well, i have heard John talk a lot about how he came to faith and talked about his journey. To be honest its great to hear how an ordinary person can find faith and how as a married couple they support each other with their faith. I have witnessed many things over the past few years and through knowing John i can see that God works in amazing ways. i come from a family where the older generation has strong faith, My uncle is a licenced reader in a Methodist church and i have a relative (distant cousin) who is an ordained minister in a Presbyterian church in Northern Ireland. I regularly touch base with Alistair and can ask him questions about faith if i wish too, I messaged today to find out that 7th April 2000 was the date he was ordained and there i am asking him about his calling and vocation!!! Just as i thought Alastair had a long journey and he's always needed by his congregation, even during lockdown Alastair was on Facebook doing prayers and readings. Alastair knew from his time at college what he wanted to do and did many tests which included a overnight stay and a psychological test, this sounds quite a difficult thing to go through, but with God and faith its possible.

In what way do you think ordination is about being as well as doing? ordination is also about setting an example of living the life that God wants us to do, those ordained demonstrate gods love and teachings. What has struck you from this session? I don't think that ordination is possibly a lonely thing, its a busy hectic life always in demand Had you ever thought about the public nature of ordained ministry and how lonely it might be at times? I have thought a lot about the fact that you always have to be available for people and the fact that you need to be able to communicate in so many different ways to meet the needs of so many individuals in this life. ​ Had you realised that ordained people are called to be the servants of the congregation as well as having the care for all the souls in the parish? What skills and gifts do you think the Anglican Church should seek in candidates who feel called to this ministry? looking and thinking about this question i feel that candidates should be able to communicate in many different ways not just by standing at the front of a church service and preaching, they should be able to become involved with the community and not be afraid to learn new skills such as learning to use Makaton, symbols and using technology more to reach out to those around us. As a person with a hidden disability I see that those with more visible disabilities are more distant and often forgotten so a good candidate should not ne afraid to try and reach these folks. ​ What are the challenges, do you think, that face an ordained person in today’s church compared to the early church? I think the language used today could possibly be a challenge, as the words in the bible have multiple meanings and in modern society they need to be translated, a little like translating the meaning of Shakespeare's plays. I also think that the way the world is today could also be a challenge , family dynamics have changed, politics is always changing and also climates changing has a big effect on us today ​ What are the gifts that God has given to you to enable you to contribute to the ministry of the gathered Church? I hope that the gifts I have received can be used within the church, I was not blessed to have my own children but care for others as a foster carer and through this i have learnt to share my love, knowledge and also learn about keeping children safe in society today and understanding the impact of trauma on their lives and that i can use this with youth that are visiting our church with their foster carers. I have learnt that through trauma a deep bond with God can develop as those individuals learn that God will always be with them and that the words of a bible do not change, this has been witnessed through my own daughter and she loves checking that bibles with different covers still say the same words and that in the beginning there was light!!! I hope that i can encourage those wit h extra needs that Jesus didn't forget us and he went out of his way at times to meet different people with differing disabilities and ailments. I also have been blessed with the skills to learn and use Makaton as a means of helping those around me understand what is happening/being said around them.

this is where my journey began and where i hope that one day it will lead to again as i still feel that this is something i feel strongly about, its just the world isn't ready yet for me or the way that i learn things. I am still and will be juggling being a full time carer and the time to study. I feel that i have a lot to offer as a reader as i am able to reach out to those with additional needs and those who communicate in a different way to us. I hope at present that i support John and encourage the youth that have started to join us, we have seen more youth and young people visiting more frequently, i am hoping that i am encouraging them to seek God and ask questions about what is happening or being said. finding that balance between everything is one of my goals to achieve and increase the time i spend with God . the roles within church are amazing and the fact that working together in a productive team, you can reach out and get others around to listen and hearing all the different ways people preach helps with keeping attention and tell what God wants us to hear. Everyone is blessed with a different gift and when tehy are put together something beautiful and amazing can happen.

