19 new deacons will be ordained at Christ Church Cathedral on 4 July. They will go on to serve their curacies throughout the diocese.
The ordination services will be led by Bishop Gavin and Bishop Dave. Bishop Gavin said:
"Ordination is a joyful and profound moment in the life of the Church, as these ordinands respond to God’s call and commit themselves to serve his people. We give thanks for their varied journeys of faith and vocation, and we pray that in their ministry they will know the presence and strength of the Holy Spirit as they begin this next chapter of service across our diocese."
Bishop Dave shared this prayer ahead of the service:
Lord Jesus Christ, you called your first disciples to follow you by the Sea of Galilee. We pray for those responding to the same call by being ordained in the Diocese of Oxford. Pour out your Spirit on them, that they may follow you faithfully and bring new life to others in your name. Amen
The 19 new deacons join Jane Barlow, also ordained as deacon earlier this year in a special service on Pentecost Sunday, bringing the total new deacons for the diocese this summer to 20.
Buckinghamshire
Once ordained, Neil will serve across the parishes of Waddesdon, Westcott, Over Winchendon and Fleet Marston within the Schorne Team in Buckinghamshire as a self- supported curate.
Neil is married to Tara and they have three adult children who work as a heating and ventilation engineer, police detective and firefighter.
Neil’s path to faith began unexpectedly later in life. Although his wife had always attended church, Neil himself had no faith background before 2015 or 2016. One Sunday, when his son wanted to attend church and Tara was unavailable, Neil took him along. Standing in the service beside his youngest son, he says he unexpectedly “cried for an hour” in what he describes as a life-changing, “road to Damascus” experience.
He was baptised in 2017 and confirmed a year later alongside his three children. Soon afterwards, sensing a call to ordained ministry, he approached the late Revd Canon David Meakin, who became a close friend and important guide during discernment. Neil began the formal discernment process in 2018, completing a year of formal diocesan training before studying at Ripon College Cuddesdon for the remaining two years.
Before ordination training, Neil worked in senior management roles, more recently in the surveying industry. He stepped away from corporate leadership and now works self-employed in the construction industry, allowing greater flexibility for ministry and study.
Neil is passionate about helping people discover faith at any stage of life and his own story shows that encountering God can happen unexpectedly and transform everything. He sees pastoral ministry as accompanying people in their own unique relationship with God, helping them explore faith while knowing they are valued and loved. Neil hopes ordained ministry will help him reach people who might never otherwise engage with church, particularly younger generations. He is keen to explore ways of making church feel relevant, welcoming and life-giving for young people.
Neil is especially looking forward to seeing his family gathered together for the ordination service. At the same time, he feels the absence of Revd Canon David Meakin deeply, wishing his friend could have been there to witness this next step, though grateful he knew Neil had been recommended for training before his death.
Training for ministry has taught Neil the importance of slowing down and paying attention to his relationship with God. He also reflects that theological education has been less about academic achievement and more about formation, self-understanding and learning to work alongside Christians from very different traditions and church contexts. He says, ministry is about acceptance, understanding and walking alongside others.
Reflecting on his faith journey, Neil says the message he most wants people to hear is that “God is good. Allow him in.” He speaks passionately about discovering unconditional love and grace, and says the song Blinded by Your Grace by Stormzy often moves him deeply because it reminds him that, through God’s grace, people are accepted, loved and never beyond redemption.
Lara will serve after ordination at Christ the Cornerstone, an ecumenical church in Milton Keynes, after several years ministering at St Paul’s Church, Slough. She trained for ministry at Ripon College Cuddesdon while balancing family life, full-time work and theological study.
Originally from Mumbai, Lara was raised in a Roman Catholic family and educated in a convent school. As a child she dreamed of becoming a nun, but her faith was deeply shaken after the sudden death of her mother from cancer when Lara was 18. Feeling abandoned by God, she spent many years angry, confused and disconnected from faith.
Her journey back to Christianity began unexpectedly through meeting her future husband online. After moving to the UK following their marriage, Lara slowly rediscovered faith through church life, Alpha and the support of a local vicar who helped her feel seen and valued during a difficult season of adjustment and loneliness. Both she and her husband eventually recommitted their lives to Christ, an experience Lara describes as transformative.
Over time, Lara became deeply involved in ministry through worship, children’s work, evangelism and teaching Bollywood dance in the community. Her passion for intercultural ministry grew particularly strongly at St Paul’s Slough, where she helped develop mixed-cultural home groups during Covid and later became an Intercultural Ministry Enabler. Through conferences, worship and community-building, she has worked to help people from different nations and backgrounds feel united in the Church.
Lara says ordination has been a gradual calling that unfolded over many years. Although the possibility was first suggested to her more than a decade ago, she initially struggled to imagine herself as an ordained minister. Through training and ministry experience, however, she came to see how God had been preparing her throughout her life: “from Bollywood to Bible”, as she puts it.
Theological training has taught Lara humility and compassion. Rather than giving her all the answers, she says it showed her the importance of loving people well even in uncertainty, recognising that only God fully knows each person’s story.
Looking ahead to ordination, Lara is especially excited that different parts of her life (family, friends, cultures and communities) will all come together in one place. Reflecting on her life so far, Lara describes God as leading her on “an adventurous journey”, guiding her across countries, careers and cultures while continually holding her hand along the way.
Heather will serve after ordination in the South Chiltern Benefice, continuing a lifetime of ministry, mission and pastoral care. Raised in the Baptist church by Christian parents, she says faith has been central to her life from childhood and that she sensed God’s calling from an early age.
