We are continuing the series of stories celebrating our soon-to-be Reverends as we head towards the ordination weekend on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 June. Today's story comes from David Huggins.
How was David called?
Though both my parents were active Christians, their divorce when I was young meant I did not have a “typical” experience of growing up in church or a Christian family. Around the age of eight, I began attending a new Vineyard church plant with my mum, so my first experience of church life was a small group meeting on the top floor of Starbucks, worshipping Jesus together, and exploring what it looks like to live an everyday life of faith.
These days were highly formative for me. Through this experience, faith began to grow inside me, as I encountered a God who could answer prayer and change me from the inside out, who genuinely loved me, whatever my background, and welcomed me with open arms into His family.
As a teenager, I knew few other Christians but was passionate about sharing Jesus with my friends, having personally experienced His hope and transformation. This led me to help lead Christian Unions at school and university while becoming more involved in church life. During this time, I sensed a call to ministry, reinforced by friends and family who often asked if I had considered church work.
After university, I explored this calling by working with Holy Trinity Church Cambridge’s student ministry. Though I loved it, the timing did not feel right to pursue ordination and instead I trained as a physics and maths teacher, teaching for seven years across the UK.
I married Ellie, who shortly after trained for ordination, prompting me to reconsider my own calling and whether this was somehow fulfilled through supporting her. However, I could not shake off the sense that God was continuing to lead me toward ordination, so I eventually entered the discernment process and began training at Trinity College in 2022. Now, with two young boys and a third on the way, we view our ministry as a shared family calling.
I am passionate about the hope and life that Jesus offers to all who will receive and believe that He is capable of transforming our lives, whoever we are and whatever our background. This is the drive which motivates me for ministry in the church and the reason I was willing to leave my teaching career, which I loved, to pursue what I sensed as God’s call to ordination.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5