Might you be next?

The Very Rev Dr Martin Fair reflects on where people are called to serve.

REMARKABLY, there are still people who are saying ‘yes’ to God’s call upon their lives – remarkable, that is, against a narrative of interminable decline and doomsday scenarios.

Some would argue that now is the time to abandon the sinking ship; what rational person would even think about answering a call to ministry when the future is so uncertain?

And yet the Towards Ministry Team engages with men and women on a daily basis who are setting out to discern what God is calling them to and who are excited about what that might look like. That God is still in the business of calling is surely evidence enough that it’s too early to be concluding that the race is up for the Church of Scotland.

Some of that calling is, as has always been the case, to serve locally within a congregation or perhaps an outreach project. Very recently a woman in Dundee has agreed to use her financial skills to serve as treasurer within her congregation. Elsewhere in the country a group of local people have launched a repair shop as a means of engaging with and serving their wider community.

Long live the understanding that all God’s people are called to ministry and that it’s no less worthwhile because it doesn’t involve formal titles and recognition. What are your gifts and how might you use them right where you are? (Romans 12:4-7)

And yet for all that, there are those who are called to step up into ministry in the more formal sense of how we use that word. Such people are no more important but certainly are vital, whether being called to serve as Readers, Ordained Local Ministers (OLMs), Deacons or Ministers of Word and Sacrament. Thank God that God is calling and people are responding!

Kirsty responded to a growing sense of call and having completed her training and preparation is now our newest qualified Deacon, serving as part of the team at Richmond Craigmillar Church in Edinburgh. She is exemplifying the ‘word and service’ motto for which Deacons are known, is thriving in the work and longs that through her ministry many will come to hear of the love of God and know it to be real.*

As recently as last September, Steven was ordained and inducted as an OLM at Dalmuir Barclay Church in the Clydebank area, having responded to God’s call upon his life. He too talks about his desire to work with the congregation that the love of God might be made known widely known across their community. And importantly, Steven speaks of being ‘where God needs me to be.’ That’s what happens when God calls and people respond.

And in November, John and Sally were set apart by the Presbytery of Fife to serve as readers – the eight and ninth new readers in 2023, each in their own way responding to God’s call. These readers are serving in areas as diverse as Skye and Glasgow and all the way to Brussels!

Alex was ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament last October and describes being inducted to the charge of Kilmore and Oban, linked with Tiree as something of a homecoming – again that sense of responding to God’s call at the right time in his life. Alex describes the ways in which he initially tried to ignore his calling but encourages others to ‘pray and listen to where you feel God is leading you…’

Remarkably, some might say, but wonderfully, people are responding to God’s call. What about you? Might you be next? 

* You can read Kirsty’s and the others’ full stories by searching the Church of Scotland website www.churchofscotland.org.uk

The Very Rev Dr Martin Fair is Pathways to Ministry Manager with the Church of Scotland.