After training as a nurse and midwife, Heather studied theology with the intention of becoming a missionary. She later spent several years serving with her husband and family in Papua New Guinea before returning to the UK, where she has worked for the past 20 years in pastoral care for the same missionary organisation.
Ordained ministry was not originally part of Heather’s plans. After completing lay ministry training and being licensed in 2020, she thought that would be the extent of her formal ministry. But as more people encouraged her to consider ordination, she says she decided simply to “touch the door, not push”. She found each step opening naturally before her. Throughout her life, she reflects, others have often recognised God’s calling before she did herself.
Heather trained at Ripon College Cuddesdon and says the experience helped prepare her for the practical realities of ordained ministry, while also teaching her the importance of working alongside Christians with different perspectives and traditions.
She is particularly drawn to pastoral ministry, mission and children’s work. A placement in a school reignited her love of children’s ministry and she hopes to help develop this further within the benefice. Her passion throughout ministry is helping people see how God’s love remains relevant in uncertain and challenging times.
Heather describes Jesus as “the hub of the wheel” at the centre of her life, with every aspect of ministry flowing out from that relationship. She hopes people encountering her ministry will experience faith not simply as theology, but as something practical, hopeful and life-giving.
Outside ministry, Heather enjoys singing, cake decorating and home decorating, and enjoys cultivating fruit and vegetables. Reflecting on her journey, she encourages others to remain open to God’s leading: “God knows us better than we know ourselves.”
Lindsay has spent much of her life serving the Church through music, ministry and community work. Married to David, with two grown-up children and five grandchildren, she will serve after ordination in the newly formed benefice of Ouse Valley north with Olney with Lavendon, Emberton, Newton Blossomville, Clifton Reynes, Cold Brayfield and Tyringham, where she already ministers as a Licensed Lay Minister.
A church organist for 46 years, Lindsay first began playing shortly after moving to her village. What started with covering Christmas services gradually became a lifelong ministry of music, worship and pastoral care. Over the years she has led services, supported churches across the area with weddings and funerals, and worked extensively with children and families through Sunday schools and holiday clubs.
Alongside ministry, Lindsay has had a long career in education, including 38 years in teaching and leadership as head teacher. She’s continued teaching, now in pottery and piano. Creativity continues to shape her ministry today through projects such as Arty Church, where children explore Bible stories through pottery and crafts.
Lindsay says she had felt drawn towards ordination for many years, particularly through pastoral conversations where people longed for prayer, blessing, forgiveness and communion. Having served as a reader for around a decade, ordination feels like a natural continuation of the ministry she has already been living out.
Much of her work focuses on bringing people together and tackling loneliness in rural communities. Through singing groups, handbells, knitting projects and community gatherings, she has helped create spaces where people feel connected, valued and supported. She believes strongly that loneliness is often overlooked and can deeply affect people’s wellbeing.
Lindsay is passionate about both older people’s ministry and youth work, particularly finding creative and practical ways to help young people engage with faith. She hopes people encountering her ministry will experience Christianity as joyful, welcoming and rooted in everyday life; “uplifting, fun and joyous” rather than distant or overly complicated.
Originally from Liverpool, Rowena grew up in the Roman Catholic Church, attending Catholic primary and secondary schools and describing faith as a constant presence throughout her life. After spending seven years in Newcastle studying music and completing a doctorate, she was preparing for a career in teaching when family life took her in a different direction.
Now married to Simon and the mother of two adult daughters at university, Rowena first became involved in church ministry through part-time administrative work in a church office. She later trained as a Licensed Lay Minister and served for five years before sensing a deeper call to ordained ministry. She is currently part of St James, High Wycombe and, following ordination, will serve as assistant curate at her home church.
While her faith was always present, Rowena says it became more personal and deeply rooted as an adult. During her time at university she attended a Catholic chaplaincy, where she met her husband, but later began asking questions about faith that she felt were not fully answered within Catholicism alone. Through courses, worship and Bible teaching, she encountered new expressions of faith and describes one particular church experience as a moment when she was “hit by the Holy Spirit”.
Although many people assumed her husband might be hesitant about ordination, Rowena says he was actually the one who encouraged her to pursue it. Once the possibility had been spoken aloud, she could not ignore the sense of calling.
Training at Ripon College Cuddesdon has been transformative for Rowena. Alongside completing a Master’s degree in theology, mission and ministry, she says she has grown in confidence and found her voice. As ordination approaches, she is especially anticipating the moment when the bishop lays hands on the ordinands, believing deeply that the Holy Spirit will work through that moment to shape her more fully into the person God is calling her to be.
Rowena is particularly passionate about preaching, teaching and helping people encounter Scripture in ways that feel alive and relevant. Coming from a family of teachers, she enjoys communicating faith in both large and small groups and loves encouraging people to see familiar passages in new ways. She is equally drawn to listening. Rowena believes every person’s story deserves to be heard with care, compassion and dignity.
Outside ministry, music continues to play an important role in her life. A violinist for many years, she also joined a choir shortly before beginning ordination training. She describes singing as part of a journey of discovering who she is and becoming more confident in her own voice.
For Lillie, the path to ordination began with an unexpected moment while crossing a zebra crossing at university. “It looked like a dog collar,” she recalls, “and I felt God saying, ‘I might want you to think about that one day.’” At the time, she was studying English and ordination was nowhere on her radar. Instead, she went on to work as a broadcast journalist in radio before later spending many years with Youthscape, helping young people explore faith in practical and spiritual ways.
