VOCATION VOICES PERSONAL STORIES OF GOD S CALL TO CHRISTIAN MINISTRY + 2017 / 2018 God s leading me God s gentle Committing my step by step nudge life 5 6 4
Contents Welcome. 1 Are you ready to grow?. 2 A pioneer but didn't know it. 3 God s leading me step by step.. 4 God s gentle nudge 5 Committing my life 6 What do you want with my life?. 7 Who to contact 8
THE BISHOP S WELCOME 1 Called, but what for? God has called you by name and made you his own. The bishop says those words to every confirmation candidate just before the laying on of hands. It is a deeply powerful moment and they are powerful words. They echo God s reassurance to the people of Israel voiced by the prophet Isaiah; Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. Isaiah 43 v1 & 2 But, and it s a very big but, knowing that God has called you is the easy part, knowing what you are called for is much more difficult. I believe the what for question is the work of a lifetime. It is also work that we achieve best when shared with others. I believe it is an important work of the Church helping every Christian to know their calling and to discern where and for what God has called them. It is exciting work and in the Peterborough diocese we are blessed with a wonderful vocations team, who are always willing to help people explore God s call. We need each other s help to make the most important life decisions. I know that when I have had difficult choices to make in how best to follow Jesus, alongside my private prayer and bible reading, conversations with other Christians have been crucial in helping me to see the right way forward. When the great anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce was agonising over how to make the most of his life, the equally great Methodist leader John Wesley wrote to him with the assurance that once you find God s purpose for your existence, nothing can stop you and God together achieving great things. I pray that every one of us have the discernment to hear God s call and the courage to obey it, that together we may achieve great things. With my prayers and best wishes,
2 Are you ready to grow? M y attention has been drawn to a new report compiled by the Lay Leadership Task Group which was approved by the Archbishops Council in September 2016. The conclusion of this report stated that the laity in the Church of England must be treated as equal with the clergy if the Church is to grow. The report identified the need for two shifts in culture and practice which were deemed by the Archbishops Council to be critical to the flourishing of the Church and the evangelisation of the nation. These two new principles agreed by the Task Group were: Until together, ordained and lay, we form and equip lay people to follow Jesus confidently in every sphere of life in ways that demonstrate the gospel, we will never set God s people free to evangelise the nation. Until laity and clergy are convinced, based on their baptismal mutuality, that they are equal in worth and status, complementary in gifting and vocation, mutually accountable in discipleship, and equal partners in mission, we will struggle to form Christian communities to evangelise the nation. One member of the Task Group said that it was an opportunity to foster a culture of change in the way that the laity were perceived. The report was as much about growing discipleship and sharing the faith, as lay ministry. It is saying that the people who are conscious, committed disciples need to be living the Christian life, not just through the Church, but in the workplace, the home, everywhere. So, there is a much bigger, bolder vision for the role of laity which sees people as absolutely the front line in every sphere of life and aspect of the world. It is about everyone being a Christian leader in their own context, influencing others and therefore growing in confidence. It is about creating Churches which are consciously seeking to equip and send people out as Christians. If you are ready to grow and take risks in the service of Jesus Christ and his Church, and you want to help others to do the same, come and have a conversation with me at Bouverie Court, which is the centre of support in our diocese for mission and ministry to the parishes. There are many and diverse ways of growing and developing in your community of faith and my role is to help you to discern your vocation in order to serve your local community and share the good news of the Resurrection. Revd Jenny Opperman Lay Vocations Officer
A pioneer but didn t know it 3 I t was a premiership footballer who first suggested I had a calling to ordained ministry. I had been quizzing him on his choice, baffling to me, to give up professional football and train for ordination, when he turned to me and said I think you d make a good vicar I was gobsmacked. My image of clergy was the bumbling bicycling old parson from Postman Pat why would I choose that! God had other ideas. He began reminding me of the sense of purpose and life I had experienced during a Gap year working for a Christian drug project in Hong Kong. Then out of the blue (I was walking past the pool at Skegness Spring Harvest) I had a very clear sentence in my head Actually, you know a few vicars who are not like that, and the lively curate when I was a teen came to mind. Slowly I began to realise this wasn t me making my own career choices but that I was being summoned. My local selection panel was a disaster. I was turned down flat with have you ever considered social work? I left confused and dejected and if it wasn t for a godly woman mentor may have nurtured bitterness and resentment. She, however, advised finding someone to talk it all through with basically counselling. To cut a long story short I realised I was a desperate people pleaser but with help began to address this pattern. 