, teaching people – all those things that Paul talks about in 2 Timothy. We’re doing those things so that God’s people might be found blameless on that last day. We’re doing all that through the Spirit and God’s word, but it’s us that God has selected to work through, and that’s why we need prayer. Because it’s a big deal.”
Pictured: The Rev Peter Blake (right) with fellow ordinand Rev Sum Chim Ho
