Dobbyn's interest in Christianity stems from his Irish Catholic background, which he says "has always led me to a huge yearning for meaning-true meaning that you can reach out and touch." He became a Christian when he was 18 years old. Today, he is part of a church plant in South London with an emphasis on making disciples. Dave Dobbyn was born on March 10, 1975, in London, England. His father was English and his mother was Irish. He has one brother who is one year younger than him. When he was three years old, his family moved to Surrey, a county in Southern England. They have been living there ever since. During his childhood, his parents would take him to many churches around London where he would watch people singing and listening to preachers' speeches without feeling like it was required or expected of him. This made him feel disconnected from God until he reached the age of 18 when he decided to follow Jesus Christ. He attended several different churches after this decision but they all had one thing in common: music was not important there. There were no drums, no guitars, nothing to make worship exciting or passionate. In 1996, when Dave Dobbyn was 15 years old, a young singer named George Michael died. The news devastated him and his family because they were friends of George Michael.