Faith:

By far the most important thing in my life is my Christian faith - it is the foundation for my life and continues to shape the person I am becoming.  I was taught the Bible and the principles of the Christian faith from the earliest possible age since my parents are both Christians, but it was not until the age of 11 that I really embraced faith in Christ.  I realised that I was a helpless sinner, but (far more amazing) that the grace of God (His free undeserved love) had been revealed to me through Christ Jesus, who died in my place to pay for my sins.  I realised that God's love for me was complete and unconditional - it didn't depend on me impressing Him through doing good things (as if there was anything impressive there anyway!) and that He would not love me any less no matter how bad I was.  I realised that He wanted to give me a life that was overflowing - life in all its fullness.  I surrendered my life to His grace and asked Him to forgive me and to lead me from then on.  I began to take the Bible seriously, reading it and seeking to obey it, and to learn to have an intimate, moment by moment, relationship with God, talking to Him constantly, and listening for His leading.  I learnt to commit my life daily to the Lordship of Christ, to be filled by the Holy Spirit.  God also gave me a real love for His people, and I was baptised at the age of 12 and became a member of a local church.

Over time I discovered that God had gifted me to teach His word, to lead His people and to care for them.  I still have a lot more to learn, but although times can be tough, and I still struggle every day with sin, life is genuinely wonderful with Christ.  I am looking forward to serving Him and knowing Him more in the future.  I'm passionate about building local churches  where grace will be demonstrated and which will be faithful to God's word and relevant to the lives of people.  Nothing excites me like seeing others coming to living faith in Christ and growing in faith by responding in obedience to God's word.  My life verse is taken from Paul's epistle to the Philippians (my parents named me after this apostle and I think my personality is more than a little like his):

"To me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21)

In other words, as long as I am alive my life will be about knowing and showing Christ, and when I die I know that it will be great gain for me as I will finally be with Him who I love!  What a wonderful life!

Family & education:

I was born on 25th June 1976, the second (and last) child of Brian and Sylvia Coulter.  I was a pupil in Friends School Lisburn and later studies in Queens University Belfast (graduating with first class honours in a BSc in Medical Genetics in 1997 and with distinction in my medical degrees in 2000).  While I was a student at QUB I met Gar-Ling Diong, a Chinese Malaysian fellow-medical student who also shared my Christian faith.  We were married on 22nd May 2002.  I am currently studying part time for an MA in theology through the Irish Baptist College, and hoping to complete this before the end of 2007.  We live in Lisburn city, Northern Ireland.

On 12th July 2006 at 23:49 a new chapter in our lives began as we had the great joy of becoming parents.  Our son, Joseph Cheng-Wen Paul Coulter, is beautiful, a wonderful gift from God, and our daily prayer is that his life will become something equally beautiful in the hands of God.  May Joseph live up to his Chinese name (below), which means "sincere and gentle" (based on John 1:.

Joseph is now just over one year old, and he's started to be a mischief maker!  His mummy and daddy still think he's the greatest wee fellow in the world though!

Culture & interests:

I am of Ulster-Scots heritage.  Gar-Ling is proud of her Foochow heritage.  We are both committed Christians, and our faith is the most important thing in our lives, although I have also been known to be quite passionate about:

Employment:

Gar-Ling and I both trained in medicine  (we met at a Christian Medical Fellowship meeting), and we graduated in 2000 and entered the world of medical employment.  In August 2003 I left my medical career because I knew God was calling me to spend my life teaching His word and helping others to know Him.  For four years I worked for the Belfast Chinese Christian Church, where I was involved in leadership and in the English language, student and youth ministries.  That was an amazing time of learning and seeing God at work, and I was also able to study part time for an MA in theology.

In August 2007 I joined the staff of Glenabbey Church, which I consider a huge privilege.  I will have responsibility for developing the youth and student ministries in Glenabbey, but I'm also excited about continuing to grow in my faith and finding a spiritual home in a church that is seeking to be relevant to our world and equally faithful to God's word.

You can find out about my ministry on my ministries page.