Her own faith journey began in her teenage years through friendships with Christian girls who invited her to church. Although she did not grow up in a practising Christian household, her dad and step mum came to faith during her childhood and supported her curiosity about Christianity. Living with her Mum and Step Dad meant they were the practical support, even driving her half an hour to church each week.
Although the thought of ordination resurfaced from time to time over the years, it never seemed like the right moment. Then during the Covid pandemic, while attending an online work retreat, she received prophetic prayer from someone she had never met before. As the conversation ended, he mentioned the logo on her jumper: DKNY. He said: “I’m seeing it back to front (YNKD) and feel that God is saying: “You Now Know, Don’t you?” For Lillie, it felt like God’s humorous but unmistakable confirmation of a calling she could no longer ignore. Soon afterwards, she spoke to a vocations adviser and began the discernment process that eventually led her to Ripon College Cuddesdon.
Married with two children, aged 12 and 17, Lillie will serve her curacy in the Cottesloe benefice, a group of eight churches in an area where her family has lived for around 25 years. “It feels really special to stay among friends and familiar communities,” she says.
The last three years of training have been deeply formative. Through prayer, spiritual direction and theological study, she has felt God shaping her more fully into herself. “One person said to me, ‘God is making you more of who you already are,’” she reflects.
Having spent more than 20 years leading in churches in different capacities, worship and the Eucharist are at the heart of the ministry she feels called to. After years in Baptist and free church settings before settling in the Anglican tradition, she says serving people through worship feels deeply significant. “I feel most fully alive when I’m leading worship,” she says. “To help people encounter God in different ways is a huge privilege.”
Looking ahead to ordained ministry, Lillie hopes people will come to know how deeply loved and valued they are by God. “We can feel powerless or overwhelmed by the world,” she says, “but we are treasured parts of God’s creation and part of his story.”
Outside ministry, she finds rest in nature — whether gardening, walking the dog or remembering a particularly joyful experience kayaking on a Scottish loch.
And for anyone exploring faith or vocation themselves, her encouragement is simple: “You’ve got nothing to lose. There’s so much to be gained. Just see.”
Originally from Kenya, Virginia grew up in a Roman Catholic family where faith was always part of daily life. After university she began exploring different expressions of Christianity before later moving to the UK, where she became deeply involved in church life through hospitality, prayer ministry and Bible study leadership.
Virginia’s call to ordained ministry emerged gradually, encouraged by friends, church leaders and her own growing sense that God was leading her somewhere new. Following a period of serious health treatment during Covid, she began reflecting more deeply on vocation and purpose. As she explored ordination, she says she discovered a new sense of energy and clarity, with others affirming gifts for ministry that she had not fully recognised in herself.
During training, Virginia realised she was especially drawn to parish ministry and accompanying people through everyday life. She is passionate about pastoral care, particularly among older and vulnerable people, and also loves leading worship and working with children. “There’s a little child in everyone,” she says, describing the joy she finds in children’s ministry and gathering people together in worship.
Ordination, for Virginia, carries both privilege and responsibility. She describes it as saying “yes” to God’s call and recognising the care entrusted to those who lead and serve others. She is especially looking forward to the ordination service itself, from putting on the cassock and collar to processing into church with hymns playing, made even more special because family members will be travelling from Kenya to support her.
Reflecting on her journey, Virginia says theological training has taught her above all that “God can surprise you”. Despite challenges, including a family bereavement last year, she says she has experienced God’s faithfulness consistently through uncertainty and change.
Virginia hopes people encountering her ministry will experience peace, hope and the assurance that they are deeply loved by God. Outside ministry, she enjoys running, travelling, walking outdoors and spending time with people.
For anyone exploring faith or vocation, her advice is simple: “Be courageous enough to take the next step. You’ll never know until you do.”
For Matthew, ordination is both a declaration and a surrender.
“It feels like an agreement between me and God,” he says. “A moment of accepting the call he’s placed on my life and the responsibility that comes with it. It’s saying, ‘You’ve called me, and here I am.’ I’m all in.”
Matthew will serve his curacy at Holy Trinity Hazlemere, a church with deep personal significance. He was christened there as a child and his parents were part of the congregation. Although he spent many years worshipping elsewhere, a move during the pandemic brought him and his family back to the church. “A chance conversation with the vicar set everything in motion,” he says. “It feels like a full-circle moment. In many ways, it’s where I was always meant to come back to.”
As ordination approaches, Matthew describes a mixture of excitement, gratitude and anticipation. “I’m really looking forward to walking into the cathedral and seeing so many people who have prayed for me and supported me through this journey.”
He is also looking forward to hearing the words of the Ordinal and the promises that come with ordained ministry.
Matthew grew up in a Christian family and spent much of his childhood around church. But as a teenager, sport gradually replaced Sunday worship. “Football, cricket, rugby – if there was a sport to play, I wanted to be doing it,” he laughs. “Church just slipped away.”
His return to faith came unexpectedly through a friendship at sixth form college. After a party, Matthew agreed to attend church with a friend called Naomi in exchange for staying at her house. “I tried to back out the next morning, but my dad told me I’d made an agreement and had to honour it,” he says. “That service completely caught me off guard. I wanted to come back the next week.”
Soon afterwards, Matthew joined a youth group and attended a Christian festival where he heard the gospel presented in a way that felt fresh and accessible. “I remember praying, ‘God, if you’re real, you’ll have to show me.’ What followed was a profound encounter with the Holy Spirit. I experienced a love unlike anything I’d ever known before. From that moment, I knew God was real and decided to give following Jesus a go.”
