Dan Steel is the Principal of Yarnton Manor, and was formerly the pastor of Magdalen Road Church for a number of years.
1. How did you become a Christian?
In human terms at least, the story began with an invitation to my mum (in the maternity ward!) to come and try church. From there a slow process of hearing the gospel being spoken and watching it being lived out ended with baptism as a teenager.
2. What lessons have you learnt since that you would want to pass on to a younger Christian version of yourself?
Don’t idolise ministry so much. Comparison is the thief of joy. Very few things in the Christian life need to be done quickly. Learn to march for the long term rather than keep almost overdoing it. Spend more time with your family. Your life is really not about you.
3. How would you describe your prayer life?
Evolving. My role has changed significantly over the past 12 months which means I’m having to rethink priorities in prayer. Throughout my life I’ve adapted my prayer routine depending on our family age and stage. Sometimes little and often, sometimes more but less frequent.
4. Which two or three Christian books apart from the Bible have most influenced your faith?
Various books along the way, but probably Knowing God by J.I. Packer. 51 years old (!) but still prophetic and relevant for today. I’ve also been helped by The Imperfect Pastor (Zack Eswine) in recent years.
5. Who or what have been your biggest Christian influences?
Probably first and foremost my wife, Zoe (pictured with Dan). We’ve been married for 26 years and I’m still convinced marriage has a way of revealing the reality of your own sin and selfishness like nothing else (though parenthood comes a close second!). God, by His Spirit, uses real people to shape and mould us. He has also kindly given us patient church-family members, pastors and colleagues through the years who have lovingly encouraged and pointed us to Christ.
Further afield, I’ve been thankful for the ‘company’ of pastors old and new through books, articles or podcasts (whether Calvin, C.H. Spurgeon, Tim Keller or Mike Cain).
6. What are the main challenges you believe Christians face today?
There’s really nothing new under the sun and so in broad terms I’d still want to outline the world, the flesh and the devil as being our main challenges. What does that look like in this place at this time? Social media has not helped us – whether in our inability to engage well with people who disagree with us or in the attention economy robbing us of our concentration. The last ten years have seen such an extraordinary cultural shift that we’re struggling to keep up and engage with the worldview of a younger generation. This has implications for how we reach them with the unchanging gospel, and then keep them and indeed recruit them into pastoral ministry for the next generation and beyond.
7. What encourages and what discourages you?
Discouragements would include most of Twitter [X] and the comments sections on most blogs, but also the news of a pastoral or leadership failure of someone I previously admired and listened to. There’s something very sad about those in ministry falling and finishing badly.
Encouragements would include the simple fact that God is at work – often in the unexpected, marginal and unlikely places. One example from Magdalen Road Church where I had (and still have) the privilege of serving was the fact that the Lord – out of the blue – brought us a number of Iranian refugees (some of whom we had the joy of baptising), but their presence necessitated us finding a live translation app that worked for church – which then meant others in the church invited their friends who did not have English as a first language, and the story continues…
8. What makes you laugh?
Definitely dad jokes. And I’m thrilled to say that both my sons are not only patient with my dad jokes (usually shared by me on the family WhatsApp) but are beginning to become proficient in the art themselves…
9. What would you want to say to the wider evangelical world?
I’d quote Zack Eswine at this point – he’s talking about the pastoral vocation at this point – but I think it’s applicable to anyone:
‘…you will be tempted to orient your desires toward doing large things in famous ways as fast and as efficiently as you can. But take note. A crossroads waits for you. Jesus is that crossroads. Because almost anything in life that truly matters will require you to do small, mostly overlooked things, over a long period of time with Him…’
10. Which Biblical person (other than Jesus) do you most look forward to meeting in glory and why?
Ruth is currently one of my favourite Biblical characters – such a beautiful model of the way God picks up and weaves in the story of unlikely people who will end up having their names read each year at Christmas carol services throughout the globe and throughout church history! With our God there is always hope. I love how the unlikely, messy family tree of Jesus ends up showing us the kind of unlikely, messy people (you and me!) whom He will ultimately gather into His family in the ages to come.