2 years later I went through selection but this time with the confidence to be, mostly, myself. Even then it was a conditional yes! My time training was great but part of me always felt a bit of an outsider. I love God and his Church but those round me seemed to thrive in church world in a way I just didn t. I had an itch to push boundaries and be on the edge. I chose placements with the Army, Police, outdoor pursuits or edgy churches anything but where the majority of ministry takes place. Pioneer ministry hadn t been invented then (except in Acts) I just thought I was being immature and not facing up to the reality of ministry until a tutor suggested I was made this way and this was God s calling too..i was made this way and this was God s calling too. Rev Charlie Nobbs Pioneer and New Initiatives Training Officer
4 God s leading me step by step M y name is Joshua Thorne and I am 26 years old. I moved to Northampton to explore being called to ordination and as part of that I joined the Echo intern scheme in September 2015 and for the last two years I have had the privilege of worshipping at St Giles Church, Northampton and being part of the staff team here. My journey of exploration began many years ago when I was a teenager. I remember different moments during times of prayer ministry having people tell me that there is a calling on my life, but back then I didn t really know what that phrase meant, and when I gave my life to Jesus, I knew that I was giving everything to him but I didn t know what that looked like either. My journey has therefore been one of discovery of walking step by step and seeing where God is leading me, learning who he has made me to be and realising what he has gifted me to do. As a 15 year old, I began leading musical worship on a guitar in my youth cell group and this later led to joining and leading our youth band, and as I got older I became more of a leader in my youth group. After school, I did a year at a Bible College in Oxford and in that year experienced a wider range of ministry, did some study and mission abroad. In the year that followed I studied music and then did a degree in theology at London School of Theology. In the year that followed my degree I took time to work out what God was calling me to next. I realised that I had a heart for the church, that over the years I had been given many opportunities to experience many different areas of ministry which I had loved, and the gifts that I had seemed to match that type of work. All of this then seemed to point towards pursuing a vocation to church ministry, and this led to me moving to Northampton to explore ordination. In my two years here, I have experienced God s confirmation of this calling through growing to understand and enjoy ministry life, receiving encouragement Joshua Thorne and support by many great people both lay and ordained, and finally by being recently recommended to start ordination training.
God s gentle nudge I came to faith in Cambridge in 1998, having been a successful atheist for most of my adult life. My first church was large and evangelical, and I fitted in easily playing in the worship band and running the information desk. Gradually, more tasks accrued and I became the coordinator of home groups. Apart from an early short-lived burst of enthusiasm, a fuller ministry didn't occur to me. But God does seem to nudge us gently in directions we might not think of on our own. After meeting Lorraine (who is now my wife) I moved to Northampton in 2011, and joined her church for a while. And then, almost accidentally, discovered Emmanuel at Weston Favell Lorraine had gone to a service there, and needed a lift home. If you've been to Emmanuel, you'll know that it's a little bit unusual. For a start, it looks like a bunker, rather than a church, and it's ecumenical part Anglican, part Methodist, part Baptist, and partly lots of other things. Sometimes it seems quite eccentric, but underlying that surface is a deep-seated faith, and God's hand is definitely in there moving the congregation and its leaders. The attraction was very strong, so I decided It has been fulfilling and demanding, and it's only really just starting. to visit properly, and Lorraine came with me. As we left, Revd. Cannon Margaret did the typical vicar thing of spotting the strangers, and during that conversation, Lorraine let on that I could play the violin a bit. A week later I was part of an impromptu duo playing music for the candlelit carol service. After a few weeks of trying not to be noticed, I felt that I was being called to do something more to use the gifts I had, in Emmanuel, in a way that I hadn't before. I spoke to Margaret, and she suggested that I consider Reader Ministry. That was three years ago. I was accepted as a trainee, and have just completed training. But Margaret didn't wait she had me preach my first sermon before training began, and I've been a part of the ministry team at Emmanuel ever since. It has been fulfilling and demanding, and it's only really just starting, but it seems to be where God thinks I should be! 5 Nick Tippler
