Stella Greenwood: ordained priest, 2018

Rolls Royce Engineering Operations Controller, Stella Greenwood was ordained Deacon at in 2017.

Stella, from Church Gresley, Swadlincote became Assistant Curate to the parishes of Emmanuel Swadlincote and St Peter’s Hartshorne.

Married to Paul with two children, Stella also works with South Derbyshire Scouts as a Local Training Manager and has been licensed as a Reader since 2006.

As a self-supporting minister, Stella continues in her other roles whilst taking on a new identity as a deacon following studying for ministry at All Saints Centre for Mission and Ministry.

Stella said: “On completion of my Reader training I believed that my calling was to Reader ministry and in many ways, it was. But God had further plans for me and over time and with much prayer and discussion it became clear to me that God was calling me to ordained ministry.  Through my training, my understanding of my future ministry has grown clearer as I have learnt a lot about myself and about the way that God wants to use me.  This step into ordained ministry is a challenging one but I know that it is me that God is calling to this ministry and he will support me as I move into this new phase of my journey with him.”

She added: “My hope is that I can make my own contribution to the life of these parishes and be an instrument of God's love to these people and these communities.  This will be an exciting challenge but one which with God's help I believe I can meet. The biggest thing I have learnt is that God calls and uses all sorts of people.  If he is calling you then he wants you as you are.”