Meet our deacon interns: Graham Spence
After ordination to the Diaconate my wife Barbara and I look forward to joining a new church family in Magheralin and Dollingstown. It will be the beginning of a new chapter in our spiritual journey and the next stage of my training.
I wish to record my appreciation to the Rector of Magheralin Canon Gareth Harron for taking on the onerous task of supervising a trainee for several months. I have so much to learn and I pray that during the process I will be able to make a positive contribution to the ongoing life and witness of the parish.
I grew up on the family dairy farm near Waringstown. My family worshipped each week in Knocknamuckley Parish. It was there as a young person that I came under the influence of godly Clergy and Youth Leaders and came to faith. In later years I served in the Sunday School, the Youth Fellowship and on the Select Vestry and also commenced training as a Diocesan Lay Reader.
I joined the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in 1976 and spent 35 very rewarding years in a number of roles. Barbara and I married in I990 and we set up home in Hillsborough and joined the local parish. The following year I was licensed to serve as a Diocesan Lay Reader. For more than 20 years it has been a source of much joy and blessing to exercise a Reader ministry in Hillsborough and the Diocese. From 2005 until 2010, I studied part–time at Queens University and graduated Bachelor of Theology in the summer of 2010. Since September 2011, I have been training full–time for ordained ministry at the Church of Ireland Theological Institute.
I am deeply grateful for the support of family, friends, clergy, academic tutors and many others who have influenced me on my spiritual journey. We are all called to be disciples of Jesus and for me ordination is part of being obedient to that call. Some words from Paul recorded in his second letter to the church in Corinth are a source of strength to me for the journey ahead – God’s grace is sufficient for you (2 Cor.12:9). Please pray that I fulfil, with God’s help, the promises I will make on 8 September.