The Bishop of Whitby, the Rt Revd Paul Ferguson, will institute the new vicar of West Acklam on Saturday 17 October. The Revd Norma Rao will be instituted at St Mary’s, West Acklam at 5pm.
Norma comes to Middlesbrough from Rossington, near Doncaster, where she was Rector of St Michael’s Church. She trained for ordination at Westcott House and was ordained in 2001 in Sheffield Cathedral. She spent her curacy at St Augustine’s Endcliffe, Sheffield, became the associate vicar of Rotherham Minster, and was appointed to Rossington in 2008.
Norma said, “I was born and bred in the Communist China behind the Bamboo Curtains. It was not until in my late teens I heard about Christianity. I walked into the local church that was re-opened after the Cultural Revolution, and was immediately captivated by the gospel reading of the day and the subsequent preaching. Soon I joined the Bible study group. The octogenarian minister, who was a survivor of torture, imprisonment and labour camps, radiated divine holiness. He laid the foundation for my faith, taught me about the Bible and how to pray, and sent me to study in a re-opened theological college.
“Whenever I visit China, I go to local churches on Sundays. It doesn’t matter what size the church is, they are always filled to the brim. Some churches in Beijing have five services on Sundays, each service was attended by hundreds even thousands of people. It is an interesting contrast: the churches in China are still under the government tight control, yet growing rapidly; in a free democratic country like England, many seem to have lost their interest in Christian faith. So in Acklam, my aim is to grow Christians and grow faith, to be like the very first Christian minister I met – become a witness of the Kingdom of God.”
Bishop Paul said, “Norma brings to Middlesbrough not only an understanding of how the Christian faith is lived across the globe, but also the gifts that God has given her as a priest and minister, which she will use to bless the churches and community West Acklam.