Rev Nathan Toseland 

I was born and raised in Northants so feel very much like a local lad.  I was taken to church all through my childhood at Carey Baptist and then moved to Fuller Baptist in Kettering when I was about 10.  I can’t say I always loved going to church, but I learned to enjoy the social aspects of church, particularly amongst a large group of young people at Fuller.  On various weekends away I met with the Holy Spirit, whereupon I was drawn to deep and irresistible emotions both according to my own frailty and of a growing understanding of a Saviour who loved me.  I was baptised according to my belief a week before my first venture to university in Huddersfield where I studied Music.

My faith then wandered significantly, having been allowed a greater freedom to explore the temptations of the world.  God plucked me from that dangerous path by positioning the right people around me and before I left university, God had already born aspects of ministry within me in worship and pastoral care.  On a summer mission right after university on a beach in Italy, I felt a call to ‘give my life to ministry’ which felt like a tremendous challenge.  After my first stint at university, I worked for HMV for a while and would move up to the northeast for a job in Sunderland.

In trying to understand my ministry with my then-new church, I was called and trained as a Youth Pastor at Westgate Baptist in Newcastle upon Tyne, completing both professional qualifications and skills in Youth and Community Work as part of a degree in Applied Theology for church ministry.  Ultimately, I would grow to understand my ministry to be outside of only working with young people and I then moved away to respond to a call from Oakes Baptist Church in Huddersfield to be an Assistant Minister to give me the opportunity to learn skills for wider ministry and whilst working as a Behaviour Support Worker in one of the local schools.

Having gone through the discernment process with the YBA I then accepted a place at Spurgeon’s College to study towards a Masters, whilst working as a Minister in Training and completing my professional skills towards ministry where I would meet and occasionally study alongside Lisa, our Team Leader.  After what can only be described as a challenging season of study on personal grounds, I left college in 2011 to enter settlement and in the Autumn of that year was called and began a wonderful journey with Long Buckby and Brington Baptist Church for what would be 11 years to the day.  It is impossible to sum up my time in Buckby in such a short space, but in my ministry there I was able to set up and become Musical Director for Elation Community Voices, I’ve worked closely with the schools, local charities and the church has grown in lots of different ways over that time.  As with any church, as a pastor, you experience joy and struggle in differing measures, but I know that I will look upon my ministry with the church with tremendous gratitude for God’s faithfulness to us all during my time there.

Outside of church and ministry, I am an avid and eclectic collector and listener of music.  I enjoy nothing more in visiting new places than wandering around a museum and an art gallery and nearly always prefer modern art.  I support Chelsea FC, love good television and cinema and enjoy nothing more than cooking and eating with friends.