(1) Who or what do I pray for? (Where are my prayerful energies spent?) I spend a lot of time in prayer, praying for the situations i find myself in and how i can resolve problems. I try to encourage my girls to have the relationship with God and be able to spend time in prayer with him and to talk about all sorts of things such as friends, events around them. My youngest encourages prayer as she takes your hand and initiates the lords prayer which is important, its important for us to be able to prayer as we were taught. (2) How am I an embodiment of blessing in my everyday faith and life? How sacrificial am I? I give up a lot of things and time , sometimes i feel really annoyed that i live how i do, but... i wouldn't change a thing!! I hope that i show others that we are taught to love all the people around us no matter how different we are. In life i open my house to youngsters who have experienced loss, grief and abuse. I hope that i help them to recover and that its ok to be themselves. I hope that i show Gods love for all people through the fostering work that I do. (3) How involved am I in the edges and margins of Church life and everyday society? In church and in society i am involved by working with the youth, children and those with additional needs to be able to access services and understand what is happening around them. I hope that i encourage them to feel that they are valued within our church. I talk with my social worker about faith, she is a lady with a deep faith herself (catholic) and I found recently she said a prayer in front of myself that i will find time to fit everything in, including finishing this course!! I used to be scared sharing my faith but now finding that i am getting more comfortable telling folks that i have a strong faith. (4) In what ways is my worship a reflection of heaven and an offering for the world? I'm an avid kitchen and car worshipper!! I listen to ucb and i have a partner of no faith, yet we have had some interesting conversation about the bible and what things mean. I'm not sure I'm answering this correctly. I find that i love it when my non verbal child gets you to sing lord of the dance with her and she bounces in delight. My offering to the world is there is joy no matter what your disability is. 1) How does an understanding of the ministry of the church help to shape individual vocation? ministry isn't reserved for the building!! i firmly believe in reaching out to others around us , may that be through assisting food bank, running to cash and carry to get foods, through the children i care for and those professionals i meet on my journey. I believe that we are all given different gifts and that when we work together its better, as you need a left hand and a right hand to hold and move a box (2) What personal experience do you have of church either enabling or restricting your sense of vocation? I feel that at times i am restricted by as i would like to complete the readers course, but my pathway has been changed but there's hope it could still redirect itself, but i can still make a difference. I get annoyed sometimes by the fact that after 45 years i became unmasked and my dyspraxia came through and i couldn't keep up with the group. on the other hand i am enabled by John as i can use my strengths and can support others coming into the church, we recently have had the joy of other foster carers coming in to support a youngster and i have been able to connect and give them moral support.

sat here thinking about folks i know through going to church services, there's a lot of retired folks but they are so busy involved in the care of the building, there's folks that are carers, working in schools, lots of us that are involved with the food bank and those involved in warm spaces and trying to get things organised. I think that every member of our church has connections throughout the community reaching out to others and serving others. by living out my everyday faith I hope that i show that i love all my neighbours, this is shown through caring for the girls the meetings that i have to attend, i have been doing food bank for about 7 years and that again i show my love and compassion in what i do.

well I'm a few weeks behind and looking at what i had written this time last year. I have had a few testing weeks caring for my girls but in see this as a test to my calling and the vocation that i have found myself in, i find myself looking at this unit in a more mature way than my previous involvement. looking at the poem, i see elements of people i have met in my life and the fact that God has given us all special gifts for us to use. God also puts people in our lives as we need them too. an example i can share is that my youngest is severely disabled and that we are supported by an amazing medical team, but what surprised me is that important people such as Racheal our kite nurse has a strong faith and we've bumped into her when we've attended events at other churches and we had an amazing music therapist who again was strong in faith and was very surprised to know my youngest has a strong faith and knew that she had changed the words to her favourite worship song!! My song is about love and care. my children came at a time it was discovered i couldn't have my own, my gift is love and patience and being able to feel their feelings, and being able to advocate for them to make them stronger and happier. We say family isn't about blood its about love and faith. I'm also advocating that having a disability visible or hidden can be an advantage. reflecting "It is very important to distinguish what I love doing for its own sake from what I may want to do because of the rewards it may bring me." when looking at this quote i would love a simple easy life, lots of money, but i accept how life is today and I'm eternally grateful for what the father has given me. I fell in love with girls and feel they were sent with a purpose, my eldest to open my eyes and my heart and then 29 children later my youngest to say that i can do this as was about to stop fostering after having a tough placement that i ended. you see people showing off there acts of kindness on Facebook, looking for reward from others, i muchly prefer to do things without drawing attention to myself. as a carer for 2 girls i frequently get comments that i am good and that others couldnt do what i do, but i prefer just to go by as cant see why im so different as all we do is give the girls the best life we can as a loving family. Matthew 6:3-4 New International Version 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. i find this verse quite important to me as i don't like the attention for the things i do to serve others, i find it frustrating when you see people posting on social media about things they have done. is this just a me thing???

