Natalie Williams: “what you model and invest in, even when life is hard, can build something in your children that lasts”

Natalie Williams, CEO of Jubilee+, explains how God used difficult circumstances in her upbringing to mould her into the person she is today

Natalie, can you tell us a bit about your background and how you came to faith?

I grew up in a very working-class family, in and out of poverty in Hastings, where I now live again. We lived on the 16th floor of a council block, couldn’t always afford central heating, and I had free school meals. My childhood was touched by domestic abuse, debt, disability, the death of a sibling and, eventually, my parents’ divorce when I was 16.

I wasn’t interested in God at all, but when I was 15 I started going to church because I liked a boy. The first Sunday I went, he shared his testimony, and it actually put me off him completely! But for some reason, I kept going back. There’s no earthly explanation for that — but eventually, I had an encounter with God and became a Christian.

My first ten years as a Christian were really up and down. I didn’t feel I fitted in, and I now realise that was because I was converted in a very middle-class church. There were unspoken rules I didn’t understand, and eventually I ran away from God for a while. When I came back to him in my late twenties, I told God I’d live anywhere except Hastings and go to any church except the one where I’d become a Christian — and he sent me straight back to both!

Ultimately, the family of God is big enough for all of us — whatever our story, background or circumstances

By then I’d become a journalist, working for newspapers like the Daily Mirror and the Reading Evening Post, and I’d even spent a year in Beijing with the China Daily newspaper group. Later I worked in PR and marketing before volunteering for Jubilee+.

At first, I was just editing weekly blogs for Martin Charlesworth, the founder. Eventually, I joined the staff, and in 2021 I became CEO. When Martin first asked me if I’d consider leading, I ……