Allan Finnegan: “Don’t get so caught up in church or work that you miss out on your family”

Allan Finnegan’s terminal cancer diagnosis has made him reflect deeply on life and faith as a Baptist minister, stand-up comedian and being a dad

Allan, what was life like growing up?

I’m from Bootle in north Liverpool, which at one point was the second most deprived place in the country. But I knew no different, it was just home. Life was just the way it was for me – working class, terraced house, both parents worked, and we were one of the first on our street to get a telephone, so we thought we were doing all right!

I only realised how different life was elsewhere when I became a Christian and started travelling, meeting people from other backgrounds. I remember being shocked hearing how many people went to university – no one from my world talked about it. If you were clever, you went to work at the Giro (a publicly owned bank in Bootle); if not, you went to the factory floor or building sites. That was it.

There were challenges – places you avoided for your own safety, gangs, and a general lack of aspiration. But there were positives too. The sense of community was strong. You knew everyone in your street, and people looked out for each other. That’s something I miss now.

How did you become a Christian and where did Baptist ministry come into your story?

I met a girl at a party – Joyce, who’s now my wife. She’d stopped going to church, but her parents wanted her to get me to go. To keep them happy, we went to church – mainly for the Sunday afternoon service so we could go to the pub afterwards.

I ended up at a wild, charismatic meeting – the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International. It was mad – guitars, arms in the air, singing. But then a guy spoke, a convert from Islam, and I remember thinking, “You really believe this. If that’s Christianity ……