A few years later, while at university, Matthew faced a devastating loss when his father died suddenly from a heart attack. “My dad was my role model, my compass and my best friend. It was the first major crisis of my life and the moment when my faith was really tested.”
Rather than pulling away from God, Matthew found himself drawn deeper into faith. “I watched the church rally around my Mum, bringing meals, praying for us and walking alongside us. God revealed himself afresh in one of the hardest seasons of my life.”
That experience shaped much of what came next. Matthew became heavily involved in Alpha, wanting to create spaces where others could ask the same questions he had wrestled with. He later worked for Alpha, helping churches across the UK run courses and reach those exploring faith. “My heart has always been for people who are on the fringes of church or who wouldn’t normally walk through the doors,” he says. “I wanted the gospel to be accessible and understandable.”
Over time, that passion began to point towards ordained ministry. “I read Stephen Cottrell’s book on vocation and was particularly struck by the image of the shepherd in John’s Gospel, laying down his life for the sheep,” he says. “I felt God calling me to lay everything down in service of his Church and his people.”
The discernment process was not straightforward.
“It was never part of my plan,” he admits. “I’m quite stubborn and always imagined carving out my own path. But every time I looked elsewhere, it felt empty. I kept being drawn back to ordained ministry.”
Alongside his wife Naomi (who was the friend who took him to church) and two young children, Matthew gradually came to a place of peace about the calling. “The more I prayed, the more people around me affirmed it. Eventually I realised I couldn’t find any peaceful resolution to my future other than saying yes.”
One of the strongest lessons Matthew has learned through the journey is God’s faithfulness. “I started this process with a lot of self-doubt,” he says. “What I’ve discovered is that God’s provision is complete. Every time there’s been uncertainty or challenge, he’s provided exactly what was needed.”
The experiences of grief, loss and challenge have also shaped how he hopes to minister. “Those experiences don’t disqualify us; they equip us to walk alongside others,” he says.
Matthew is particularly excited about helping build communities where families can flourish and exploring new ways of gathering people into worship and discipleship.
“I love the idea of creating spaces where people can encounter Jesus for themselves,” he says. “That pioneering aspect of ministry really excites me.”
Above all, he hopes people encounter Christ through everything he does.
“My prayer is that people would see something of Jesus in the way I speak, act and minister. If they catch even a glimpse of him and are drawn closer to him, then I’ll be grateful.”
Berkshire
Connor’s journey to faith began unexpectedly at the age of 16. Having had little contact with church growing up, he first attended a youth club in Reading before being invited along to a Sunday service. He admits he initially went thinking it would be amusing to “laugh at these Christians who had it all sorted”, but instead encountered something entirely different. He saw authenticity, honesty and people willing to admit that everyone needs help.
Intrigued, Connor began exploring faith more seriously and soon joined a mission trip to Uganda with members of the church. Travelling south-west of Kampala in 2009, he witnessed prayer, worship and faith expressed in ways he had never experienced before. It was there that he prayed: “If this is it, then I’m in — and all the way in.” Around the same time, after being invited to speak at a carol service, he realised that sharing the good news publicly felt deeply right and sensed a call to ordained ministry. He was baptised and confirmed later that year.
Connor trained for ordination at Ripon College Cuddesdon, studying theology over three years. He says the experience has deepened both his love of learning and his fascination with God. Although school had never suited him, theological study has helped him thrive academically and confirmed that his hunger for understanding faith and the Church continues to grow.
Before ordination, Connor worked as a youth worker in Twyford and completed much of his contextual training in Burghfield. Following ordination, he will serve at All Saints Church, Ascot. While excited for the opportunities ahead, he says it is difficult leaving behind the relationships he has built over recent years.
As ordination approaches, Connor has become increasingly aware of both the privilege and weight of ministry. Through parish placements, shadowing clergy and spending time in schools, services and pastoral settings, he has reflected deeply on what it means to become someone people turn to in moments of crisis, grief and hope. Although he admits to sometimes feeling unworthy of such responsibility, he is also excited about what God may do through him in ministry.
Connor is especially passionate about the Church as a community. His academic work has focused on ecclesiology, which is the nature of the Church and how Christians live together. He is drawn to helping people discover belonging, shared life and faith centred on Jesus. He believes diversity within the Church reveals more of who Jesus is and often reflects on people whose gifts and personalities enrich Christian community in unexpected ways.
For Connor, ordained ministry still matters because of the Church of England’s parish system, where every inch of England is overseen by a parish priest. He values the idea that every person belongs within the care of a local priest. Part of the role of a local priest is to pray for each person in the parish, to support them and walk with them through life’s most significant moments.
Outside ministry, Connor enjoys ceramics and spending time at the pottery wheel making functional pieces such as mugs and bowls. He and his wife, Lois, also enjoy travelling together and are currently considering getting a pet.
To anyone exploring faith or vocation, Connor’s advice is simple: “Do it. Whatever it is, ordained ministry or doctor or anything else.” He believes the best thing anyone can do with their life is to follow Christ and discover the purpose God has for them.
Madhuri will serve after ordination at St John the Baptist Church, Caversham, part of a parish alongside two other churches. Training at Ripon College Cuddesdon has been both challenging and transformative, helping her grow in confidence, patience and faith.
