What a week! I returned from my final Candidates Conference in St. Andrews on Wednesday, which I and, from the posts on Facebook, many others enjoyed immensely. On the theme of ‘Context and Commitment’, we had seminars led by a variety of people from a number of parts of the Church including Priority Areas, World Mission and Church & Society. From ministers to the Moderator, it was an excellent programme and, in the evenings, a lot of fun!
It was at this conference that I heard exactly what describes the type of Ministry I want to have –
I want to be a Minister who talks to fishermen about fish and farmers about seed…
On Thursday, my Presbytery (Presbytery of Hamilton) held a recognition service to mark the end of my academic training and the start of my final placement (a.k.a Probation). I was delighted that Rev. Dr Doug Gay, Principal of Trinity College, University of Glasgow, was able to come and preach the sermon for the service, which was fabulous. With the service based upon Philippians 3:4-14, Doug discussed Paul’s boastful introduction to this passage before going on to say that all the qualifications and gifts are ‘a pile of crap […] unless we go on to preach the gospel of God’s amazing grace.’
I cannot begin to express how grateful I am to everyone who contributed to a wonderful evening, especially everyone who attended!
And now, it’s off to spend some time with my girls, who I’ve hardly seen since last week!
Jonathan C Fleming 