Staff and Leadership

Please find below an introduction to our church leaders and staff members.
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Simon Lawton
Senior Pastor
Simon was born and bred in Leicester which explains his love for the Foxes (Leicester City). He started his working life in retailing with WH Smith and Mercury News until God called him to ministry in 1985.

Shortly after this he met Julia and they attended the Elim Bible College in Nantwich from 1992-1996 where Simon studied for his BA Honours degree in Theology and Christian Ministry. During this period they felt the call of God to plant a church in Crewe (New Life Community Church) in 1995, overseeing the purchase and conversion of a derelict shopping centre into the New Life Centre in 1998. He was ordained as an Elim Pentecostal pastor in 1999. In 2008 Simon became the Senior Pastor at Newcastle Elim church. During this period they bought and established the Newcastle Dream Centre. Simon also led the Elim festival camp and was a member of Elim's North-East Regional Team. Simon joined Banbury Community Church as Senior Pastor in September 2021 where he helped to re-establish and build the church following the pandemic, during which time it joined the Elim network. It continues to flourish today.

Simon joined IIC as our Senior Pastor in May 2025. Simon comments; “I've been a Christian for almost my entire life and God has brought me through all the highs and lows....it's not easy being a Christian and my heart is to encourage people on their spiritual journey by sharing from what I’ve have learned. I also believe that life is a big adventure and that God's desire is for us to live life to the full by each one of us discovering our purpose and living it out for Him.”

Simon and Julia have five children and seven grand-children. His interests include running, football, watching sport and reading. Simon blogs at www.simonlawton.com and has written three books, “Imagine” (Trusting God like never before) , “Courage for the Discouraged” and "Pray Wait Trust" (What to do when God throws you a curveball). Julia has also written, “End of the beginning”. All their books are available on the website as e-books or from all good online bookstores.

Follow Simon on social media here:

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Adéwálé Adéfuyè (St Wale) Minister		David Howe Associate Pastor
St Wale joined the team in 2014 as a minister and serves as the overseeing pastor of Elim Pentecostal Church Colchester, the other congregation in the One Church, Two Locations partnership with Ipswich International Church. With an educational and professional background in engineering, accountancy, and waste management, St Wale brings a wide range of expertise to his leadership role. He is passionate about teaching and demonstrating the principles of the Kingdom of God, with a heart to help people engage meaningfully with Father God, who loves the world so deeply that He gave Heaven’s best for all. He is married to Sheila, and together they have two children.		David joined the team at IIC in 2017 as a Minister In Training. Prior to that, he trained at Kingdom Faith Training College under Colin Urquhart before returning to IIC. He was ordained in 2021 and leads our Youth Ministry, Limitless Ipswich.


		Marian Pintilie Pastor - Elim Romanian Branch
		Raised in a orthodox Christian family, the passion of serving and following God was born from an early age. Later in life he meet his wife in a Pentecostal prayer group, he gets baptised and completes a 2 year seminary at the Pentecostal Institute of Theology after which he graduated from the Faculty of Materials Science with a degree in metallurgy. This was followed by a 12-year period of service as a church leader at a Roma church in Galați County. In 2013 he arrived in the UK and after 2 years of service in the Romanian community, he became the leader of the Elim Church, Romanian Branch.

Elders


DENEST AKINTAJU		PHILIP OGUNNIYI
Denest became the finance officer/treasurer of IIC in 2011. He is a qualified accountant and a member of ACCA with over 30 years of experience both in practice and financial services. Denest is also involved in the couples ministry of IIC and the song worship team. Denest is married to Esther and has two children (now young adults).		Philip joined IIC in 2008. He serves as an elder and runs our online hosting. He also has a heart for evangelism and to grow more within the Church life. He also teaches Limitless Kids. Philip is married to Lolu and they have 2 teenage boys.


DANIEL JOLLEY		TRACEY MAUGÉ
Daniel joined IIC more than ten years ago and has served in various areas and functions. Dan works at Ipswich Hospital as a Macmillan lung cancer specialist nurse. Dan serves as an Elder along with being a teacher/ helper in Limitless Kids. He occasionally preaches and supports members of the church. Dan is married to Hannah and they have two children.		Tracey has been attending IIC since 2003. She joined the IIC staff team in 2021, with her primary role being PA to the senior minister and Church secretary. She also helps with Administration tasks and is involved in events and Hospitality and serving as an Elder. Tracey is blessed with four children and five grandchildren!


