Justin Thacker was ordained at a special ordination service at Holy Trinity and Christ Church, Chesterfield, in July. He writes:

"I’ve done quite a lot of different things in my life. My first career was as a medical doctor. I trained in paediatrics and worked in East Africa for a time. While in Kenya, I sensed God calling me to leave medicine and become an academic theologian. Apart from some stints working for global justice charities, that is what I have mainly done since then.

"Most recently, I’ve been working in an Anglican theological college training, amongst others, Church of England ordinands. It was somewhat of a surprise then when I sensed another call in my life – this time to ordination myself. I had always felt that my strengths were in academic theology and teaching, especially around issues of ethics and justice. But God, as he so often does, had other plans. I’m now incredibly excited about what the future holds.

"Following ordination, I will be working half-time as a curate in Holy Trinity and Christ Church, Chesterfield, and half-time continuing in my academic role for St Hild College. Fundamentally, what made me make this leap was God’s call. It was just a niggle that wouldn’t go away. Through various gentle prompts, I just sensed that God had one more big adventure for me and parish ministry was it. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what my ministry will look like. I’ve learnt that there is little point in second-guessing God and I suspect he often laughs at the plans we construct.

"I hope that my ministry will involve some work with those who are marginalised, especially the homeless and those with addiction issues (as that is where my recent experience and passion lies), but the truth is I just want to serve God in whatever way God wants. He, after all, know how best I can serve the kingdom, and I’d be a fool to do anything else.

Justin's ordination follows the ordination of four other deacons earlier this month. You can see photos of both ordination services on our Flickr pages.

Is God stirring something in you?

All of us are invited to follow Jesus and to serve God faithfully in our everyday lives. To discover more about what this might mean for you, please see our Everyday Faith page. Alongside our everyday faith, some people are called to serve God in a specific ministry. You can find out more about that on our vocations page.