St George Stalybridge
Reader to Reverend
© St George Stalybridge 2008
At the morning service in the Cathedral on Sunday 29th July the Bishop ordained Keith as a deacon, one of the three ‘orders’ in the church along with bishops and priests. Keith is pictured on the left along with Bishops Nigel, Mark and Chris.
Keith was also welcomed at an evening service at St George's later that day. The guest preacher at the services was Revd Jonathan Cruickshank, Chaplain to the Sea Cadet Corps
All ordained ministers also receive a licence from the Bishop to carry out their ministry. Keith is now licensed as an ordained local minister (OLM) in this parish, together with his work with sea cadets and their families, many of whom have no links with c
hurches. This will build on work he is already doing as North West Area Chaplain. His work includes providing opportunities within the life of the Sea Cadet Corps — at unit, district and area levels; helping young people learn about the Christian faith and its contribution to the armed services; helping the young people to develop their faith and spirituality and make links between faith and life.
Over a number of years Keith has ministered as a Reader at St George's. St George’s will provide Keith with a spiritual base for this outreach work and he will continue to be part of the worship and ministry leadership team, together with clergy, wardens, Director of Music and lay leaders. As appropriate he will brin g the needs of men and women in the armed forces to the attention of the congregation . His main sacramental leadership at St George’s will be in the Sunday services but with freedom to contribute to or develop ‘special’ services or celebrations as appropriate. He will b e part of the rota of Sunday services and expected to preach monthly, officiate at Holy Communion on a regular basis and play his part in the team at major festivals. He may also assist from time to time with pastoral care through the occasional offices — baptisms, marriages and funerals.
We give thanks for Keith and pray for him in his new ministry, along with Juliana and the family.
Information about Marine Society and Sea Cadet Corps