While not wanting to prolong the debate about the decision of my church in Melksham not to allow yoga to be held in its halls, I do want to correct the usual misconceptions that such a matter usually brings to the surface.

I want to assure Mr Martino (Letters extra, September 6) there is no way we will be preaching to empty churches. Also to assure him that young people only abandon the church because, in the past, the church has been so dithering about the very thing that we are now being criticised for, namely we don't seem to say clearly enough what we believe.

Young people will join anything that they can trust and identify with, as a church in Watford has proved. Each Sunday, hundreds of teenagers fill the place.

In both cases they would not even think of letting yoga classes into their buildings. The reason I think the decision that was made was the only right one is on purely spiritual grounds.

I have given the past 35 years of my life to following Jesus Christ, in return he asks of me and all who follow Him that we do not go after other things that are connected with other faiths.

I believe what He says in the Bible, a book which incidentally is acclaimed by most classical scholars as unequalled as an ancient record of its time. Jesus didn't say He was one way of many, He said He was 'The Way'.

He didn't say that he was a piece in the jigsaw of truth, He said He was 'The Truth'. He didn't say he was a life, He said He was 'The Life'.

That's what bothers me about people who seem so ready to defend a means of keeping fit and ignore the reality of what Jesus says about spiritual fitness.

Even fit people cannot escape the certainty of death. I would like to think that I am physically fit, but of the two I would rather be spiritually fit, because it isn't my body that I will take into eternity, it's my spirit. Yoga will not help once we have died.

I believe the Christian faith is true, and although we can learn from all faiths, Christianity is the only one that offers so much. Buddha said 'I die seeking truth' Jesus said 'I am the truth'.

I respectfully challenge anyone who has any thoughts about Christianity being narrow, or medieval, or not in the real world to take time to actually find out what Christians have to say in today's society, one which still turns to the Christian Church in times of crisis.

I invite anyone who is serious in their suspicions about our faith to come to an Alpha course, which is an introduction to what we believe. There will be an Alpha supper near you which consists of a meal and a short talk which puts the Christian faith into simple terms.

I am speaking at one tomorrow at Queensway Chapel in Melksham. Do come along, you might be pleasantly surprised. Phone me on (01225) 777803, and I will make sure you get a ticket.

Rev John Darling,

Team NSM,

Melksham.