The Commission on Ministry warmly invites all Lay Ministers across the Church of Ireland to a special one–day retreat – a space intentionally created to pause, reflect, reconnect, and be renewed in God’s presence. In the midst of faithful service, ministry responsibilities, and the many demands of life, this day offers an opportunity to:

• Step aside from daily routines and responsibilities
• Re–centre our hearts and calling in God
• Reflect on our vocation as lay ministers
• Pray, listen, and receive
• Build connections with others in ministry

This retreat combines gentle teaching, quiet reflection, prayerful space, and meaningful conversation, creating a balanced and nourishing experience.

What to Expect

• Guided reflections and spiritual input from experienced facilitators
• Extended periods for personal prayer and silent reflection
• Opportunities for fellowship and informal conversation

Why This Day Matters 

This retreat marks the first initiative of the Commission on Ministry focused specifically on lay ministers, recognising the vital role you play in the life and mission of the Church. It is a day not primarily about “doing,” but about “being”:

• Being with God
• Being renewed in calling
• Being supported in community

Whether you are feeling energised in ministry or weary from the journey, this day is for you. Come expectant – not for more to carry – but to lay down what you hold and receive afresh from God. 

Retreat Dates and Locations

Republic of Ireland

Date: Saturday, 3rd October 2026Venue: Dominican Retreat Centre, Tallaght.

Northern Ireland

Date: Saturday, 10th October 2026Venue: Murlough House – Dundrum, Co Down.

Last Date of Registration: September 30, 2026

For more details & Registration: Linto.John@rcbcoi.org

Please note there is no registration fee for these events. 

The Church Growth Conferences held in Belfast and Dublin over the last fortnight brought together clergy and lay people from across the Church of Ireland to pause, listen, and rediscover confidence in God’s call to grow His Church. 

Under the theme “Growing God’s Church: Rooted in His Word, Responding to His Call”, each conference was framed by worship, grounding the day in prayer and attentiveness to God’s leading. 

The keynote address by Revd Canon Alastair Graham emphasised that church growth is God’s work before it is ours, rooted in Scripture and in the reign of God. Acknowledging the challenges of contemporary society, he pointed to hopeful signs of renewed spiritual searching, particularly among younger generations, and encouraged the Church to resist narratives of decline. Christians should live as ‘faith bearers’, shaped by God’s Word, grounded in prayer and worship, practising generous hospitality, and willing to go beyond church walls with the Good News of Jesus Christ. 

Participants also took part in practical seminars, offering shared learning and ideas for parish life. The seminar topics were: 

• Growth through Evangelism 

• Growth through Stewardship 

• Growth through Prayer 

• Worship and Church Music 

• Leading you your context 

• Community Engagement 

• The Bible. Read, Mark, Learn 

• Buildings: not a burden but a resource for mission and church growth, including practical advice on permissions from RB 

• Communication: in the church and community 

Each conference concluded with worship led by internationally renowned singer and songwriter Dana, accompanied by her husband Damien Scallon. Reflecting on the gatherings, Bishop David McClay, Chair of the Commission on Ministry, spoke of encouragement for sustainable and outward‑looking church communities. 

As the gatherings came to an end, there was a shared sense that something meaningful had been affirmed rather than finished. The insights, encouragement, and shared worship now move back into parish life, where faith is lived daily and God’s work of growth continues, often in unseen but faithful ways. 

To read more on the events of the two Growth conferences see the articles by Lynn Glanville, Diocesan Communications Officer for Dublin here and here.

Announcing Dana’s involvement in the conferences, Bishop David McClay, Chair of the Commission on Ministry, which is running the conferences, said:

 

“Dana and her husband Damien have been active promoters of Christian values and music throughout their lives and I am delighted that they will join us at the Church Growth Conferences being run later this month by the Commission on Ministry  These conferences will open up discussion on creating sustainable church communities and share ideas that inspire our parishes to grow.”

Bookings for the Church Growth Conferences can be made at Eventbrite at the following links:

Belfast, 18th April: bit.ly/belfast18apr

Dublin, 25th April: bit.ly/dublin25apr

Lynda Peilow and Judy Peters ask everyone to play their part in listening to and responding to the call of God to serve him with our lives, including the potential for going forward for training for ordination.

Every Christian has a calling from God to live out their faith in their particular setting.  As part of this, a calling to ordained ministry should be considered prayerfully and seriously.

The Church of Ireland’s Commission on Ministry is asking parishes to set aside some time on the Sunday before Pentecost (which falls this year on 1st June), as a Vocation Sunday, to encourage members of their parishes to explore God’s call in their lives.

