One of the best things about being a Director of Ordinands is hearing peoples’ stories and the way God has met them, is changing them and inviting them to respond obediently and sacrificially as they consider a call to ordination. It’s wonderful! It often reminds me of my own faith journey. One key moment for me was sitting on my bed as a teenager listening to terrible Christian rock music. (A wonderfully faithful but strict upbringing meant no secular music. Instead I discovered the delights of One Bad Pig (punk), X-Sinner (AC/DC rip-off), and the like. I’m really not sure which would have been worse…). One band (DeGarmo and Key – don’t bother looking them up!) had a song called The Pledge with the refrain, “He died for me, I’ll live for him.” To my forming teenage faith, despite the simplicity, this was a profound realisation and moment of calling. It began in me a desire to serve wherever Christ led. And this weekend we’ll celebrate 29 people who have similarly heard God’s call, each in their own way, and responded by giving their all to serve within the Church as ordained ministers. In their ordination service, the 16 new deacons will hear the Bishop’s charge “to proclaim the gospel in word and deed, as agents of God’s purposes of love… to serve the community in which they are set… to search out the poor and weak, the sick and lonely and those who are oppressed and powerless… that the love of God may be made visible.” To be ordained, is to serve within the Church, in Christ’s strength and for his glory. But even more fundamental is the belief that to be baptized is receive Christ’s commission, in everything, to live in Him and for Him. Is that a reminder you need to hear today? Do join in with the livestream of one of our four ordination services if you can www.cofeguildford.org.uk/ordinations. In so doing, perhaps it will give you opportunity to reflect afresh on your own journey, bringing a reminder of Christ’s gracious call, and opportunity to renew His vision for your life, service and ministry – lay or ordained.
Fire fighter Paul Burnett is to combine his duties with the role of curate in a parish church.Paul will continue to work as a fire fighter in Whitby in North Yorkshire during his curacy in the Parish of Whitby.He first began to make sense of his faith and felt called to service of some kind in Christ after becoming a Christian at the age of 15."I spent the next 20 years arguing with God and finding legitimate reasons not to follow my calling; I realised that this is God's time and he wasn't going to let me go,” he said.Paul joined the Royal Navy at 21 where he was under the charge of Chaplain the Revd Mike Brotherton, who was pivotal in his vocation. “The Armed Forces have a really great tradition when it comes to faith and the work of the chaplains is just amazing. Revd Mike Brotherton’s influence stayed with me all the way through the journey,” he added.Paul moved to work for the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service in 2000.He trained for ordination with St Hild College from 2018 and was ordained as Deacon in York Minster. "My journey to ordination has been a long one, but God has walked with me all the way,” he said.
Heath Monaghan first felt God calling him to be ordained when he was 13. More than three decades later, on Saturday 26 June, Heath, 45, expects to be tearful during the ordination service at Portsmouth Cathedral, as he fulfils his lifelong ambition.Heath grew up in a coal-mining community near Durham and aspiring to be a vicar did not quite fit in with people’s expectations. “When I was 13 and being confirmed into the Church, I felt a calling to ministry,” said Heath, but “initially I ran in the opposite direction” he recalls, before re-discovering his faith in his early 20s.Heath’s career path has ultimately revolved around helping the Church to engage more with those who do not necessarily have faith.His new role will be as a ‘pioneer minister’, creating new worshipping communities in the Isle of Wight, designed for those seeking less-traditional styles of church. The first time he applied to be ordained as a clergyman, around 10 years ago, he was told to wait.But before finally fulfilling his calling to ordination, Heath has been pioneering mission social action projects and new worshipping communities, offering opportunities for people to explore the Christian faith. This had included starting up a café church, a church in people’s houses called Dwell and founding ‘Aspire Ryde’ – which involved transforming a large redundant church building into a thriving community hub – visited by thousands of people each week.Aspire Ryde has been especially busy during the pandemic, with the team offering food hampers and parcels to those in need, collecting prescriptions and offering phone support for those isolating.“I feel equipped and ready for what God is going to do next” says Heath, as he looks ahead to the future.
More than a thousand homemade flowers have been draped from a church tower to help raise funds for its renovation and upkeep.Alison White, 64, from Barley, Hertfordshire, came up with the idea to decorate St Margaret of Antioch church in the village in February.She said it had helped villagers come together during the "glum" early weeks of the third UK lockdown. Decorations were posted in from the US, Australia and across the UK."In February, we still had a long stretch ahead of us and we didn't know for how long we would be isolating and we were all rather glum," Mrs White said. "So I thought, what can we do together, but not together?"The retired art and textiles teacher decided making flowers from fabric was the answer, and galvanised the community to knit, sew, and crochet to create the Barley Flower Tower. "I thought we would get between 300 and 500 flowers but never 1,452," she said.Over a period of four months, artwork came in from the village, surrounding areas and abroad.Mrs White said she hoped people would donate to the church "if the work makes you smile" so the building could be "brought up to date". She said it did not have any toilets or an inside tap, "so if you want a coffee after a service someone has to take the washing-up home".So far £825 has been raised for the church.When the flowers that have "cheered a lot of people up and helped give them focus" are taken down in September, its hoped they will have raised £10 each, to have generated £14,520 in total. "We've got to know people in the village we didn't know before and it has brought us much closer together," Mrs White added.Reverend Canon Ruth Pyke said: "The generosity of people in putting so much effort into this beautiful creation has been wonderful. "I hope we will inspire people from the wider community or who pass through the village to stop, admire our hanging and give generously."
