As of late I’ve been seeking a path which is twofold, both within the Church of England and working with university students. I was planning ideas for when I graduate next July, I was getting excited about slowly pursuing ordination… Then Korea happened.
When you feel something is totally right, there is something in your mind and in your heart that clicks into place. I have felt three(ish) clicks of late, the first is a wider call to ordained ministry. The second is a more specific call to working with students and looking at models of parachurch which are effective for a campus setting. The third occurred not two weeks ago. When you fall in love with a country, when you fall in love with a people group and when you fall in love with not only the idea of something but the strange reality of it, the click is pretty immediate.
As part of my blog I have begun a series on the transitory nature of life, the first part was posted while I was helping to teach English at an English camp at a church in Korea. While the informal nature pushed the stress levels a little I kept looking at the situation thinking, ‘I should be really disliking this, but I don’t…’. When I kept seeing the lightbulb switch on in the kids’ eyes when they learned something new or realised what they’d done wrong and were desperate to correct themselves something inside me grew, something inside me loved seeing these kids learn English.
I then got chatting to a couple of American guys who were also teaching at the Camp and moved onto the topic of teaching English in Korea. I realised that ontop of my genuine newfound passion, I had some fantastic resources in Bournemouth which would help me to pursue this.
I am now planning on spending a few years in Korea teaching English after I graduate. This does not come without its difficulties, it comes with knowing I may potentially be letting some people down. It comes with possibly returning to a placement/church having already left… It comes with recognising that perhaps what I assumed was going to happen straight after Moorlands was never going to happen straight after Moorlands. It involves giving up assumptions but taking up something which I feel is the right thing to do, something where I will thrive and doing something I know will help me to grow and give me new skill sets and experience.
I am sorry to all the people I am probably about to let down. I am extraordinarily grateful to everyone who has guided me and mentored me. I would like to thank Alex for confirming in me a call to ordained ministry (I will ring you =]) but I hope you understand that having prayed and meditated on this, I believe it is right to push these doors. Do not think that the call to ordination has diminished =]
However, I will not apologise for doing what I believe wholeheartedly is the right thing for the next major phase in my life. When things change that really shouldn’t, often they should change but we really don’t want them to. Our response? Change with them.
The Rambler
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