On the Church of Ireland website, you will find resources to help you organise your Vocation Sunday (or for making this a focus on another Sunday at your discretion).  Prayers, suggested hymns and songs, posters, and images for social media posts are all available – alongside the six–minute It’s Your Call video which features interviews with Church of Ireland clergy about their experience of ministry.  Please visit www.churchofireland.org/our-faith/vocations and consider sharing It’s Your Call as part of your services.

If you know a person whom you believe may have a calling to ordained ministry, one conversation could be the first step that helps them begin seeking out what this may look like for them.

If you yourself have been encouraged and prompted to consider the ordained ministry, please speak with your rector who can then liaise with your Diocesan Director of Ordinands (DDO) about the next stages in discerning your call.  The DDO will be able to recommend if a person should attend the Commission’s annual Vocations Retreat – a confidential event where speakers and other contributors help those who are exploring calling to understand the journey. The Commission on Ministry is planning to hold a Vocations Retreat in early 2026.

Nurturing vocations is always important, not least with the pressing need for more ordained clergy to lead parishes.  On every Sunday in the Church of Ireland, 80 to 90 parishes (out of 450) are vacant, and held back from reaching their full potential as worshipping communities.  With around 150 clergy retirements anticipated in the next eight years, we urgently need more people to speak into the lives of our future leaders about their potential – and more leaders to step forward and ask how their abilities can best serve our Church.

As General Synod members heard when they met earlier in May, there is deep and abiding joy in ministry and each parish can create a culture in which each person is a vocation scout. “We spot in people their vocation, the talents and gifts of God they are given,” Bishop Andrew Forster suggested. “I think many people are involved in ministry today because someone said to them: ‘Have you ever thought of….?’ Don’t leave that to other people, spot the vocations in others. These are challenging but exciting times. God is at work. He will use you and me to identify vocations. Whatever discernment God has given us, let’s use it in identifying vocations in others.”

Lynda Peilow (as Central Director of Ordinands) and Judy Peters are members of the Commission on Ministry.

Enquiries for the Press Office can be made through the contact details below or through the online contact form at the following link: www.churchofireland.org/contact

Church of Ireland Press Office

Tel: (028/048) 9082 8880
Duty mobile: +353 87 9484412

‘What’s Your Call?’ was a new initiative in the Diocese of Armagh to open up a conversation around vocations to all levels of ministry and service in the Church and in the Kingdom of God. This was not just about ordination but was also about pastoral visitors, parish and diocesan readers, youth ministry, Ordained Local Ministry and more.

The diocese held three Vocation Roadshows during April and May 2024 to which people could come along and hear from those who have answered ‘the call’ and explore, without pressure or commitment, what God might be calling them to.  Alongside this, a series of videos is being produced with interviews with people who have already responded to the question, ‘What’s Your Call?’

The first video in the series, with Harry Simpson from St Mark’s, Portadown, can be viewed here:

“Everyone in the Church is called to God’s ministry.” So says the Revd Ruth O’Kelly, the Joint Diocesan Director of Ordinands in the Diocese of Meath and Kildare, along with her counterpart, the Revd William Seale.

Are you wondering if God is calling you to a particular ministry of service in the Church, perhaps to ordination?  To mark Vocation Sunday, why not listen to this reflection from Ruth and William?  It will give you space to think and to listen:

On Saturday, 27th January, this year, Bishop Paul Colton held a Morning Vigil of Thanksgiving for ministry in the Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross at Cloyne Cathedral with prayers also for vocations.

This was in response to the previous Morning Vigil held in 2023 at which members of the diocese prayed for the vacant parishes at the time. During the course of the year, all these vacancies were filled.  The diocese gave thanks for the various appointments made in 2023, and prayed for vocations, ministries and upcoming vacancies.

Over the next three Sundays in Down and Dromore, the diocese is inviting parishioners to spend some time thinking about their God–given vocation.

Most of us will work out our vocation in our homes, families and places of work. Others may sense a call to full–time ministry in the Church. All are ways in which we uniquely contribute to the world for the glory of God and the sake of his kingdom. All are invaluable to God and his Church.

To help with prayerfully considering vocation, a recorded performance of a song by the Revd Eoghan Heaslip (from St Catherine’s, Dublin) – ‘What you’ve called me to’ – is presented along with some short reflections on calling from ordinands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne3NNLUqQ7U

With thanks to Eoghan for permission to use the song, to Sarah and Daniel McDonald for performing, and Dave Bradshaw for filming and recording.

