David Torrance was the youngest of three brothers and three sisters, a family of theologians whose father was a famous missionary in China. In this memoir he tells how after service with the Indian Army he felt a call to ordained ministry which he could not refuse. He then declined the prospect of further study under Karl Barth in order to help D.P. Thomson with evangelism in Scotland, before entering parish ministry. The book is an extraordinary account of what happened in his three parishes of Livingston Village, Summerhill in Aberdeen, and Earlston in the Scottish Borders, and his service to church, to education and to people.

Two former Church of Scotland Assembly Moderators commend this book:

“Here are the details of an extraordinary life . . .”   John Miller

“Completely honest in describing the author’s struggles with a sense of call to the ministry, and the highs and lows of subsequent pastoral experience”   Angus Morrison