Rev Newton Ndlovu - Royal Navy

Born In Zimbabwe Made in The Royal Navy

"God Moves in Mysterious Ways", my journey into the Royal Navy (RN) is testimony to the profoundness of the words of the hymn; “God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform”. I was born and bred in Zimbabwe, a landlocked country which has no Navy, I had never swum before, never seen a warship, and I had no knowledge of what the RN does.

However, I felt a calling to this unique arm of the British Tri-service, and a series of events began to unfold the moment I set my mind to join the Naval Service. The final week of my three years of training at Moorlands Theological College was a divine opportunity that marked a turn around in my ministry. I saw a poster that was advertising career opportunities in the Military as chaplains and I was not interested because I was minister at a local church in Bournemouth.

For some unknown reason I decided to apply to attend an acquaints course to learn just for interest’s sake what military chaplains do. To my surprise I was accepted and invited to attend the course with all expenses fully paid for. However, on day three I was disappointed because, the convenor of the course told me that if I wanted to join military chaplaincy, I should belong to a denomination that is registered with the MoD and approved as a sending church.

My denomination Churches in Community (CiC), was not at the time an approved sending church according to MoD. CiC had for the previous four years applied to the MoD to be registered as a sending church without success, its application was turned down about four times. The convenor suggested ways I could pursue if I was serious about joining the military. His suggestions were good, but I did not feel in my heart that I should pursue his suggestion. However I was allowed to complete the course and on the last day, I received a phone call from CiC secretary stating that MoD had approved and accepted CiC as a sending church and I was asked if I still wanted to join the military. I am the first CiC chaplain to the RN to date.