Showing love in action from the pitch to the pulpit

For apprentice minister Don Westwood, sharing God’s message of affection may be shared as naturally on a sports activities equipment as on a clerk’s collar.

Don, who’s presently finishing his apprenticeship at Kirkton Parish Church in Carluke earlier than qualifying as a full-time Minister of Wards and Sacraments, can also be Chaplain at Livingston Girls’s FC.

Don, who additionally has a household curiosity in girls’s soccer due to his goalkeeper daughter, is in his second season with the membership, due to Sports activities Chaplaincy Scotland, and for loving being part of the group and a “very particular ministry”.

Talking as a part of the Church of Scotland’s month-to-month Speaking Ministry characteristic, Don defined: “They put their coronary heart and soul into what they do and they’re simply an absolute pleasure.”

It is a lesson he took from his circle of relatives, rising up as a part of the Whitburn South Parish Church the place each his mother and father grew up.

“I’ve all the time been conscious of God in my life as a result of I’ve seen God’s love at work by means of my mother and father and my grandparents,” Don stated.

“They love God and love folks and that is one thing I’ve carried with me all through my life and now into my ministry.”

Ministry was one thing she thought-about in her teenage years, however Don pursued a profession in nursing as an alternative, gaining the abilities and expertise she now brings to her pastoral position throughout the Church of Scotland.

finishing the circle

Nonetheless, she was conscious that within the nursing atmosphere, there have been restrictions on how a lot she might share her religion.

So, when his minister urged he look into ministry, he went to the Church of Scotland’s Convention of Inquisitors.

“I appeared round, however nothing actually caught with me till I obtained into Phrase and Sacrament full time,” Daybreak remembers.

“It was truly a feminine minister who was there and he or she spoke so vividly about what she had performed that it felt prefer it was the lacking piece of the jigsaw.”

Nonetheless, he failed in his preliminary utility, one thing he admits he thought-about devastating on the time, however as an alternative of giving up, he grew to become assistant minister with the Very Rev Colin Sinclair at Palmerston Place Church in Edinburgh, for which he laid the muse. A profitable re-application.

“It was a fantastic expertise as a result of it gave an perception into pastoral work and way of life ministry, which clearly I had not skilled,” he stated.

“It was positively a formative time.”

Don studied for his theology diploma by means of Highland Theological School, a part of the College of the Highlands and Islands, a interval that coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic and noticed Don and his youngsters, Logan (15), Eilidh (13) and Sophie. (8), all learning at dwelling on the similar time whereas her husband Graham “needed to maintain every thing collectively”.

“It was hectic at instances, however we survived!” Daybreak laughed.

He gained sensible expertise with placements at St Mary’s Parish Church in Boghall Bathgate and Motherwell in addition to Greyfriars Lanark.

“The largest factor I’ve realized from my coaching is that God has referred to as me to ministry in my very own approach and to not match a mildew of what I feel ministry must be,” he stated.

“You study lots about your self within the course of and notice that perhaps you have got items you did not suppose you had and what a privilege it’s to return with folks and listen to their tales. I do not suppose we should always underestimate that. . There’s nothing else prefer it.”

A unique particular person

Not like most probationary ministers throughout the Church of Scotland, as a lay incumbent, Don shouldn’t be underneath the direct supervision of an skilled minister, however he and his supervisor, the Rev Brian Kerr, are in common contact, supporting his emotions, however free to attempt new issues with the assist of the congregation. .

His tenure ends this fall, and as Don appears to be like ahead to the subsequent part of his ministry profession, he can look again and see how far he is come.

“I am a distinct particular person from once I began in plenty of methods,” Don stated. “You’ll be able to positively see the formation that has come by means of the journey and the way in which God has formed you.”

“I really like all the fun and challenges of ministry, however the actual specialty of ministry is making disciples in God’s name.

“This name may be very thrilling and renews every day as we encounter folks in our every day lives and are reminded that Jesus met every particular person for who they had been and we’re referred to as to do the identical.”

You’ll be able to learn the complete interview on our Speaking Ministry web page.