I have believed in God for as much of my life as I can remember and attended Church for most of it too. These days this is unusual. Much of the rest of my life, though, has been very usual. As with most people, I have experienced many highs and lows.
Aged 15, I first felt God was nudging me towards ordained ministry. I explored this over the next 7 years, culminating in a year working for the Church. This showed me that I wasn’t ready yet for what God had planned for me. I needed more experience of life. 26 years later, after much nudging and a whole load more experience, I have returned to the ‘question’ that seems to have dominated my life and have resolved to test whether it is indeed God doing the nudging!
My journey started within the Anglican Church and this has played a formative role in my understanding of God and the Church. I am now a Methodist, not through any particular difference with the Anglican Communion, but just through landing in a particular place at a particular time – it just seems right – perhaps it is God’s plan.
Feeling the nudging to deal with the question once and for all, I enrolled on the ‘Encounter’ programme, run by West Yorkshire Methodists to explore questions of vocation. I have also now undertaken to train as a Local Preacher within the Methodist tradition and, after an initial meeting, am awaiting my ‘Note’ to assist and preach. Being technologically minded, I have created this blog (and associated Tweets as ‘PreacherOnNote’) to articulate my journey and share my thoughts and experiences as God makes known his plans for me. I know there will be many others on a similar journey and that there will be moments of doubt but also joy along the way. The journey so far has been a long one – I feel excited but also humbled by what may lie ahead.
PreacherOnNote