Preparing for Ordained Ministry

I enjoyed my training. It was in my time there that I reflected at depth on more sacramental forms of worship. On placement I was in an Anglo-Catholic parish, which for me made some important connections between my childhood Afro-Caribbean Pentecostal church, and this Anglo-Catholic worship. I admired that it did not chase culture, but actually felt different to what you do with the rest of your week, there is an other-worldliness that reflected some of the mystery of God. I explored that much more, and by the time I left to become a curate I ended up in a church closer to the Anglo-Catholic tradition than the Open Evangelical church I was sent from.

Richard Springer

I believe God calls a whole variety of people to serve him in ministry, which is demonstrated so clearly in the 1 Corinthians 12: 12-27. Whether we are called to serve as a priest or any other member of the church, we each have a part to play.

I didn’t respond well to God’s calling on my life, as I felt it was a rather silly idea! As a wheelchair user I was expecting a lot of negative perceptions as to whether I could fulfil the calling that I had. My disability is one part of what makes me who I am, but it isn’t the only thing that defines me. I bring all of me into ministry, not just my disability. We need each and every member to play their role in God’s church.

I was ordained in 1996. My Diocesan Director of Ordinands was brilliant. He said that “If God was calling me to be ordained, then it was the role of the diocese to enable that to happen”. None of the process was negative in regard to the way people responded to my disability, indeed I think if anyone had said anything negative then I would have been happy to call it a day. But God had other ideas!

When I mentioned that I felt I was being called by God into ordination to the church leadership the only response I got was “if God was calling you then it is the best job in the world, but if he wasn’t then it was the worse job in the world”.

The main struggle I had was more to do with finding an accessible Theological College. At the time the choice was very limited. Nonetheless I found the experience of theological college a really exciting and challenging time, and during that time I was able to start looking at a biblical message of disability.

If there is anyone who is considering whether God is calling them towards ordination then I would want to encourage them to pursue it. It may not lead to ordination, but God reveals himself through the process towards whatever he is calling us to. There is nothing better than serving God in whatever form it may be.

John Naudé