My journey to ordination has developed over the last seven years. It began when I had a sabbatical from the intentional community I was part of in Newtown, Wellington. I spent a year at Bible College in Canada. Like any good sabbatical, it was a chance to reflect on the ways God had been forming and shaping me and what the next season of service might look like. 

My sense of vocation has always had two main threads. The first has been a call to be involved at the systemic level in changing unjust structures. This has mainly been expressed in my paid work, developing social policy for various government agencies. The second thread has been to also work out my vocation in intentional community, seeking to incarnate the Gospel through building relationships with neighbours and those who are often most marginalised by those unjust structures. 

However, it was during my sabbatical that I had a greater sense of call to pastoral leadership within the church, as well go back to my ‘roots’ - the Hutt Valley. I sensed God calling me to a local neighbourhood in Taitā, where there is so much need for the good news of Jesus’ Kingdom to emerge. Others from my intentional community discerned this as well and together we moved there at the start of 2018.

It has been during this season that we have been involved in starting a new church planting expression in Taitā, and I have heard an invitation from God to pursue ordination as part of this. It’s not everyday that you make a lifelong covenantal commitment. So I enter into this knowing it’s a further step of obedience to God’s call on my life. I am passionate about the work of this Diocese in seeking to embed communities of faith in local neighbourhoods, working towards a just church, and renewing the church for the next generation. Like any journey with God, it’s proving to be the ride of a lifetime. 

The ordination service for Maria Kirkland takes place at 2 pm Saturday 16 November at St David’s Naenae.