SOURIK LAHIRI
Sourik joined the IIC family in October 2016, shortly after he and his family emigrated to the UK. Sourik leads the welcome team and helps with online hosting, along with being an Elder. He works as an IT sales manager. Sourik is married to Piali and they have a son.

If you need to contact the Church, please visit the Contact Us page.

Hello and welcome to our church. If you are a new visitor, we have a page for you to get to know us and learn more about planning a visit.
Click here to see more.

Visitors click here.

Planning your Visit

A warm welcome waiting...

The following information is specifically for those planning to visit one of our locations, so that you know, beforehand, what to expect on a Sunday morning.

Where and When

Our Ipswich location meet's at Barrack Corner/Portman Road (details here) for our Sunday Celebration Gathering starting at 11:00am. For your first visit, we recommend arriving 10-15 minutes early to ensure you get a parking space and find somewhere to sit before the service begins. When you arrive, you should be greeted by someone on our Welcome Team who will be at the front door, ready to greet you.

We serve tea, coffee and biscuits after the 11am gathering. It is a great way to meet people and get to know more about the church. All refreshments are free.

Accessibility: There is wheelchair access, and a sound loop for anyone who needs it. Please let one of the Welcome Team know on your arrival and they will help you find the best place to sit to enable greater accessibility.

Our Service

The main service begins at 11am with a warm welcome from one of our team members. Then follows a time of sung worship, led by our band. We typically have 2 or 3 songs lasting approximately 20 minutes. Sometimes a person might pray out loud or read a small passage from the bible. Sometimes people share things that they believe God is saying to the whole church family. This might seem strange the first time you hear it but it’s all part of our connecting with God. We then share news and notices, usually about what’s going on in the life of the church. One of our leaders will then give a sermon that is bible based and that we can apply to our everyday life. We then finish with a final worship song. Sometimes there is an opportunity to receive prayer at the end of the service.

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What about my kids?

We have a great programme lined up for kids of all ages:

Creche (0 months to 3 years). Children under 6 months are welcome but must be accompanied by their parent/grown-up at all times. There are age appropriate toys provided
Limitless Kids (3 years to 11 years). Parents are encouraged to bring their children to register at the class. We have games, crafts and bible teaching aimed at this age range.
Limitless Youth (11 years to 18 years). Our youth meeting in Burlington Community hall over the road from the main service with age aimed teaching and discussion.

Children & Young People stay with their parent or grown-up at the start of the service for the welcome, songs and sometimes notices. We really value worshipping God all together as one family. Someone will announce that it’s time for the younger members to go to their various groups. You will need to go with your children to their groups and register them as part of our child safety policy.
Parents of young people will not need to register them before the session but will need to after.

The kids group activities vary depending on the age but usually there is a friendly welcome, bible stories, testimonies, praying, craft, drama, fun games and free play. Please pick your children up as soon as the service finishes at the front of the service hall.

Serving and volunteering

If you want to get involved in the life of the church and help us make gathering run smoothly or help out in the week, you can sign up to serve on a team by speaking to one of our leaders who will be happy to link you to the best person.

Connect groups

While Sundays are a great way to meet new people, it is often in smaller gatherings that you can really get to know someone. Being part of one of our cell groups allows you to make new friends, share together and support each other.
We have a variety of groups that meet throughout the week. Check out Connect Groups and see if there’s one that you could join, or we can put you in touch with a cell group leader who will be more than happy to invite you along to their group.

Watch online

Some people find that the best next step, before coming to a physical gathering, is to watch our Sunday gathering either live or after the service. Click on the live stream button.

Get in touch with us to plan your visit

If you would like to come and visit the church beforehand you are more than welcome! Get in touch and we can arrange a time that suits you.

Name:

Telephone:

Email Address:
Comments / Questions or anything you would like to say?

Next, we will contact you by email to say hello and help arrange anything necessary for your visit.