Originally from a Hindu background, Madhuri came to Christianity after meeting her husband in 2005 and was baptised the following year. She says reading the opening chapter of the Bible answered questions she had carried since childhood about creation, purpose and God. Seeing her husband’s family pray and read Scripture together also made a deep impression on her, revealing a shared and living faith she had not experienced before.
After moving to the UK, Madhuri faced significant challenges, including isolation, financial pressures, family separation and serious health difficulties. Through these experiences, she says, God continually provided support through friends, church communities and family members. Looking back, she believes those difficult seasons prepared her for ministry and gave her a testimony she can now share with others.
Madhuri is passionate about inclusion, justice and bringing people together across cultures. During training, she helped organise a multilingual worship service featuring prayers, songs and Scripture readings in numerous languages, demonstrating how worship can unite people beyond cultural or linguistic differences. She hopes to continue encouraging churches to embrace that diversity more intentionally.
Alongside ministry, Madhuri and her husband have spent several years leading community choirs and musical outreach events in railway stations including Paddington, Reading and Windsor, bringing together people from different cultures through worship and music.
Theological training, she says, has taught her the importance of reconciliation, forgiveness and understanding different perspectives. She hopes people encountering her ministry will experience faith in practical and authentic ways, seeing Christianity lived out through compassion, courage and everyday example.
For those exploring faith or vocation, Madhuri encourages people not to hide the gifts God has given them. “People want to see faith lived out,” she says. “They want to know how it connects to real life.”
Oxford
Six years ago Anna studied theology out of interest, with no intention of pursuing ordination. But that study became the point where things began to shift.
“That’s when the questions started to come out for me,” she said. “I realised I felt called to ministry and to serve, and I really wanted to be able to point people to Jesus.”
Anna grew up in a Christian home in Wales and attended church from a young age, though her faith became more personal over time. “I definitely had a period of drifting in my teenage years,” she said. “But I came back to faith during university in Bristol.”
A formative season followed when she lived overseas for five years after graduating, including a year working with a mission organisation in Central America. “That was where my love for ministry really began to take shape,” she said. “Especially working with vulnerable young people.”
She later worked as a secondary school teacher and in church-based student and pastoral roles, all of which have fed into her sense of calling.
Looking back, Anna is aware of how unexpected her path into ordination has been: “It’s not where I thought I would land. But when I look back, I can see God has been leading step by step. Even friends who know me well have often seen the calling more clearly than I have.”
Anna has lived in Oxford for the past 14 years and has been part of the Anglican church throughout that time, describing it as a gradual but steady settling. Before beginning training, Anna worked at St Aldates Church in Oxford for three years, a period she describes as significant in shaping her sense of vocation. She said: “It was there that I really committed my life to serving the church.”
After ordination she will serve her curacy at St Andrew’s Church in North Oxford. She is looking forward to what lies ahead, particularly the life of the parish. “It’s a very warm community with a thriving children’s and youth ministry. I’m excited to learn from Dan and the team and to see how my gifts can best serve there.”
Anna has been training at Wycliffe Hall, where the last couple of years have been deeply formative: “We’ve learned from each other, challenged each other, and grown together. There’s been really good teaching, but also so much learning just from being alongside others.” The theological study at master’s level has been both stretching and grounding: “I’ve been trying to go deeper into Scripture and theology so that it shapes the way I minister, not just what I believe in theory.”
“I’ve been surrounded by a really supportive community of friends and family,” she said. “My biggest prayer at the moment is simply for God to build his church, that it would flourish, and that people would come to know Jesus.”
For Anna, the journey has deepened her understanding of God’s faithfulness. “I’ve learned that his vision is always bigger than ours,” she said. “He has a way of weaving things together that you couldn’t plan yourself.”
She hopes her ministry will help people feel at home in faith. She said: “I hope people experience acceptance. That it’s okay to ask questions, to have doubts, and to discover a bigger vision of who God is.”
Outside ministry, Anna enjoys running, being outdoors, reading fiction, good coffee, and hosting friends around the table: “I grew up in Wales near the coast and mountains, so being outside has always been important to me. And I love creating space for people to gather and talk.”
For anyone exploring faith or vocation, her encouragement is simple: “Just keep going. It’s often a slow unfolding rather than one big moment. Keep seeking, keep asking, and trust that God meets you along the way.”
For Ali, the path towards ordination began during his student years, when his Christian faith moved from something familiar to something deeply personal and life-shaping. “It was the point where things really clicked together for me,” he says. “I realised I wanted to live fully for Jesus.” Although ordination had never crossed his mind, a friend’s suggestion prompted him to begin exploring the possibility. That journey eventually led him into church work, a role with a Christian charity, and later theological training.
Now married to Jess and father to three young children, Ali will serve his curacy at St Michael at the North Gate in central Oxford. Remaining in the same area has been a huge gift for the family. “We’re really grateful that the children can stay connected to their schools, friends and activities.”
Ali trained at Wycliffe Hall, where alongside formation for ordained ministry he completed both a Master’s degree and a DPhil in theology after encouragement from tutors and colleagues. His doctoral work focused on theology and the arts, particularly the ways aesthetic experiences (moments when art, music or beauty seem to move us profoundly) might reveal something of God’s presence.
“I became fascinated by how people of all faiths and none frequently understand those experiences to be in some sense spiritual,” he explains, “and how we might think about them theologically.”
Reflecting on the ordination journey, Ali says one of the deepest lessons has been learning dependence on God. A verse that has stayed with him throughout training is Second Epistle to the Corinthians 12:9: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” “Again and again,” he says, “I’ve realised that I can only do this in God’s strength, not my own.”
