Nigel Irwin was commissioned on Sunday as minister-in-charge of St Christopher’s in Redwoodtown, Blenheim.
Having spent his formative years in the Anglican Church, Nigel trained and ministered in the Baptist Church for 10 years before he “felt this strong desire to come back into the Anglican world”. He’s now beginning the process of discernment for ordination. I sat down with him in the Anglican Centre to ask about his journey.
Nigel: So I'm Nigel Irwin! I moved to Blenheim last week from Whanganui where I was senior pastor of Central Baptist Church for 10 years.
I came out of that ministry to recover from emotional breakdown after several deaths in the church and in my own family, as well as the breakdown of my marriage. So I spent three and a half years healing and restoring alongside working in a few different areas like Clifton Strengths coaching and senior leadership development in the education sector.
I’m now engaged to Laura-Jane, who has two teenage kids – 16-year-old Jodie and 14-year-old Eli – and I have a foster daughter, Sarah, who is nearly 18.
I knew that my exit from ministry wasn’t the end of the road for me, and through a process of some quite cool “God-incidences” at the end of last year, I’m re-entering ministry!
Nigel: Bishop Steve and I had conversations for several years about me coming to the Nelson Diocese – in fact, I was appointed to the role of director of church revitalisation here in 2022 and then couldn't take the role after the breakdown. But I said to Steve, “I think I still will end up there,” and he said, “Yeah, I think so too.”
We were just feeling a sense of God saying the timing’s now to come back. When Steve got back from sabbatical, we connected, and the rest is history!
My formative years were in the Anglican Church. Even though I was trained in the Baptist Church and ended up as a Baptist pastor, I felt this strong desire to come back into the Anglican world.
I love the reverence of understanding who God is and not allowing ourselves to become so chummy that God is matey-but-not-so-mighty.
I knew if I was going to be Anglican in New Zealand, it would have to be at Nelson because I am by nature evangelical in my theology.
But the biggest reason is this: I love Bishop Steve’s vision!
I love his vision and I love his strategy. The reason I was keen to come four years ago is the same reason I'm keen now. I have the same heartbeat, the same desire to build the kingdom of God through the resourcing of churches and taking a missional approach to our place in the community.
Nigel: It was really good. St Christopher’s is a very warm church. They feel like a family. You walk into the church and you can sense that the people actually like each other – that’s not always a given! St Christopher’s has that sense of being a community. People who enjoy one another's company and enjoy worshiping together.
It was exciting to not just be welcomed by a church community but for that sense of God’s call in my life to be re-affirmed and re-established. My three and a half years felt like a wilderness, so it's great to come back to co-labour with Christ to build his church.
Nigel: I’m looking forward to getting to know the heartbeat of St Christopher’s – who are they? What do they love about being St Christopher's? What do they think God is saying to them?I haven't come in because I’m the “guru” or anything like that.
So I'm really looking forward to hearing from people – what’s their sense of capturing the kingdom of God in Redwoodtown at the moment?
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We have invited these writers to share their experiences, ideas and opinions in the hope that these will provoke thought, challenge you to go deeper and inspire you to put your faith into action. These articles should not be taken as the official view of the Nelson Diocese on any particular matter.
Nigel Irwin was commissioned on Sunday as minister-in-charge of St Christopher’s in Redwoodtown, Blenheim.
Having spent his formative years in the Anglican Church, Nigel trained and ministered in the Baptist Church for 10 years before he “felt this strong desire to come back into the Anglican world”. He’s now beginning the process of discernment for ordination. I sat down with him in the Anglican Centre to ask about his journey.
Nigel: So I'm Nigel Irwin! I moved to Blenheim last week from Whanganui where I was senior pastor of Central Baptist Church for 10 years.
I came out of that ministry to recover from emotional breakdown after several deaths in the church and in my own family, as well as the breakdown of my marriage. So I spent three and a half years healing and restoring alongside working in a few different areas like Clifton Strengths coaching and senior leadership development in the education sector.
I’m now engaged to Laura-Jane, who has two teenage kids – 16-year-old Jodie and 14-year-old Eli – and I have a foster daughter, Sarah, who is nearly 18.
I knew that my exit from ministry wasn’t the end of the road for me, and through a process of some quite cool “God-incidences” at the end of last year, I’m re-entering ministry!
Nigel: Bishop Steve and I had conversations for several years about me coming to the Nelson Diocese – in fact, I was appointed to the role of director of church revitalisation here in 2022 and then couldn't take the role after the breakdown. But I said to Steve, “I think I still will end up there,” and he said, “Yeah, I think so too.”
We were just feeling a sense of God saying the timing’s now to come back. When Steve got back from sabbatical, we connected, and the rest is history!
My formative years were in the Anglican Church. Even though I was trained in the Baptist Church and ended up as a Baptist pastor, I felt this strong desire to come back into the Anglican world.
I love the reverence of understanding who God is and not allowing ourselves to become so chummy that God is matey-but-not-so-mighty.
I knew if I was going to be Anglican in New Zealand, it would have to be at Nelson because I am by nature evangelical in my theology.
But the biggest reason is this: I love Bishop Steve’s vision!
I love his vision and I love his strategy. The reason I was keen to come four years ago is the same reason I'm keen now. I have the same heartbeat, the same desire to build the kingdom of God through the resourcing of churches and taking a missional approach to our place in the community.
Nigel: It was really good. St Christopher’s is a very warm church. They feel like a family. You walk into the church and you can sense that the people actually like each other – that’s not always a given! St Christopher’s has that sense of being a community. People who enjoy one another's company and enjoy worshiping together.
It was exciting to not just be welcomed by a church community but for that sense of God’s call in my life to be re-affirmed and re-established. My three and a half years felt like a wilderness, so it's great to come back to co-labour with Christ to build his church.
Nigel: I’m looking forward to getting to know the heartbeat of St Christopher’s – who are they? What do they love about being St Christopher's? What do they think God is saying to them?I haven't come in because I’m the “guru” or anything like that.
So I'm really looking forward to hearing from people – what’s their sense of capturing the kingdom of God in Redwoodtown at the moment?
Check out other articles in the
series below.
More articles in the
series are to come.
