WHY ME? Talk by DANIELLA FETUGA-JOENSUU

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts

be found acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our strength and our Redeemer.

Amen.

Why me? – or may I say, why not me? We’ve had a succession of talks this Lent period, and now we are here for the last.

It was wonderful to be present at some of the other talks, and what a variety indeed.

Our God has created us all different, like the range of flowers blossoming and opening for spring, like the birds of the sky, or the fish of the sea. We are blessed with variety, from a loving God of diversity.

So, be expectant this evening!

I was born in Westminster, in the Spring. My mother used to speak of my exuberant countenance and positive outlook no matter what life threw at us. She made me responsible from a young age, as she had a lot to deal with: a full-time job and three young children, the other two were born after I returned from boarding school. All the bedrooms were occupied, and an uncle lived in our extended part of the house.

Dad worked late a lot at the bank, so I was my mother’s helper with my brothers. From my memories mother often reminded me of what I had not done; father used to pick me up as he entered the house and threw me up in the air, or I was sitting on his knee as he recounted his day or presented me with another book that he had bought for me. He loved reading Enid Blyton books to me.

He used to say: you are a match for your brothers—-you can achieve anything if you put your mind to it! He told me tales of our family in Nigeria. This stood me in good stead later in my life.

I was born in Westminster, but we have always lived in Kensington and Chelsea. The only girl, I moved to Nigeria at age 11 with two top brothers to attend a boarding school chosen by my parents, and during holidays we lived mainly with my cousins. We attended St Saviour, an Anglican church. But I later found out that my father’s side of the family was Muslim. He did not practice Islam in England. Here, we attended St Clements and St James.

My parents came to England to study in the 1960’s; it coincided with the time that Nigeria also gained her independence from the UK. They were invited to stay after studying, so my parents embraced the opportunity and got married and had our family.  My mum studied economics and later in life worked for Transport for London. My father was a banker and worked in Bishopsgate.

I had wonderful loving parents and a loving childhood, both parents are unfortunately no longer with us - May they rise in glory! There was a big change in my life when I was sent away to boarding school. Nigeria was very different from London, and boarding school was very different from ‘day’ school.  I learned new languages; although all the tribes spoke English to each other, I later found out that I come from the Yoruba tribe.

But one of the most transforming experiences in my life also happened to me during my stint as a boarder.  I accepted Christ as my personal Saviour after I saw Christ calling to me in a dream. I gave my life to Christ instantly upon awakening from that dream. And that is where my Christian journey really started. It has been tough, but my Lord and Saviour never promised us a bed of roses, but he reminded us to carry our crosses. He is with me always.

On one of the summer holidays my father had come for a visit. He found a Bible on my bed in my room. When I got home, he was beside himself. “What are you doing with this, he said? When are you going to study the Quran”, he asked? As you can imagine this was quite a shock to me. Mum was Anglican—-we all were—-we had attended Church all our lives, Dad was aware, there was no talk of anything Muslim and he suddenly turned into someone who I did not recognise. One of my brothers, the youngest of the two died on Easter Monday two months before dad came over that summer.

I was a practising Christian by then and was with my Christian side of the family, my mother’s side. My cousins and aunts were nearby to console me.

Dad was restricting where and whom I could visit and who could visit me. Because of the loss of my brother and what he saw as my Christian activities, and my grandad, his father who was by now becoming very old, Dad decided to move back to Nigeria when I was 17. But when we came back to England for a holiday, I did not return with him.

This put a big strain on our relationship. He provided everything for me. I had no means, but he eventually cut me off from everything. I was low and sometimes lonely, but I had family.

When I returned to my church here, St. Clements and St. James, I did not really recognise it. Lots of the young people had moved away. I went along with mother and tried to help sharing her cakes and refreshments after the service, but I had been noticing the group of young people across the road. One day, I was invited over—-they had Bible studies like what we did at boarding school. Mother let me continue with them. It was later that I found out that there are different traditions, and the Church that took me in was a Methodist church.

They trained me to be a worship leader and a pastoral leader. During these same years I studied Interior design at the Chelsea School of Art. It was in Manresa in those days. African parents did not think much of Interior design. I did eventually find my way to a university in Yorkshire – Where I studied Mechanical Engineering and Management BSc.Honours, and when I returned to London many of the young people had stayed in the cities where they had studied.  The missing generation was rife. I returned to London. And continued to worship during the day at the church. They invited me to study to become an accredited Local preacher.

At university, our Christian Union was very strong. We used to preach amongst ourselves. We would hop from one chaplaincy to another. The Anglican and Catholic Chaplaincies were very popular; it also helped that both had bars and drinks afterward.

I was invited to HTB one evening, and the newcomers were introduced to Sandy Miller. Someone also prophesied about my life. I started to look for meaningful jobs after university. I worked with HTB on outreach projects and Junior Alpha. When funds ran out, I got a job working with the Methodist Church in Chelsea, where I served as the Director of Children and Young People. I was then promoted to District and Regional Level, where I served as the Regional Training Officer for the London region. I was also elected to the Methodist Conference that year and served as a representative for three years. I also got the British people called Methodists in 2011 to transcribe the Bible in celebration of the King James Bible turning 400 years. This post also opened doors to do a lot in the community. I became a SACRE representative to promote Christian Education. I also worked in partnership with West London Action for Children – Jigsaw Club, a drop-in for parents and their children. I later became a trustee and served for 10 years. I was always looking for opportunities in our community where God was at work, where one could contribute or initiate projects; I always had visions and looked-for like-minded partners. This led to being a founder member of The Forum of Faiths, RBK&C. I also served as a Chair for Churches Together in Notting Hill and was proactive in the Churches Together in Chelsea.

I kept preaching in this borough and in Hammersmith and Fulham. I met my husband at church in 1994, and we were married in 1995. All my in-laws are Christians and wonderful. We are blessed with a son, who is currently away at university.

As a unit, we started to feel that we should also speak out for people without a voice. We were one of the founders of West London Citizens – A non-partisan organising community. We lobbied companies that did not treat their workers well. I worked on a project for the Homeless with the Mayor of London as a member of West London Citizens and ended up going to America, speaking with the Mayor of Baltimore and New York to find out how they were solving the problem of homelessness.

I needed to learn how to reflect theologically and how to speak with people in power, and that led to me studying for an MA in Theology and Politics at King’s College, London in 2017. My first job after graduation was as a Parliamentary Assistant with the Bishop to Her Majesty’s Prisons, who was also the Bishop of Rochester. I also served as a coordinator of Prison Hope, with Roy Crowne and his team. In this role, I visited many prisons and later felt a call to work with them. I prayed and applied for a job there. I am now currently working for the Ministry of Justice.

I want to return to full-time Chaplaincy and tell the prisoners the good news of Salvation in Christ and to offer them the Eucharist. The prison ministry moves me to compassion.

There seems to be something special with key persons in the Bible and being prisoners. Many of the most influential characters have been a prisoner once or many times: For example, John the Baptist, the Apostle Paul, Silas, Joseph, Jeremiah, and of people that we have heard of, - Martin Luther King Jr, Mother Teresa, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Nelson Mandela.

God is still interested in people – He said go and make disciples.

God is still interested in prisoners – He asked us to visit them.

So, in the words of Paul:

“But this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus”. Amen

Why me? or why not me? – God help me! May God continue to inspire us with zeal and gusto and a special anointing of Holy Spirit fire, to continue to share his Gospel of the Good News. Amen!