That sense of trust became especially important during the process of finding a curacy. Through uncertainty and waiting, Ali says he experienced God’s faithfulness in providing exactly what was needed at the right time.
At the heart of the ministry he hopes to offer is a desire for people to encounter the fullness of life found in Jesus. “One of the themes that matters most to me,” he says, “is that when God works in us, he makes us more fully ourselves, more fully human — not less.”
Outside ministry, life is kept busy with family life and Ali and his wife enjoy hospitality, cooking for friends, running and spending time outdoors, particularly walking in the Lake District with their family.
And for anyone exploring faith or vocation, his encouragement is rooted in trust: “Jesus comes to bring life in all its fullness. That means we don’t need to be afraid. We can explore with open hands, trusting that God will lead us where we need to be.”
Jane was ordained at Pentecost at a separate service.
Jane’s journey towards ordination has unfolded gradually, shaped by encouragement from others, opportunities to serve, and a growing sense that God was calling her into ordained ministry. Jane says she began by trying different things in church life including leading intercessions, serving and leading services, and then she felt drawn to priesthood.
“The Eucharist is important to me,” Jane explains. “I love serving at communion, it always feels such a privilege. Priesthood feels like an extension of that calling to share God’s love with people.”
Jane’s faith deepened during her time at University in York, and it was there that she was confirmed. She was particularly drawn to creative and contemplative forms of prayer. Since then, she has continued to discover God’s faithfulness and has come to enjoy learning more about God through working with other people and taking on a variety of roles in church.
After training at Sarum College in Salisbury, and studying for an MA, Jane will begin her curacy at St Mary’s Iffley. Jane is looking forward to becoming part of parish life and getting to know the community in Iffley, Rose Hill and Donnington, who have already made her feel so welcome. “It is a great privilege to be ordained in the church where I will serve as a curate”.
Jane’s ordination service took place on Pentecost and Jane says “Pentecost is a time to ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit” she adds “I am sustained in my faith by the knowledge that the Holy Spirit is always with us. We are never doing any of this alone”. The Ordination Day was the final ordination led by Bishop Steven Croft before his retirement.
Through her ministry Jane hopes that people will come to discover more of God. She adds that it is a joy to see how God is at work in people’s lives.
Outside church life, Jane enjoys being creative, spending time outdoors and she is part of a book group. She is married with children. For anyone wondering whether God may be calling them to something new, her advice is simple: “If you’ve got even a small sense that God might be calling you, try it and see. Pray, talk to other people and allow yourself to explore where it might lead.”
Dorchester
Richard will serve his curacy at Trinity Church in Henley-on-Thames following his ordination, having trained at Wycliffe Hall. Married to Gracy, who is a scientist and lay member of General Synod, Richard and his family have lived in the Maidenhead area for the past 20 years. Before training for ministry, he worked as a molecular biologist including time in the United States, and later in the biotech industry.
Richard describes his teenage self as a convinced atheist, despite growing up in a churchgoing family. While studying at university, however, a Christian friend challenged him to read the Bible for himself. Reading John’s Gospel was a dramatic turning point. “I met Jesus in the pages of the book,” he says. “The most important question was no longer ‘What do I think about God?’ but ‘What does God make of me?’”
Over time, people around Richard began encouraging him to explore ordained ministry, affirming his gift for explaining faith and his pastoral approach. Taking the opportunity to go part-time at work, he joined the staff team at St. Mary’s Maidenhead, becoming involved in teaching, outreach and youth ministry before entering discernment during the Covid pandemic.
Now preparing for ordination, Richard says he has been reflecting deeply on the Ordinal. “Ordination feels like a joyful celebration of God’s calling on my life and a motivation to continue serving him in a fresh way,” he says.
He is particularly looking forward to hearing the declarations in the ordination service about the calling of deacons, including their responsibility to serve the community and to equip the people of God in making Christ known (Ephesians 4:12). “It will be very special to hear those words spoken over me.”
Richard hopes people encountering his ministry will ultimately encounter Jesus for themselves. “My prayer is that whatever their circumstances, they would meet the God who loves them and offers eternal life,” he says.
Outside ministry, Richard enjoys playing the piano (Chopin is his current favourite) and spending time with family and friends. His advice to anyone exploring faith or vocation is simple: “Go for it! Don’t wait until you feel perfectly equipped or certain about everything. God has given you gifts, so pray how you might best use them to His glory.”
Jane will serve her curacy in the benefice of Goring, Streatley and South Stoke. She is looking forward to getting to know the congregations and local area better, but she admits her placement has challenged some of her assumptions about ministry.
“I’ve always felt a deep calling towards working among the marginalised,” she says, “so, this church context isn’t what I expected, but it’s been a humbling reminder that vocation is about following God’s call, which I really sensed when I visited the three parishes.”
As ordination approaches, Jane describes her emotions as “a bit like a sine wave.”
“Sometimes I’m excited and sometimes I’m scared,” she says. “There’s still a lot to do; essays to finish, moving house, leaving my church family, handing over work responsibilities. Being single, I’m doing all of that myself, so the transition is quite significant.”
The moment she is most looking forward to during the ordination service is the laying on of hands by the bishop,
“That’s the point where I finally surrender completely,” she says. “I’m really looking forward to it.”
Jane’s journey towards ordination has been a long one. Raised as a Roman Catholic, she has always known God’s presence in her life. In her mid-twenties, while walking across a field on her way to church, she experienced a sudden and unexpected sense that she was being called to become a priest.