Church isn't just about worship. Church is the building. It's the people inside it that makes the difference. looking at what we do as a community other that worship, we have coffee mornings, games nights, warm spaces, craft and chat. These are open to members of our congregation and also to the community, its a chance for us to love our neighbours as the bible tells us to do and share our resources. Its a chance to reach out to those who become curious and want to know more about God in a welcoming way.

Please note I use a dictaphone app to enable me to complete entering text on to the forum, typing can be tiring for me after a while, although i do proof read there may be a few errors. Discipleship to me means about learning about God, Jesus and a way to live life. It also means sharing knowledge where I can and also encouraging people to reach out and find faith for themselves in a positive way. Limitations. I have dyspraxia, and I will not let it stop me reaching my dreams or my potential. I intend to use it to show that being different is good and just because we learn in a different way and it may take a little bit longer to reach my goal. I will not let it deter me. I hope from my journey of faith and learning. I can show people around me that a disability doesn't mean being unable. In the Bible there are lepers, people with epilepsyand other disabilities and God love them just as much as those without any extra needs. Examples I can give is Mark 9. Verses 17 to 22. Matthew 17 verses 14 to 20, Luke 9. verse 42 they these all mentioned somebody with epilepsy. Matthew Chapter 4 verse 24 talks about mental health and epilepsy and paralysed. Mark Nine, so verse 25. Talks about somebody being mute and deaf. Matthew 12. There's 22 talks about somebody being blind and mute. I don't think that Jesus seeks to cover up our pasts. During Covid and lock down my disability started to show and through starting the readers course we discovered that i had managed to mask really well my dyspraxia and now it is a time to embrace it and use it to help others to access church buildings and to realise its ok to have a faith. I use my skills and knowledge to help those with additional needs to be able to access faith and be able to join in with worship.

I had to look and think about this as to be honest i really don't venture far as im normally there at church with at least 1 child with me, anyhow the frontage looks tidy and there are posters telling those that come past about what activity or celebration is coming to our church, the pathway leads us to the front door. Sometimes the door way is littered with smoking parafanalia, i am happy to assist in sweeping the area as i think it takes a congregation to look after a building not a single person. the clock is now working and the bells ringing, people are quick to notice when they stop but it does not encourage more to step through the door. I have as chaplain sat and listened to a man who visits a grave regularly, he just wanted chance to talk about life as it was, he talked about helping with maintaining the grounds and i let him know when our lovely man was about to see him as help in any form would be welcomed.

thinking about call and vocation, i see god working in creation, through the living and the dying and new life and in everything that i am surrounded by. God created the world as told in genesis and i see that by teaching my family about recycling and caring for their world we are following Gods teaching on looking after his creation. When thinking about the church, I see the building and it being a place that people can come together. The actual church i see are the people (the congregation)who come to worship and the people and families that come together to form a new family celebrating and worshipping God. God brings together people. We need to care for the world and the environment, without this we would not be able to live. God taught us in the beginning to care and recycling, looking after oceans, looking after other nations is also important to. God teaches us to love our neighbour as our self.