Enquiries for the Press Office can be made through the contact details below or through the online contact form at the following link: www.churchofireland.org/contact

Church of Ireland Press Office

Tel: (028/048) 9082 8880
Duty mobile: +353 87 9484412

For a six–minute slot in the service, you may wish to show It’s Your Call – a commissioned video which features interviews with a range of Church of Ireland clergy about their ordained ministry in different parts of Ireland.  The video is available to share or download from the following links on our YouTube and Vimeo channels:

Vimeo is an advertising–free platform.  A range of resources for promoting vocations and ministry is available – at vocations.ireland.anglican.org – including articles on pathways to ordination, lay ministry, Pioneer Ministry, and understanding selection, and five posters for parishes to encourage people to think about the role to which God may be calling them. 

Vocation Sunday is an annual initiative from the Commission on Ministry for the Sunday between Ascension Thursday and Pentecost; parishes are welcome to choose another date at their discretion if this would be more convenient.  Anyone with an interest in exploring a vocation to ordained ministry is encouraged to speak with their rector in the first instance.

Vocation Sunday is an annual initiative from the Commission on Ministry to encourage conversations and discussions about vocation and ministry.  Anyone with an interest in exploring a vocation to ordained ministry is encouraged to speak with their rector in the first instance.

A range of resources for services is available at www.vocations.ireland.anglican.org – this includes the It’s Your Call video (also below, and just over 6 minutes in length), articles on pathways to ordination, lay ministry, Pioneer Ministry, and understanding selection, and five posters for parishes to encourage people to think about the role to which God may be calling them.  Parishes are welcome to choose another date at their discretion if this would be more convenient.

A vocations retreat was held from 26th to 28th January, in the Dromantine Conference Centre, near Newry, for those ‘exploring’ ordination in the Church of Ireland. The retreat was led by Provost Lynda Peilow (the Central Director of Ordinands), Judy Peters (from the Commission on Ministry), and Bishop David McClay. Dr Sean Doherty, Principal of Trinity College, Bristol, was the guest speaker, and he navigated the gathering through discernment, exploration and answering God’s call.

Archbishop John McDowell also called in to greet participants on Saturday morning. There were some practical sessions with input from Dr Katie Heffelfinger (representing the Church of Ireland Theological Institute) on pathways to ordinations, the Revd Rob Jones (National Director for Pioneer Ministry), and from clergy families which included Eddie Hallissey and Brigid Barrett.  The Revd Julie Bell was the Chaplain, and she used the space and grounds creatively in leading prayer and worship.

The retreat offered the eighteen participants a deeper understanding of the spiritual, intellectual, and practical aspects of ordained ministry, fostering discernment and providing a space for reflection. Participants engaged in daily prayer, worship, and informative sessions. There was also time to chat with one another and to reflect. This built a sense of community, and participants left with a network of peers to provide ongoing support and encouragement.

The Very Rev Lynda Peilow said: “The retreat has successfully provided structure and space for individuals considering a call to ordained ministry. Through a balanced combination of spiritual, intellectual, and practical elements, the participants gained a deeper understanding of their vocation, and a strengthened sense of support and community.

“I hope and pray that their ‘time out’ at the retreat in Dromantine will support and encourage them on this journey as they continue to discern God’s call. It was promising and encouraging to see people from across the country gather. For some, it will lead to a path towards ordination and for others it enabled a structured space and place to unravel their sense of vocation in a safe and informative environment.”

The Commission on Ministry is asking parishes to encourage conversations and discussions by holding a Vocation Sunday on 21st May, or another date at their discretion if this is more convenient, and It’s Your Call may be a helpful resource for showing in a six–minute slot in your service, or indeed through parish websites and social media.  If a parish would prefer to have its own copy or if broadband access is limited in a particular location, the video can be downloaded from this page on the Church of Ireland’s Vimeo channel.

Anyone with an interest in exploring a vocation to ordained ministry is encouraged to speak with their Rector in the first instance.  A range of resources is available at www.vocations.ireland.anglican.org which include articles on pathways to ordination, lay ministry, Pioneer Ministry, and understanding selection, and posters for parishes to encourage people to think about the role to which God may be calling them.  The video can also be viewed and shared on YouTube and Facebook.

Anyone with an interest in exploring a vocation to ordained ministry is encouraged to speak with their Rector in the first instance.  A range of resources is available at www.vocations.ireland.anglican.org which include articles on pathways to ordination, lay ministry, Pioneer Ministry, and understanding selection, and posters for parishes to encourage people to think about the role to which God may be calling them.