2024 has already seen changes to the church staff team with the exciting addition of Daniel Ogbonna. Daniel is our newest Pastor-in-Training, whose role involves hands-on pastoring and training at the Union School of Theology. He is also helping to run The City Fellowship and a course on the foundations of the Christian faith. He tells us more about his story and his role below.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
I was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, but have called London home for the last decade. I arrived here as an engineering student, then worked in management consulting, moved into the finance industry, and now I'm transitioning into full-time ministry at Grace.
How did you come to faith in Jesus?
Although I grew up in a devout Christian home and had always been active in church, it wasn't until the end of 2019 that I truly came to faith. I reached the end of myself and realised that I could not live a righteous life by simply working hard at it. I needed God's grace to forgive and transform me. I exchanged confidence in my efforts for trust in Christ's merit and saw God start to change my character, desires and affections from the inside out.
Daniel, our new Pastor-In-Training (third from the left)
What made you switch from your previous job to the church staff team?
About six months after coming to faith, I started to sense God putting a desire in my heart for pastoral ministry and growing a gift for teaching his Word. Serving in different ways at Grace allowed me to test this calling within community. So, by the time this role came up, I felt certain that God was calling me to ministry. I had to to go for it.
Tell us more. What makes you passionate about pastoral ministry?
It’s a privilege to be involved in the work God is doing in and through our church, as he calls the lost to himself and believers to lives of greater devotion. Sharing and teaching God's Word is one of the most God-glorifying, life-giving, eternity-shaping activities I get to do. I feel God's delight when I do it, and I can't think of a better way to invest my time and energy in this brief life here on earth.
How can we pray for you and the ministry?
Please pray that I will continue to abide in the Vine and walk closely with Jesus amidst the growing busyness of ministry. I also need wisdom to manage my time well, as I’m working part-time for my old employer until the end of February.