Ajay’s Story
I grew up in a time when the streets raised us. We played outside from morning until the streetlights came on, in places where you could get drugs quicker than an ambulance. I didn’t grow up in a Christian household—my mum was Hindu, my dad was Sikh—and faith was something other people seemed to have figured out. My mum and dad were both out working all the time, so my sister raised us. While she was still growing up herself, she became our protector, our guide, and the one who carried responsibilities far beyond her years. As a child growing up in the UK, I often felt confused, quietly trying to make sense of life on my own.
From an early age, I slipped into addiction and became involved in gang culture. The people around me lived fast and dangerously, and before I knew it, that became my normal. Fights, altercations, close calls—I somehow walked away from all of them. I didn’t know it then, but Someone was keeping watch over me.
Many of my friends didn’t make it. Some died by suicide, others by drugs, few by alcohol, and some ended up in prison. Out of more than 20 of my closest friends, I was the only one who graduated. The odds were stacked against me, and yet somehow, someone was carrying me.
I wrestled with insecurities for most of my life—never feeling enough, never feeling like I belonged, never feeling seen. Those insecurities followed me into adulthood, shaping the way I approached relationships, work, and even myself.
In 2010, everything changed. I was racially attacked in Birmingham, and the darkness that followed was heavier than anything I had known before. Doctors told me recovery would take years, but within three months I was back on my feet—healthy, strong, alive. At the time, I couldn’t explain it. Now I know it was grace. Even before I knew God, He knew me.
Still searching, I tried to build a life that mattered. I completed my degree and threw myself into charity work across the UK, hoping purpose would find me if I kept moving. In that process, I became the first Banger in the history of my generation to earn a master’s degree—a milestone that felt impossible as a child surrounded by chaos. Then in 2015, an unexpected door opened to the UAE. I didn’t overthink it. I said yes.
But a new country didn’t mean a new heart. I fell into broken relationships—heartbreak after heartbreak—chasing connection in all the wrong places. Nights filled with music, DJ decks, parties and alcohol. Days filled with emptiness. I searched everywhere—Buddhism, energy healing, New Age meditation—trying to find peace. But no matter where I looked, something was still missing.
Then God reached me in the gentlest way. One lunchtime. One ordinary conversation. One kind colleague. One Bible given at Christmas by a woman named Helen. It didn’t come with pressure or preaching—just love. That small gift became the moment everything began to shift.
In 2017, I was baptised—not because I had everything figured out, but because there was no other road left and I had come to the end of myself. I finally found Someone worth trusting.
When I moved to Dubai from RAK, I visited church after church, still unsure where I belonged. Then I walked through the doors of City Lights. I felt like a lost puppy—hopeful, nervous, wanting to belong but not quite sure how. Nate and Bek invited me into their community group, and for the first time, faith stopped being an idea and became a family.
In that living-room space, I learned how to pray. I watched young Christian couples grow, get married, and build families rooted in love and faith—something I had never seen growing up. Mama J and Abraham walked with me patiently. Wade and Estelle showed me what a Christ-centered family looks like and how a husband and wife should honour one another. So many others: my little brother Arjun, Neelam, Justen, Kelson, Josh, Paige, Ryan (both Ryans), Shreen, Brett, Brad, Duane, Melanie, Mike Gilmore—each spoke life into me when I didn’t yet know how to speak it over myself.
Then came one of the darkest moments of my life. My brother tried to take his own life. I was broken, scared, and unsure how to breathe through the pain. In that moment, Dan and Starla didn’t just speak words—they prayed with me as a church. The community stood with me when I had no strength left. That was when I truly understood what the body of Christ looks like: not walking away from pain, but walking straight into it together.
Through this community, God continued to stir my heart. I found myself on mission trips to India, standing in rooms full of young students worshipping Jesus. Their voices rose like thunder, and something in me knew—I was exactly where I was meant to be. It made me smile when I thought about it: a British kid, born to a Sikh and Hindu family, who grew up dodging street fights in the UK, moved to a Muslim country, became a Christian, and was now standing in India preaching the Gospel. Life really does have a sense of humour.
In my singleness, I made a decision that changed everything. I chose celibacy. I chose to give. I chose to pour my time, energy, and love into the people God put before me instead of wasting that season chasing temporary fulfillment. Something Dan once said stayed with me, and I’ll never forget it: “Dubai can fulfil every single desire—good or bad—but if you’re not anchored in faith, you will be blown away by the wind.” From that moment on, my life was shaped by one simple conviction: wherever God placed me, I would leave people better than how I found them.
City Lights is where I found my faith. They showed me who Jesus really is—loving, patient, and full of grace. They became my village, the family I didn’t know I was missing. I tried to be the “textbook Christian,” thinking I had to look and act a certain way to be used by God. But God spoke to me internally and said, “I gave you this personality and these differences to reach those in dark places.” In that moment, I realised I didn’t need to change who I was—God could use me as I am. I still wear my trackies and snapbacks.
God began to redeem even the darkest parts of my past. Today, through the life-giving relationships I found at City Lights, I have the privilege of working in one of Dubai’s top-tier schools. I have been honoured to pray over dear friends at their weddings and to stand beside them as best man—something I will carry in my heart forever. God continues to bring people through the doors of our community groups, reminding me again and again that there is always a seat at the table—no matter where you come from or what you’ve walked through.
And the greatest miracle of all? Through this journey, my dad gave his life to Jesus in 2019, my mum in 2022, and at Christmas in 2024, my sister as well. I once walked dark paths, unsure and searching. Now, God is using those very paths to help me light the way for others.
God is faithful. And I am living proof that His love reaches farther, deeper, and more gently than we could ever imagine.