“It came completely out of the blue,” she recalls. “I didn’t want to hear it and I pushed it away.”
A few weeks later, her parish priest asked whether she had ever considered ordained ministry. Although she explored the idea at various points, she put it aside for many years. Yet the sense of calling never disappeared.
The turning point came during the Covid pandemic when Jane became seriously ill and was hospitalised.
“I genuinely thought that was my exit,” she says, “but, I felt an extraordinary peace and a sense that God was saying, ‘You’re not finished yet. You haven’t done what I’ve asked you to do.’”
Following her recovery, the doors towards ordination began to open one by one, although praying for them to close if it wasn’t right.
Alongside her vocation, Jane has spent 26 years working as a nuclear scientist, a job she has loved.
“I’ve always loved science because it helps me understand God’s world more deeply,” she says. “When I look at a cell, I see an entire universe. For me, that points towards a creator rather than random chance. Science has strengthened my faith, not weakened it.”
When asked what surprises people most about her story, Jane laughs.
“I’m quite down-to-earth, and people often have assumptions about priests,” she says. “A lot of colleagues are amazed that I’m leaving my career to do this. To them it seems completely bonkers.”
Her passion for ministry remains rooted in serving those who often feel overlooked.
“I’m drawn to the people others cross the street to avoid,” she says. “I want people to know that they are loved by God.”
Reflecting on her training, Jane says it has deepened and enriched her faith.
“I’ve always known God as Father, but theological study opened up a whole new dimension,” she says. “It’s been challenging at times, but I’ve come out with a richer faith because of it.”
Above all, she hopes people will encounter God’s love through her ministry.
“I want people to know they are accepted,” she says. “Church can sometimes feel inaccessible for those on the margins. I want people to know church is for them if they want it, and that they are deeply loved.”
Outside ministry, Jane enjoys riding her two motorbikes, volunteering on a heritage railway, spending time with her cat and walking in nature.
“Being outdoors helps me reconnect with God,” she says. “If I don’t spend time in nature, I don’t function very well.”
For anyone exploring faith or vocation, her advice is simple.
“With faith, I’d say pray — even if you’re not sure anyone is listening. Ask for faith. It’s a gift from God,” she says. “And with vocation, just explore and enjoy the journey; after all Jesus has come so that we ‘may have life and have it to the full’ (John 10:10).”
Originally from Stratford-upon-Avon, Isaac is preparing to begin ministry in the Ironstone Benefice in north-west Oxfordshire, a rural group of eight parishes which he says he is really excited to join. Coming from the neighbouring Diocese of Coventry, he is looking forward to becoming part of the life of the Diocese of Oxford and serving both the churches and wider communities of the benefice.
Before training for ministry, Isaac worked as a boat builder and joiner, beginning with a summer job turning the chain ferry by hand in Stratford-upon-Avon before eventually apprenticing in joinery and specialising in the care and restoration of heritage boats.
Isaac’s journey to faith began quietly and unexpectedly. Although he attended a Church of England primary school and occasionally went to church with his grandmother at Easter, he did not grow up in a churchgoing family. As a teenager, struggling at school and experiencing bullying, he would often escape to sit in a local church that stayed open throughout the year. Initially it was simply somewhere warm, dry and peaceful, but over time he began reading the Bible and reflecting more deeply on questions about life and meaning.
As a young adult, Isaac decided to explore faith more intentionally and approached the vicar of a local church, who prepared him for confirmation. He became increasingly involved in church life, serving on the PCC and helping with events and community activities.
The call to ordained ministry emerged gradually. While attending a St Andrew’s Day service at his church, Isaac heard the reading about the disciples leaving their nets to follow Jesus and recognised it as a challenge. He realised he had been resisting a call to leave behind the security and familiarity of working with boats in order to follow a different path. Taking that leap of faith, he began exploring ordination.
Training for ministry has been a deeply formative experience. Although he had worried about whether theological study would suit him because he had never attended university, Isaac says he has loved both the academic work and the personal formation that comes through theological college, placements and reflection. Looking back over the last few years, he believes he has grown enormously and now feels almost ready for ordination even if, as he says, nobody ever feels completely ready.
Isaac feels particularly drawn to the pastoral and storytelling aspects of ministry. He loves listening to people’s stories and considers it a great privilege when others trust him enough to share their lives and struggles. Equally, he enjoys preaching, teaching and helping people discover how the stories in Scripture connect meaningfully with everyday life.
Hospitality and welcome are central to Isaac’s understanding of ministry, shaped in part by the Benedictine tradition. He hopes people encountering his ministry will experience acceptance, kindness and the assurance that they are valued and loved by God. Often, he says, ministry begins with something simple: making tea, sitting down and creating space to listen.
Isaac says this journey has taught him that God often works through surprise, through unexpected encounters, difficult moments and experiences that only make sense in hindsight. Over recent years he has become increasingly aware of God’s nurturing and healing presence in his life, describing it as a growing experience of unconditional love that: “transforms and enlarges the soul”.
Outside ministry, Isaac enjoys reading classic literature, baking (especially bread and anything sweet) and finding joy in the ordinary rhythms of life.
After ordination Rachel will serve her curacy in the benefice of Hanborough and Freeland.
Robin trained for ministry at Wycliffe Hall and will serve his curacy at Christ Church Abingdon. Originally from Hampshire, he grew up in a Christian family with a Sri Lankan father and English mother, describing his upbringing as rooted in a “devout but quiet faith”.
