Amy Ross is to be Ordained as a Vocational Deacon on 24 September.  

She writes, below, about her journey to ordination, her passion for creation care and sharing ministry and faith with Dan.  

My vocational calling sees me responding towards the growth of the kingdom of God in my family life, in my local community, and in the wider community beyond. I move through the world with a deep awareness of the brokenness, pain and suffering that exist, but also awareness of the love, faith and hope that are present. It is these last three that I want to cling to with all my might, and the purpose they bring. Knowing how I received my salvation, I submit to continuing purposefully in the Way that I have received. 

This includes recognition of grace, which embraces noticing, receiving and nurturing the non-human creation that sustains all life. It also includes sacrifice, to live in a way that tries to care for others first, including non-human creation. Finally, it includes purpose, that of not giving up when things seem overwhelming but stepping out with the help of the Holy Spirit. In all these things I fail every day, yet seek to remain connected to the Vine, Jesus, in order to flourish. 

When Dan and I started out together we built our relationship on a shared purpose – to support one another in serving God. Soon after marrying, we studied together for two years in a multicultural setting preparing for full-time Christian mission. A commitment to this calling has always guided our path. Later, Dan began his journey towards ordination as an Anglican priest, while I began a post-graduate academic journey in environmental management that has led me into different roles, including my current work at the Ministry for the Environment.  

Over the years I have sensed a growing calling to serve in leadership alongside Dan within our shared faith community. I wish to support our whole family’s involvement in Christian ministry with a loving, believing and enabling posture, submitting to the unique demands that ministry creates in family life. I would like to see whichever parish we are with, thriving, embracing ministry for all ages, building disciples, sharing Jesus with the last the least and the lost, and caring for the natural environment. I would like to see ALL Christians in Aotearoa, and especially those within our Anglican Diocese, working together to respond to the challenges posed by biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution with the same vigour that we respond to economic inequalities and other issues. Many skillsets are needed beyond my own, but I look forward to playing my part in the journey.