Ordinations

One Priest and five Deacons are to be ordained at the traditional Petertide ceremony in St Davids Cathedral on Saturday June 29th.

Please pray for them all, their families and the communities they will serving.

Revd Sarah Llewellyn

Up until last year I had lived all my life in the Fishguard area. Growing up in Llanychaer with my grandmother and later moving to Scleddau. I trained in nursing care and worked in local residential and nursing homes before giving up work to become my grandmother’s full-time carer. After her death, I retrained as a warper and weaver at Melin Tregwynt, a local woolen mill.

I grew up surrounded by people of faith and regularly attended church but it wasn’t until my mid-teens that I developed my own personal relationship with Christ which has grown over the years.

In 2016 I was approached by a friend who shared how strongly she felt I was being called to ordained ministry. That began my discernment journey. And, after a few years of prayer, meditation and study, as well as talking with others in the church, I went before the discernment panel and was recommended for stipendiary ministry. I began full-time training at St Padarns Institute in 2020, graduating last year a few months after being ordained Deacon in June.

My first year of curacy has been amazing. Everyone within the Bro Sancler LMA have been so generous and welcoming and I am so blessed to be working with a great ministry team from whom I have already learned so much.

Nicola Davies

I’m indigenous to Roose LMA and I’ve worked in Conservation Architecture for 25 years both locally and nationally, working on over 45 churches throughout my career. My current working life straddles being a surveyor for the diocese, and I also have a private practice.

It was after a PCC meeting in Sussex in 2016 that I was told that God was calling me, I was adamant that was not the case, but after going on a discipleship course it was quickly revealed that Revd. Colin was indeed correct, and so the emotional and life-changing journey began, taking me back to Wales in 2019.

Service is at the heart of all I do in both home and work life, and I pray that a Christ-focused ministry lays before me, and that this focus will also remain an integral part to my role as a surveyor supporting our churches, their communities and their people to further the Kingdom of God.

Liz Jones

I have worked most of my professional life in social care, as a counsellor and manager of a hostel for homeless people with complex needs and served briefly in the Royal Naval Reserve.

I felt a vocation to ordained ministry as a teenager and have been privileged to serve other denominations, while living in Bristol. Ordination in the Church in Wales feels like a home-coming. It is a tremendous gift to serve and support people, in times of joy and hardship, in Christ’s name.

To me, The rich traditions of Anglicanism are treasures to be cherished and shared through worship and ritual, while contemplative prayer offers the means to be alongside those deepening their journey into God.

I play bowls, enjoy reading and cooking. I am a Welsh-speaker and member of Gorsedd y Beirdd and am fascinated by British history, tradition and folklore.

Dr Romola Parish

I am a former academic and lawyer specialising in environmental issues. I have also studied traditional hand embroidery at the Royal School of Needlework, and poetry at Oxford and Cardiff. The creative arts are at the heart of my ministry.

Why go into Ministry?

There are many rational reasons for ordination – being trained, validated, and supported by the Church in Wales to serve God in new ways, for example; but first and foremost I am doing this because God has asked it of me. However unexpected that call, I can do no other than to respond with joy.

Aspirations

I have accumulated considerable experience in leading retreats, quiet days and creative workshops focused on contemplative prayer, creativity and spiritual discernment. I hope to continue to develop these gifts as a key focus in my emerging ministry.

Luke Spencer

Well, what to say… I grew up in Leicestershire in an Anglo-Italian Roman Catholic family, with the food, wine, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary the goes along with that! I had the best of both Roman Catholicism and Anglicanism as a child as I was a chorister at Leicester Cathedral as well as being brought up a Catholic.

I went on to study opera and vocal studies at the Royal Northern College of Music and after that I thought God was calling me to religious life when I was in my early 20s and joined a Roman Catholic religious order. I had an incredible four years in this order, including being sent to do further study at Cardiff University and at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome. It is also where my prayer life was nurtured and found its solid grounding and I still have a love of the rhythm and prayerfulness of the daily offices. However, for a variety of reasons I chose to leave religious life and pursue a career in teaching.

Throughout my life in education God has consistently been calling me and there are only so many times I could say “No, I’m okay where I am, thank you!” I found my spiritual home in the Church in Wales and it is also here that I knew God was calling me to explore my vocation to ordained ministry. The Lord works in mysterious ways…

I am dad to John and Anna (who are now 20 and 21… and yes that does make me feel old!), I am a teacher and currently Head of Expressive Arts and Head of Health and Wellbeing at our diocesan 3-16 school, Ysgol Penrhyn Dewi in St Davids. I also continue making music as conductor of Cor Dyfed and Cantabile Singers.

I feel that God has called me both to my vocation as a teacher and to my vocation as a priest and I am delighted to be serving my curacy in my school as chaplain and in the Daugleddau LMA. I thank all those who have supported me personally, in my discernment and my training and I give thanks to God for all those being ordained this Petertide.

Sally Williams

I’ve worshiped within the Anglican Church all my life – in different communities and churchmanship.

I have been a member of the Fellowship of Vocation since its beginning, and I completed my Theology Degree in 2021 through the Theology for Life course and these two elements combined have played a vital role in helping me discern my vocation and call.

I am married to Gareth and we have a son Owain who is in 6th form. I work part-time in the local secondary school as the school librarian.

I love to travel and to spend down time in my touring caravan.

Why go into Ministry?

I first felt called to ministry about 18 years ago and although at first I put it to one side, I have spent the time since working through what that calling might look like for me.

Non-Stipendiary Ministry – in my local context enables me to grow existing relationships within and outside the church community, to love and encourage the local church and LMA to build relationships, grow faith and bring the love of God to those we come into contact with.

Aspirations

In the future I would love to give back to the FOV and to Theology For Life as they played such an important role in my journey