Sarah Rigby - my ordination story

Ordinations are deeply emotional events for all those involved.

In this blog Deacon Sarah Rigby shares the personal experience of her ordination when, on Sunday 25 June, she was received into Full Connexion during the morning worship at the Methodist Conference and then travelled to nearby Coventry Central Hall for her ordination service.


The entire experience was awe inspiring. Processing into a hall filled with people and worship music, listening to the President's message, hearing the confirmation "they are worthy" and being accepted into Full Connexion. These moments are something I will never be able to forget, they have a breath-taking quality to them, an intense sense of importance. That Sunday made the five years of training and probation finally come together for me - the tangible payoff for all the hard work it took to get to this point.

The afternoon in Central Hall was the icing on the cake. My words do not do justice to how wonderful it felt to be accepted so fully into the Methodist family. My emotions were so powerful that I could not help but cry, as I had done earlier in the day, when faced with the reality of all that had come to pass, and all that still lay before me.

There is a great joy in knowing; knowing that I was fully ordained into the Methodist Diaconal Order, knowing that the Church and God have affirmed my calling to itinerant ministry. For me, Sunday has cemented this knowledge for me. All of this is acknowledged in three words "they are worthy", and those are words that will ring in my ears and heart.

Sharing my journey with the people I have met has been a true blessing.

I will continue to serve my stationing in the Romford circuit as a fully ordained Deacon, where I work with and alongside the local community.