Church has always been a part of Ian Dawes life, and he is looking forward to the future as he prepares to be ordained Deacon on Friday 27th June at 7.30pm in Truro Cathedral.

Ian is to serve as Stipendiary Assistant Curate in the North Cornwall Cluster of Churches.

Here he explains his journey to ordination.

“The church has always been a part of my life,” he says. “My parents were very involved with our church – my dad performed as a server, sacristan, and bell ringer, while my mum helped with teas, coffees, and social events.”

Aged six, Ian became a server and joined the Guild of Servers at St. Mark’s Sanctuary.

“I fell in love with the ritual and liturgy of the Anglo-Catholic tradition from a very early age,” he remembers.

Ian says he finds it hard to pinpoint when he first became a Christian because Christianity has always been a part of his life. When he became 18, he had a job which called for him to travel making it harder to keep church central in his life – but he still went when he could.

“I was still connected,” he says. “There was always a wedding, christening or funeral that kept me in touch with God and my faith. I always found joy in being part of a family, both my own and the Christian community.”

It was many years later he felt the call to return to a regular church life and began attending St Petroc’s in Bodmin.

He recalls: “It felt like returning home to my Christian family.

“Faith and family life continued to grow together, both the ups and the downs. The joys of adopting children, marriage being fully supported and celebrated, and experiencing the death of my parents, feeling comforted by my church family.”

Ian spent 18 years at St Petroc where he was a server, worship leader and preacher.

But he always had the desire to do more.

“At one point, I explored the call of ordination,” he says. “But it was not the right time for me. I think God was giving me a glimpse of my future but was entirely patient until I was ready.”

Eventually, after being mentored by his incumbent at St Petroc’s, he asked to be considered for ordination.

“The feeling of saying yes to God was amazing; it felt like everything was becoming clearer.”

He says. “My whole life had been leading up to this point; the various decisions I had made had all culminated in this moment.

“I decided God had been patient, wonderful, and inspiring to me all my life when I needed Him. I felt it was now time to give back and follow His direction for my gifts.”

His working life had changed too. He had become a career in residential care management which he also felt was a step on his path to ministry. It helped him understand the needs of others.

Training was challenging as the academic side was new to him, but his fellow ordinands and the college helped him to enjoy it.

He says: “The fellowship of the other students has been one of the most comforting experiences of my life. Spending time with like-minded people has been inspiring and has deepened my faith in worship, prayer, and friendship. Like the apostles in Acts, spending time together, eating, praying and being together has prepared me for the journey yet to come.

“During my training, I felt the call so strongly that I knew this was what I was meant to do, and I transitioned from an assistant to a full-time ministry role.”

Ian has now moved to St Issey, in North Cornwall, which he says is a part of the county ‘rooted in artistic spirituality’.

“I see this as God’s challenge to me to understand it and develop my ministry in this area,” he says.

“The future is exciting, and I look forward to walking where Christ leads me and the people I will meet and minister to.”