Stu Armstrong is ordained deacon
Congratulations to Revd Stuart (Stu) Armstrong who has been ordained deacon for an internship in Magherally and Annaclone.
Stu was ordained by Bishop David along with Cosmin Pascu at a service in Dromore Cathedral on Sunday 21 August. The address was given by Revd James Burnett, Principal of Belfast Bible College, who preached on 1 Samuel 2: 35 – 35 – “I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his priestly house, and they will minister before my anointed one always.”
Stu’s journey to ordination
I’m Stu, I’m 36, married to Janine, daddy to Ezra and Elah. We live in Waringstown and worship at Shankill Parish. I love board games, (very) heavy music and milkshakes. I’ve been in vocational ministry for almost 15 years now, and although side–stepping from youth ministry into ordained ministry, I am more convinced than ever of the need for parishes to prioritise mission to and spiritual formation of young people.
My relationship with Jesus came alive as a young person. I honestly can’t remember a time that I didn’t accept the Gospel intellectually, but it wasn’t until I was 15 that I began to realise that following Jesus actually meant following Jesus. Someone once said “Jesus doesn’t want to be part of your life – He’ll have all of it or He’ll have none of it.” From this point on I have been committed to a whole life surrender to Jesus – even when I can’t understand what God is doing… like calling me into ordained ministry!
This has been a long and winding road, but eventually we found a spiritual home in the Church of Ireland. Here we found the fusion of all we love about the Church: daily rhythms prayer and Scripture; beautiful liturgy and contemporary worship; fresh expressions and age–old traditions; evangelism and justice; unity and diversity; quality youth and children’s ministry; and an openness to the things of the Spirit.
It is these things, along with the close friendships formed during training that I will carry into my internship. I am so excited to get stuck into Parish ministry. The church needs people to live radical, Christ–centred, Spirit–empowered lives, and my sincere hope is to see people come to faith in Jesus and journey with them as they discover what this life looks like for them.