6 Committing my life Imogen Allen I currently live in Rushden and work for Whitefriars church as a Parish worker. Working in Christian ministry has been something I was always drawn to. I remember working as a hairdresser and not being able to stop talking about Jesus. I would often spend most of my free time in the church and would help out wherever possible. I just couldn t get enough of church. It was back in Scarborough that a vicar helped me to start exploring the possibility of ordination. She saw something in me and encouraged me to attend events for young people who were considering ordination. I had always naturally been a leader and knew that my relationship with God needed to be whole hearted and shape my life. When worshipping God I would commit my life and would promise to do anything to please Him and grow His church. It was within this intense prayer that I would feel a sense of Him asking me to be a church leader. At the time I was worshipping within a Pentecostal church and so wondered if this would be a calling to be a Pastor. Once I had questioned this calling with others and prayed into it, I decided that I needed to take a step in the ministry direction. I initially applied for a Pentecostal theological college and realised at the age of 18 I would need to attend a sixth form in order to gain entry. I applied out of faith and started my A Levels. Over the two years I felt that leadership in the Pentecostal church wasn t right for me. I had started my Christian life in the Church of England and wanted to return there. This meant a shift in my plan. Thankfully the Vicar who had always been invested in me recommended I join the internship programme in Kettering. I took her advice and have had two years of intense and incredible ministry. Within this time I started meeting with Steve Benoy and we continued to explore my calling. This time of exploration has been vital. I have read many books of wisdom and inspiration. I have spoken to vicars of multiple parishes and been asked some of the toughest questions of my life. Through questioning your calling you re able to strip back to that initial seed of passion that God planted. I look forward to a ministry of innovation and restoration. I was able to strip back to that initial seed of passion that God planted.
What do you want with my life? 7 I wonder if I would have gone to university if I was needing to make that choice today? I come from that generation where it was all paid for, and I just opted for the subject I was best at music. I had no idea what I would do after studying music, just that if I had to choose one thing to focus on for 3 years, this was the obvious thing. Now I can see that the experience of university brought so much more than specialist knowledge about a particular subject, but young people today need to ask hard questions about whether the experience is worth the debt. Yet on the other hand, many I meet know that there is more to life than hurtling along the train tracks of study and qualifications towards a destination of a dream job. And many are left feeling there is a big fail sign around them if by their 20 s their life-plan is still unresolved. Let s be honest, how many people in their 40 s upwards ever imagined they would be where they are, doing what they are doing when they were in their 20 s. Some, to be fair, but not the majority. Revd Canon Steve Benoy, Director of Ordinands Vocation & Formation Team leader Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on what you think you know. In all your ways submit to Him, and He will make straight your paths (Proverbs 3:5-6) These verses have been etched in my heart (see v.3 of the same chapter) for many years. Are the twists and turns of our lives accidental or purposeful, our decisions or God s guidance, the fruit of our mistakes or God s redeeming work? Probably some combination of all of these. I love a line in the book Choice, Desire & the Will of God (David Runcorn): Guidance is not a technique to be mastered but a life to be entered. The writer continues: The question what decision is God guiding me to make is part of a much bigger and more important question: what kind of person is God willing that I become. Towards the end of my second year at university, I could see the train tracks were going to run out and I could only see my personal train falling off the end with nothing to direct me. I had become a Christian about 2-3 years before, and only then did it occur to me to ask God what do you want with my life? Actually that s a pretty good question for every Christian to ask every day. But I knew I needed to ask it in a more profound way. I decided to ask some friends what they thought I should do next. 4 friends to be precise. Over the phone over the course of 30 minutes one afternoon. All of them said had I ever thought of being a vicar? The honest answer it had never crossed my mind once. Don t imagine that this was everything sported out in an instant. It was very confusing and it was 10 years before I was actually ordained. But the prayerful question got me started. What does the Lord want with your life? Today. What does that say to you about the way he is calling you to follow and serve Him?
8 Who to contact FOR ORDAINED MINISTRY: The Revd Canon Steve Benoy Diocesan Director of Ordinands Vocation & Formation Team leader Bouverie Court, The Lakes, 6 Bedford Road, Northampton NN74 7YD steve.benoy@peterborough-diocese.org.uk 01604 887047 FOR LAY MINISTRY: The Revd Jenny Opperman Lay Vocations Officer jenny.opperman@peterborough-diocese.org.uk 07912 380464 / 01604 887067 You will also find plenty of information on our website at: www.peterborough-diocese.org.uk/called