Tell us a bit about yourself.
I am a mature student, having worked for thirty-two years as a primary school teacher. I grew up in a Bengali Muslim family, but became a Christian at fifteen. I am married with three grown up children and currently in my second and final year of study as an ordinand.
What drew you to study at St Mellitus College?
I’ve had a broad range of experiences with different churches, from High Church of England to Evangelical Christian Union, as well as one year as Vice President of the Catholic Society, while studying at Warwick University as a young adult. Since then, I have spent thirty years in Pentecostal churches. So, I am very much at home with the ethos of St Mellitus, which embraces a broad and wide generous orthodoxy.
At age seventeen, I was trying to figure out which university to go to and what to study. I had a mental picture of myself wearing a clerical collar. Back then, there were no female vicars, and women could not be ordained, so I thought it was just a figment of my imagination. I also wondered if God was telling me to study theology, so I applied to do theology at Nottingham University… but I didn’t get in. It wasn’t a good time in my life at that point because of having to go into foster care; life was a bit of a mess. I thought the idea of studying theology really was just a figment of my imagination, and I ended up becoming a teacher. I worked for thirty-two years as a primary school teacher.
After this time, I sensed God’s call again. I began the discernment process with the Church of England, and in the Stage Two Discernment Panel Discussions, I began to explore context-based training at St Mellitus College in Nottingham. Over thirty years after God gave me that picture in a clerical collar, I am now studying as an ordinand in Nottingham at St Mellitus. I feel like God’s call was always there, but it was always going to be in his timing, and that time is now.
How would you describe the culture at St Mellitus College?
I appreciate how St Mellitus has provided the opportunity for challenge and exploration of difficult questions, but from the centrality of faith. If I had studied theology at age eighteen in a secular setting, I may well have struggled with my faith journey. As a new Christian coming from a Muslim background, my faith would likely have been challenged to the point of being snuffed out.
Although it was a bit disorienting for me to have a complete change in the pattern of my days and weeks, ultimately studying at St Mellitus is humbling and exhilarating. It has been humbling to recognize how much I don’t know. And, it has been an exhilarating journey of completely trusting in God’s call and His grace to see me through it. He doesn’t call the equipped; He equips the called based on our ‘Yes’ to him.
Why did you choose your programme of study?
After thirty-two years in education, I feel time is not on my side. A two-year Diploma in Theology, Ministry and Mission is a perfect balance of context-based training with practical preparation, as well as theological study.
What difference have your studies at St Mellitus College made in your life and faith?
For me, it has been a huge lifestyle change. I have had to give up full-time teaching, as well as the salary! Responding to the call of God is costly. It is a sacrificial journey. But the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made for me is worth much more than anything I can offer. I owe him my life. Plus, when I am stood before the throne of God, I do not want to be held accountable, having missed all that God had prepared in advance for me to do.
I’m really loving how God takes you through a journey and brings you ultimately to what his plan and purpose is for your life. If you’ll say, “Yes,” of course.
I have been through the discernment process and I’m now studying for ordination on the two-year Diploma in Theology, Ministry and Mission through context-based training, and I will be hopefully ordained in June of next year. I feel like it is a culmination of the dream that God had planted all those years ago. I am a living example that it is never too late. He calls all of us.
If you are sensing the call of God to study theology, or step into leadership, you will need to study; it is important to do justice to the word of God. 2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” Also, make sure you take time to enjoy this awesome opportunity, especially if you are a mature student, like me.
