Finally on 23rd June 2013, Alex Inglis, at the age of 80, put on Christ in the waters of baptism exactly 30 years, 6 months, and 2 days after his daughter Julie. Amen.
Mike Desouza, a brother from London, sent this encouraging story to ICOC HotNews.
London, England: Father and Daughter United in Christ after 30 years
Tat01 • June 29, 2013
30 years is a long time to wait for our families to turn to Jesus. Sometimes, when we look back over all the years of waiting, we can see the evidence of God's work from beginning to end. ICOC HotNews is proud to share this encouraging story of a sister in London who finally saw her father turn to Christ.
In 1983 Julie Inglis graduated from Birmingham University with a degree in Music. As a young 21 year old she moved to London to study for her Master's Degree at City University. While in school some disciples from the London International Church of Christ met Julie and studied the Bible with her. On December 21, 1983, she put on Christ in the waters of baptism.
Julie’s parents, Alex and Molly became concerned for Julie when they found out that she joined a bold, vigorous, religious group they never heard about. They became even more worried when Julie decided to leave her career as a primary (elementary) schoolteacher in order to work full-time in church ministry. In August 1989, she married Mike Desouza, one of the brothers in the church, who also considered working in the full-time ministry over continuing his path as a doctor. As Julie’s parents watched their daughter give her life to Christ, they refused to do the same. They even requested that she not invite them to church anymore.
In 2000, Julie’s mother developed Alzheimer's disease. Alex cared for Molly on his own for the next 10 years as her health continued to deteriorate until her eventual passing in 2009. Now Alex's health had also begun to decline. Finally in 2012, after a triple heart by-pass and hip replacement surgery, Alex eventually agreed to move in with Mike and Julie. He gets to see life in the Desouza home from an insider's perspective.
In 2012, Julie’s daughter Sarah, like her mother, also graduated from Birmingham University and started to work as an intern in the full-time ministry (for the Birmingham church of Christ). Alex was pleased for her. Over the following months Alex started attending church regularly in the East sector of the London congregation. He was greatly impacted by the vibrancy of the fellowship, the obvious love, and kindness and care expressed by the disciples, and the challenging lessons and sermons. Eventually he began to study the Bible with his son-in-law, Mike. Then, in June 2013, during a 3-week visit of Mike and Terrie Fontenot to the East London church, Alex started to study the Bible more intensely.
More from the International Church of Christ
Imagine you are at a neighborhood barbecue. Your new neighbor arrives late, dressed casually, and barely speaks. Someone whispers, “She thinks she’s too good for us.” You feel the quick sting of that snap judgment. Later, you learn she just lost her husband and is quietly grieving. In that moment, you sense the discomfort of judging wrongly, a rush to conclusions that harms relationships and reveals more about our own hearts than the other person. Yet, the same evening, when another guest makes a racist joke, you feel an inner nudge to speak up. Is that also “judging”? This everyday tension captures what Jesus presents in Scripture: a divine balance between grace-filled restraint and righteous discernment. The two commands in tension “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” – Matthew 7: “Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.” – John 7:24 At first glance, these seem contradictory. Don’t judge. Judge correctly. Which is it? Matthew 7 warns against a critical, hypocritical spirit that condemns others while ignoring our own faults. The context continues: “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:2). Jesus then uses the vivid image of someone with a plank in their own eye trying to remove a speck from another’s. Notice the aim: “then you will see clearly to remove the speck.” Self-examination is not a reason to stay silent. It is how we become safe enough to speak (Matthew 7:3-5). John 7, however, shows Jesus defending his healing on the Sabbath. He challenges the religious leaders: stop superficial, appearance-based judgments and instead apply right, truthful judgment aligned with God’s character and Word. This is not a contradiction but a divine tension, two truths that must be held together. We are called to humility and self-examination (do not judge harshly or hypocritically), while also exercising discernment and moral clarity (judge correctly, according to truth). Christianity rejects both naive permissiveness (“anything goes, no one can say anything”) and harsh legalism (constant condemnation without grace).
Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about next year’s trip to Mt. Kilimanjaro.
The physics of the pendulum Picture an old grandfather clock in a quiet hallway. Its long brass pendulum swings steadily: tick, tock, tick, tock. Now give that pendulum a hard shove to the right. It does not simply glide back to the center and stop. It races right past the middle and sways just as far to the left. Left to its own momentum, a pendulum never rests at either extreme; it finds peace only when it hangs still at the center, held by gravity and its fixed point. The church behaves in much the same way. Push her too far toward one side of a truth and she does not gently settle into balance, she swings. Often for a whole generation toward the opposite error, and then back again, wounding people at both ends of the arc. And here is the crucial thing the clock teaches us: the pendulum comes to rest not by being frozen in place, but by being held. Balance is not the absence of force; it is the fixed point that keeps opposing pulls in tension so that the weight can finally hang still.