A student welfare officer; a physiotherapist; a Royal Military Policeman, a teacher and a civil servant.

These are just some of the former or current jobs of the latest cohort of new Priests and Deacons – known collectively as ‘Ordinands’.

They will be ordained across this coming weekend by The Church of England in Lancashire and will support our ongoing work across Lancashire to tell people about Jesus as part of our ‘Vision 2026: Healthy Churches Transforming Communities’. Read more about our Vision elsewhere on this website.

The group of 21 women and men are currently preparing together for ordination while on retreat at our Diocesan Centre for Discipleship and Prayer at Whalley Abbey.

• Social media: The Diocese will be tweeting on its Twitter account @cofelancs as will The Church of England nationally on @churchofengland; both will be using #newrevs and there will also be posts on Facebook/BlackburnDiocese

Most of the candidates will be ordained at Blackburn Cathedral on Saturday, July 2, by Rt Rev Julian Henderson, Bishop of Blackburn. These will be Bishop Julian’s last ordinations before he retires in mid-July. A further two ordinands will be ordained on Sunday at St Mary Magdalen Church in Accrington by the Bishop of Burnley, Rt Rev Philip North.

You can watch livestreams of the services on the Cathedral YouTube channel. Deacons' service will be here while the Priests' service can be viewed here. 

A further two ordinands will be ordained on Sunday at St Mary Magdalen Church in Accrington at 6.30pm by the Bishop of Burnley, Rt Rev Philip North.

Youngest of the Ordinands is 26 while the oldest is 58. Four of this year’s cohort feature in a new video, released today and available to view now on our YouTube channel and also embedded below. The video also features Bishop Julian, Bishop Philip and Rt Rev Dr Jill Duff, the Bishop of Lancaster. The Ordinands in the video will serve in Chorley (St George); Blackburn (Christ Church); Preston (St Stephen) and Preston (St Cuthbert).

All our candidates will serve, or continue to serve, across Lancashire in Euxton; Preston (x4); Longridge; Ellel; Higher Walton and Hoghton; Bamber Bridge and Walton-le-Dale; Leyland (x2); Blackburn (x2); Thornton-le-Fylde; Chorley; Blackpool; Broughton; St Anne's on Sea; Rufford and Tarleton; Accrington and finally Torrisholme. 

This year’s Ordinands also hail originally from a huge variety of places inside and outside the County; including two international locations.

Locally, home towns include Preston, Darwen, Thornton Cleveleys and Leyland while from further afield there are ordinands who come originally from Manchester, Cambridge, Rugby, The Wirral, Whitley Bay, Stockport, Stoke-on-Trent; London, Chichester and Northern Ireland. The candidates with international roots are from Italy and Finland.

All the Ordinands have willingly responded to God’s call on their lives and are ready and eager to get to work in their parishes to help fulfil our ‘Vision 2026: ‘Healthy Churches Transforming Communities’.

They have also all completed ‘profile questionnaires’ to assist with coverage of this year’s ordinations. In his own profile Martin McDonald, 50, a former Registered Nurse from Wallasey, who will serve at St Cuthbert’s in Fulwood, Preston, describes how the call from God on his life became irresistible.

He says: “I was well-established in my nursing career and was due to retire in the next five years. But God had other plans!

“There was definite call to dedicate my life to ministry. Every sermon I listened to, every worship song I heard and every piece of scripture I read appeared to speak directly to me and, alongside several affirmations, I decided to test the call. Look what’s happened!”

Amy Bland, 25, is originally from Comberton, near Cambridge and will serve Euxton Parish Church, near Chorley.

In her profile Amy reflects on the church emerging from the pandemic saying: “People have lost some connection with each other. Good friends may have continued to go on walks together, but it’s been difficult to make new friendships or keep in contact with those we only know a bit.

“I’m now excited to see how communities, and especially church communities, re-form and grow; how new people can be welcomed into God’s family and can feel like they’ve come home.”

Building on these points, Anna Walker, 44, originally from Tampere in Finland and serving St Aiden, Bamber Bridge and St Leonard, Walton-le-Dale, adds: “Social outreach has become even more important.

"We see that people struggle a lot with anxiety which is related to isolation and fear, so the Church needs to be creative in forming local partnerships and meeting the many needs of people holistically.

“It is part of the wholeness which God desires for His children. Also, the Church needs to engage with culture and keep its finger on the pulse of society to speak out for justice in ways which are accessible, relevant and noticed.”

Meanwhile Bryn Naylor, 37, who hails from Darwen in East Lancashire and will serve at Holy Trinity, Hoghton and All Saints, Higher Walton, is excited about transforming lives saying: “Church is a place where people can encounter the love that God has for them by meeting with Jesus Christ.

“It’s a community where all can feel welcomed, loved and supported as they grow in their relationship with Him; while serving and transforming its wider community by making God’s love known in both word and through our actions.”

For more on these four ordinands and the other 17 to be ordained at the weekend, visit the profile questionnaires page. 

Bishop Julian said today: “God is always asking, whom shall I send? So, it is always a humbling moment for me as a Bishop to be able to ordain men and women who have responded to His call to serve His church.

“It is the end of a long journey for a number of people. Some have been exploring ordination for many years. Whether someone has been called to this role of leadership in the life of the church needs to be prayerfully considered. It’s not an easy job and we don’t rush into these things.”

Reflecting on what will be his final ordination weekend Bishop Julian added: “It has been an extraordinary privilege and honour over these past nine years to be able to ordain and release many men and women into authorised ministry in The Church of England as the Bishop of Blackburn.”

The Bishops and Ordinands will be joined at their services this weekend by The Dean of Blackburn, The Very Rev Peter Howell-Jones; the Archdeacon of Blackburn, The Venerable Mark Ireland and the Archdeacon of Lancaster, The Venerable David Picken, as well as representatives from parishes across Lancashire and family and friends of the ordination candidates.

Ronnie Semley, July 2022