David St John moved with his family to Stalham in Norfolk in 2004, where he attended high school. After university he moved to China to teach English and explore. It was in China that he recalls he “became convicted of [his] way of life and knew that [he] desperately needed to receive the forgiveness of Jesus.” After seven years of growing in faith and teaching English in China he has now moved to South Africa to attend Bible School.
David explains that while growing up in Stalham “ I did most of the things that young people do in Stalham do; the good and the bad.” After school he moved to Sheffield to study Geography at university, and explains that “while living a pretty wild university lifestyle… I decided to try my hand at teaching English, and I looked to do so abroad because it enabled me to make some money, travel, and see a new culture while doing so. I found what felt like a reliable job in China and took a gamble.
“Although it was a challenging transition, I felt myself enjoying the foreign environment that I was in and how it forced me to adapt and change. I started to enjoy teaching and progressed in learning Mandarin, but I continued in a lifestyle that looked for happiness in partying and popularity. I committed to staying longer in China, but I became more aware of the ever-increasing feeling of emptiness within me.”
It was in his second year in China that David encountered Jesus in a powerful way: “ I look back at that moment and I know that he really did forgive me.” David explains “I felt it. It made me become alive. I found a small group of Christians that met weekly in an apartment and made a commitment to join them. I began to love this simple expression of church, and privately began to hunger for more of God, which led me to read the Bible and pray. Looking back, I know that God took me to a place of ‘wilderness’ to reveal himself to me and give me something genuine.”
After seven years in China, David decided that it was time for him to take a step of faith and move to South Africa to attend a Bible school run by Youth with a Mission (YWAM) which had been recommended to him.
“I can easily say that it was the best decision that I have made. 2024 was a real year of transformation for me and I know that it is only down to God’s work in my life. So much so, that I couldn’t wait to commit 2025 to another year of studying the Bible and growing to know God within community.”
At 31 years old, David is optimistic about the future: “I am set to complete a university-accredited School of Biblical Studies, which will run from February to December 2025. It will involve reading the Bible five times, receiving teaching, and diving even deeper into the scriptures. It is going to be challenging, but I felt God ask me to do the school, and so I know that His grace will be present to prosper me in my studies. Obedience is the only way, and I know that I will find so much life as I increase in the knowledge of God and align my heart with the truth of his Word.”
You can follow David’s adventures here: https://sites.google.com/view/david-st-john/the-journals
Photo above, David with some of his students in a dragon boat race in China, courtesy of David St John
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