We are living in a very different culture to the one in which I grew up. When I was in my late teens and early twenties, I travelled widely but the only way I could keep in contact with my parents was by postcard, and it took at least a week for one to reach Wales when sending it from Turkey.

I was reminded of this because our grandson has just spent a few weeks with us in Pembroke and he was able to keep in daily video contact with his parents in Tokyo.

My parents didn’t even have a traditional telephone at the time and even if they had possessed one the cost of the call would have been completely prohibitive.

It’s the same when it comes to the spiritual climate too because it seems that young Christians are sharing their faith with confidence and hope. A survey of Christians aged 18 to 34 conducted earlier this year has revealed a generation that is deeply involved in church life and confidently engaging with contemporary culture. To quote one statistic, 85 per cent of those who took part in the survey said they had talked about Jesus with a non-Christian in the past six months, and 74 per cent thought the people they knew were open to talking about the Christian faith.

It was so, so different when I finally capitulated and became a believer. As I entered my second decade, I had reached the conclusion that Christianity was a delusion, but I was challenged to examine the evidence very carefully. I did so and realised that it made sense to take a step of faith and my life has never been the same since. But the spiritual climate wasn’t as sympathetic as it appears to be today, and because of that I was too embarrassed to talk openly about my ‘conversion’.

Indeed, when the church I joined decided to engage in a ‘door to door visitation’ campaign to reach non-believers I declined to take part because I didn’t want to be considered an intellectual pygmy, particularly among my teaching colleagues.

Things are obviously very different today. One commentator Katherine Brown summed it up well when she said: “It’s clear that God is doing something among young adults. But what’s just as clear is that young adults aren't sitting on the sidelines watching it unfold; they’re active participants in God's mission and they are finding that easier because confidence in the promises of ‘new atheism’ has waned and been replaced by growing ’spiritual curiosity’ among younger generations.”

I’m thrilled with that and, thankfully, I am no longer embarrassed to talk about my faith. It would be highly embarrassing if I was, given my calling to be a Baptist pastor. Rather the opposite is true. Like the apostle Paul, I am not ashamed of the Gospel and I am proud to be called to share it.