09/05/2025
A former insurance worker and a priest who once worked in sales will speak of the sense of peace and purpose in finding their vocation in life, in a new film and online service launched this weekend.
The ‘Is it You?’ film and the Church of England’s national online service for Vocations Sunday will highlight the individual nature of each person’s vocation in life – and the sense of peace and purpose that hearing God’s call can bring.
Curate in Charge of St John’s Park, Sheffield, the Rev Luke Graham, (pictured, above) will open the online service with an appeal to viewers to consider what God is calling them to do in life, regardless of age.
“Whether you are nine years old or 99 years old, those questions are still relevant and they are still valid,” he says.
He tells the online congregation of his own call nine years ago when he left his sales job, realising that God was calling him to lead a church.
“Knowing that I am where God wants me and doing what he has called me to do, gives me a sense of peace and a sense of purpose,” he says.
Former insurance worker Iain Nash describes a ‘real sense of purpose’ on finding his vocation as a children’s and families minister at St Michael’s Church in Stoke Gifford, Bristol.
His message is echoed by Marcia Grant-Che, (pictured, below) a business studies teacher who is a Reader – or non-ordained minister – in St Oswald’s Church in Norbury, south west London.
‘I just felt such a sense of peace that I just knew it was God’s voice,” she says, describing her call to become a lay minister.
The online service will feature participants from the Ministry Experience Scheme – the year long placement run by the Church of England for young adults that has attracted more than 900 people over the last decade.
The Dean of Sheffield, Abi Thompson, who was baptised and confirmed at 18 years old, speaks of how singing sacred music in a choir as a university student helped her to sense God’s call in her life.
She says: “It was a very slow progression for me towards going away to train for ordination, but it was music that did it, it was the business of singing, what that made me feel, and the sense that God was present in that, and communicating to me through the action of singing in a choir.”
The Bishop of Chester, Mark Tanner, will emphasise the unique nature of each person’s vocation in his sermon for the online service.
“God is not in the sausage factory business, he is not in the business of taking you and making you just like everybody else,” he says.
“He is not in the business of repeating with you what he has done with other people. He calls you by name, he has a purpose for you and he longs to work with you.”
The Rev Canon Mel Takacs, of Bristol Cathedral, describes how she felt a calling to ordination only a year after becoming a Christian.
“This isn’t a journey that you take alone, please do speak to someone, there is no other feeling quite like finding your place in God’s world and your own calling,” she says.
The Rev Jonathan Lloyd, Vicar of St Michael's with St Mary’s Church in St Albans, describes how there had once been a time when becoming a priest was the ‘last job I would have imagined myself doing in the whole world.’
“It took one conversation, one little step, to open a door which I didn’t even know was there,” he said.
The Rev Helen Fraser, Head of Vocations for the Church of England, said: “I am confident that God continues to equip his Church by calling people from all walks of life to serve and lead in worshipping communities.
“If you have a sense that might be you, please don’t squash it to the back of your mind. Please have courage to take a next step.
“That’s likely to involve learning more about vocations to ministry, talking to trusted friends and your church leader or looking up your diocesan vocations team.
“There’s also lots of information and a contact form on the Church of England website. If you are setting out on this journey, please be assured of our prayers in the National Vocations Team.”
The national online service for Vocations Sunday will be broadcast on Facebook and YouTube on Sunday at 09:00.