As a child, I was told that women couldn’t be priests. Nothing was said of what women or men or young people or children could do as Christians if they weren’t priests. The door was slammed! And this is how it’s felt for many people over the years. I am so glad to say that this isn’t how it is. There are very many ministries available to women, men and young people which could include prayer, preaching, teaching, telling, serving, shaping lives and communities through outreach, protest and social justice engagement and by living out our faith in work and leisure places, college or school.
• What’s your particular passion and how might God want to use this for the church and the world?
• When you see others doing things, do you experience particular stirrings or an inner voice telling you, ‘you could do that’?
At the Lay Ministers LifeCall Event, doors will be open. You will hear of possibilities. There will be personal stories of what people are doing and the difference it’s making. You will be encouraged and you will receive information about training and mentoring. The conference will open the door on exploration and discernment and you will meet like-minded people and find companions, some of whom may become life-long friends.
One of my first events in this Diocese was as a speaker at the Reader and Local Missional Leader Day Conference. This was a great event, full of liveliness, conversation and creative imagination as people like you and me dared to step up and step out. Together we were discerning the signs of the Spirit of God and the shape of the Church and searching for ways of being in step with what God is doing to grow a bigger church, making a bigger difference in the world.
At our baptism, we are called to believe and trust in God. When considering next steps in how we serve God, we need to turn to our baptism promise, believing and trusting that God calls, sends, anoints, equips and empowers. We do not do this in our own strength – we do it in God’s strength, and this is where we find our strength. And so I encourage you to take the next step.
Please join me at the LifeCall event, which will show different possibilities and paths available to you. Don’t put it off any longer. And why not bring a friend!
With love in Christ
+Bev