Duncan was born and raised on the Alton Estate, Roehampton South West London. Keen to move away from the area, his heart was set on joining the Parachute Regiment until he felt God call him to serve in God’s army instead. Since then Duncan has been involved in missionary work in Albania, prison ministry in England and youth outreach in various council estates.
On his home estate in Roehampton, Duncan started a music studio for the local youth, which eventually became the ‘Wandsworth Youth Inclusion Project’. During this time Duncan married Shay from the USA and together they started a project called ‘HigherVibe’ which used Christian urban music & Bible studies to outreach to the youth of London.
In 2004 Duncan & Shay started a Bible study in their flat on the estate which eventually outgrew their living room, and New Life Church* was born in December 2005. Duncan tells his story here. Whilst planting the church, Duncan worked as a music technology lecturer at South Thames College (where Duncan earned his DTLLS teaching qualification), and Shay worked as an interventions coordinator for the Wandsworth YIP.
Duncan then went on to do a DipHE in ‘Biblical Hermeneutics’ at Kings Evangelical Divinity School, a BA(Hons) degree in Theology and Pastoral studies at Oak Hill College, and a Doctorate (DMin) in Theology and Urban Mission at Westminster Theological Seminary. Shay now home-educates their 4 children.
Having done youth and church work on an estate for over 20 years, Duncan is passionate about seeing others equipped to serve God and urban communities. Therefore, he founded Urban Ministries to equip Christians working on estates and urban areas. The Urban Ministry Program has been set up to train up others to make disciples who make disciples in the urban context.
Duncan relies heavily on fund raising for his work training others and pastoring a church, if you would like to give to his ministry, there are a couple of ways you can do so. If you are a UK taxpayer & eligible for Gift Aid please give through Stewardship with this link: www.give.net/20119418 (and use Duncan’s account number 20119418). If you are not eligible for Gift Aid, are outside of the UK or would like to give a personal gift to Duncan and Shay please get in touch for details.
Duncan has a separate website that is dedicated to survivors of abuse, providing resources and encouragement www.forsurvivors.co.uk
