The Reverend Mary Rolls was licensed in St Mary’s Church, Thirsk, on the 3rd April, as the newest member of the Diocese of York’s 20s to 40s initiative.
Visitors and congregants gathered together to celebrate this fantastic new form of ministry, aimed at planting and growing new church congregations made up of people from the ages of 20 to 49, and to officially recognise Revd Mary Rolls in her new role as the 20s to 40s minister of Thirsk.
The Reverend Wendy Wale has already been inducted in Beverley to serve the 20s to 40s community in a part time capacity, making Revd Mary Rolls our first full-time member of the ministry. With more ministers being licensed soon around the Diocese, including in Middlesbrough, Hull, Malton, and Marton, the 20s to 40s Ministry continues to grow in strength.
Speaking at the service, Bishop Paul Ferguson ‘here we are, at the beginning of a very important and wonderful venture… here we are celebrating Mary’s new ministry… with the conviction that we share, that is, resources, and effort, and love, and prayer, and work, into reaching younger adults, that group of people in this Diocese that are underrepresented in church life’.
The Reverend Mary Rolls commented on the potential difficulties that could come with ministering in what some would consider to be such a rural setting, stating ‘there are families here, there are 20s to 40s here, there are young professionals, and there are people in the networks around.
‘It’s about working out where those networks are and, hopefully, God is going to open some of those networks up to us, so we can start engaging with people and hopefully engaging them with God’