Martin Saunders: ‘God’s grace is bigger than anyone’s parenting failures’

Martin, can you tell us a little about your own upbringing and faith?

Yeah, I was born into a working-class family, but my parents were part of the home ownership boom in the late 70s and 80s. So, we were not wealthy but not poor either. I wasn’t brought up as a Christian, but I came into contact with a number of churches and Christian groups near where I lived, so I got to see and be around Christians a bit. When I was 14, I met an amazing school’s worker who set out the Gospel in a really clear and logical way – it really made sense to me, and I was convinced on the spot. I went up to him at the end and said “you’ve got yourself a convert”; he thought I was making fun of him!

I’m not saying the way you parent makes no difference, I’m just not convinced by the argument that it is central or primary.

Getting involved in the church took a bit of discussion and negotiation because my parents were initially quite suspicious of it, but I ended up getting really involved in a Baptist youth group all through my teens. I had a little wobble at uni, but my first real job was at Premier, and that helped me get back to faith. I edited what was Youthwork Magazine for about ten years and moved to Youthscape in 2013.

What sorts of values and lessons do you think you took from your upbringing?

The old saying that love is spelt t-i-m-e. My mum didn’t work when we were growing up, so she was always around but even my dad always spent a good amount of time with us. We couldn’t afford loads of big holidays or expensive treats but the time my parents invested in us was invaluable.

That’s something that my wife and I have tried to take into our family life. We have four kids aged 11-19 and we both have very busy schedules, so we’ve ……