While studying at university in Norwich, Robin began to see faith not as something separate from the rest of life, but as the centre holding everything together. That conviction led him into student mission work and later youth and church ministry in East London, where he loved serving within a richly diverse community. It was there that his vicar first encouraged him to consider ordination.
Robin is married to Philippa and together they recently welcomed their son, Joseph. As they prepare to move to Abingdon, he is looking forward to becoming part of a larger church community and especially hopes to spend time connecting with people through the church café and local outreach.
Ordination, Robin says, represents both responsibility and presence: the responsibility of leadership and teaching, and the privilege of being a steady, encouraging presence in people’s lives. He is particularly looking forward to making the ordination vows and praying the words he first encountered during discernment and training.
His father was also ordained in recent years, something Robin says came as a surprise to the family when he started the journey towards ordination. He has become a shared source of encouragement and conversation as they compare experiences of ministry and church life.
Robin is passionate about bringing together different strands of Christian tradition. While training, he and friends helped create a charismatic traditional service blending liturgy, robes and communion with prayer ministry, healing and contemporary worship. He believes the Church is strongest when it holds together both deep biblical truth and personal experience of God.
Through his ministry, Robin hopes people will encounter both truth and relationship, seriousness and joy, individuality and community. Outside ministry he enjoys music, football and spending time laughing with friends; things he says help keep life grounded and joyful.
For those exploring faith or vocation, Robin encourages patience: “God can show up in an instant, but discipleship is a lifelong journey. So if you’re exploring faith it will be a journey. Jesus calls people to follow him not just for one day but a constant following. For vocations it will take time for you to grow as a leader, don’t think you have to be the finished article. It’s a long term game."
After years working as a radiographer, Sarah is now preparing for ordained ministry in the Church of England while continuing her passion for pastoral care. Married to Darren, with two grown-up daughters, Emily and Erin, Sarah has also served as a pastoral chaplain to the Navy through Aggie Weston’s, supporting military communities alongside her healthcare work.
Following ordination, she will serve in the Wallingford Team Ministry, working across four churches with very different characters — from civic parish life at St Mary’s to rural village ministry and traditional choral worship.
Sarah describes preparation for ordination as both deeply practical and deeply personal. Alongside leading prayers, preaching and learning liturgy, she has been reflecting on leadership, identity and what it means to serve authentically as a priest. “It’s been about learning who I am in ministry,” she says, “and stepping prayerfully into pastoral and preaching roles.”
Her call to ordination sharpened during the Covid pandemic while working on the radiography frontline. Witnessing people isolated from loved ones and without pastoral support gave her a renewed compassion for those in need. “God gave me a heart for people in his Church who were vulnerable and alone,” she says. Although her family moved several times due to her husband’s RAF career, Sarah says every step of the journey seemed providentially aligned, eventually leading her to her curacy in Wallingford.
Faith has been part of Sarah’s life since childhood. Although her family did not attend church regularly, her mother’s faith left a lasting impression, and Sarah began attending church on her own at around the age of ten. Later, after visiting a Pentecostal church in her late teens, she saw her whole family come to faith. Her father, who had struggled with an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, stopped drinking overnight after attending church for the first time. “That was the moment God stopped being abstract,” she reflects. “He became very real and very present to us.”
Pastoral ministry remains at the heart of what draws Sarah to ordained life. With years spent alongside people in hospitals and healthcare settings, she feels particularly called to support those who are vulnerable, grieving or searching for hope. She is especially looking forward to ministry in schools, nursing homes and funeral ministry, where people often encounter profound moments of need and openness.
Looking ahead to ordination day, Sarah is most anticipating the laying on of hands and the sense of affirmation that comes with it. “The discernment process has been so
thorough,” she says. “It’s reassuring to know that this call has been tested, recognised and encouraged by others.”
Outside ministry, Sarah enjoys creative pursuits including textiles, paper crafts and design-making. She also loves good food, hospitality and spending time with people. Through it all, she says this journey has taught her to trust God’s timing and direction. “Following God’s plan hasn’t always been easy,” she says, “but it has always been joyful.”
At 66, Dave Pizzey brings a lifetime of serving people to his new ministry as a deacon. Born into a family of fishmongers in the heart of Witney, he grew up around his grandparents’ and parents’ fishmongers and fish and chip shop before later becoming a fishmonger himself. Looking back, he now sees the symbolism of fish running through his life and believes many experiences were leading him towards faith.
Dave’s faith journey began in his late 50s during a period of serious illness. After eight years without contact, he met up with his brother, a pastor in Witney, telling him firmly: “I am not interested in religion.” But as he walked home through the town centre afterwards, everything suddenly went silent and he heard a voice twice say: “I am here for you when you need me.” Dave immediately returned to his brother and told him he would be coming to church that Sunday.
At St Mary’s Church, Witney, Dave was encouraged in his calling by the former Rector of Witney, Revd Toby Wright, and began exploring ordained ministry. He believes faith has sustained and saved him through significant challenges, including bereavement, debt and the breakdown of relationships.
Today, Dave serves as an Anna Chaplain in two care homes in Witney and is passionate about engaging with people in everyday life. A prophetic artist, he often sketches in coffee shops in the town centre, using art as a way to connect with others and begin conversations. One woman he sketched later told him she keeps the drawing beside her at work and looks at it whenever she feels stressed.
Patience, perseverance and obedience are central to Dave’s life and ministry. He encourages people not to rush away after prayer, but instead to pause and listen, trusting that clarity sometimes comes quietly and over time.