Friends from around the world watch new minister’s ordination

Of the latest group of ministers to be ordained into the Church of Scotland, Rev Adaeze Goziem-Ibonye has certainly taken the longest journey, from Nigeria to Scotland – with a detour to India along the way.

Her ordination at Renfrew North Parish Church, where she has completed her probationary period and is now assistant minister, was an international affair.

While family members including her husband Chukwugoziem Ibonye, daughters Zara and Zuri, and her mother and mother-in-law were able to attend in person, others including her father, Dr Austin Mozie, watched online with more friends and family logging in from South Africa, India, Ireland, the USA and around the UK. Her home church in Nigeria also held its own thanksgiving service to mark the occasion.

"It was wonderful," Mrs Goziem-Ibonye said.

"You come with excitement, but there's an anxiety as well, especially when you are asked the questions and you wonder if you are going to make a mistake. But it was such an amazing time, it was just beautiful."

Brought up in the Anglican tradition, Mrs Goziem-Ibonye was introduced to the Kirk when she left Nigeria to study Human Resource Management at Glasgow University in 2008 and began attending Wellington Parish Church.

Becoming more involved in the church, she went on to become a family pastor at Killermont Parish Church in Bearsden.

Speaking at her ordination service, Clyde Presbytery Clerk Rev Robert Hamilton revealed that though friends and family had encouraged Mrs Goziem-Ibonye to train to be a Minister of Word and Sacrament, it was not until she had a conversation over a cup of coffee in 2018 that "the penny dropped" and she promised to go to a vocational conference and begin the discernment process.

As well as completing a divinity degree, she had practical church experience with placements at Cadder Church with Rev John MacGregor, Temple-Anniesland with Rev Fiona Gardner and Bearsden Cross with Rev Graeme Wilson.

She also worked alongside chaplain Rev Jeanette Peet at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, before a three-month placement with the Diocese of Madurai-Ramnad of the Church of South India (CSI).

Lessons from India

Mrs Goziem-Ibonye was inspired to visit India after attending a talk by Carol Finlay, the Church of Scotland's congregational engagement manager, which touched on the benefits of working with and learning from the Kirk's foreign ministry partners, such as the CSI.

"The Church of South India is one of our partner churches and is an epitome of ecumenicalism," she explained.

"If we, as a Church, find unions and linkages so difficult, how does this Church, which has different doctrines and denominations and even languages, come together to form the Church of South India? I thought that whatever I learnt from them, I could use in my ministry in Scotland."

Having only visited India briefly almost a decade earlier, she arrived in India on 27 September 2023 – coincidentally the CSI's 75^th anniversary – for her placement at Madurai Cathedral, where she was hosted by the minister in charge, Rev Ebenezer Joshua, and his wife J. Beulah Jane.

Staying in a student hostel, Mrs Goziem-Ibonye became deeply involved in the activities of the church in Madurai and beyond.

"I visited old people's homes, residential homes and a school for young people with physical and mental challenges, homes for women who are social outcasts (e.g. ex-convicts) or those with marital crisis that need protection from their husbands or families," she said.

"The CSI owns many schools; primary to tertiary, and I was privileged to work alongside their chaplains, leading services and bible studies for both students and teachers with interpreters in some cases. It was very interesting.

"The Church serves the community, and these are not necessarily Christians because Christians make up just four percent of the country.

"One important thing I learnt was that every church has its own problems. It just comes in different ways."

After returning to Scotland in December, she began her probation at Renfrew North with Rev Philip Wallace at the start of the year.

"It is the best thing that could have happened to me. Renfrew North congregation are loving and caring, but very straightforward. You are confident that if someone says something to you they are sincere and that increased my trust in them," Mrs Goziem-Ibonye said.

"I must say that my placements have been just right.

"You are supposed to do placements in different churches and areas so you learn and experience difference in ministry. Each place has been so different and so unique, but it all ties in.

"For my time with John MacGregor, which was in the heart of Covid, he made it possible for me to learn how a minister functions and see not just what he did as a minister, but how he lived his life. Then I went to Fiona Gardner, who was going through the challenge of union, but is so resilient and cheerful."

She also loved her time as a chaplain at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary Hospital but decided she has not been called to chaplaincy. Instead, her placements and probation, as well as 10 years as a family pastor in Killermont, have reinforced the appeal of parish ministry.

"These made me realise that I am called for parish ministry, but also conditioned my mind into what I wanted from parish ministry.

"It's been a good experience working in Renfrew North and they are very happy for me to remain as assistant minister there until I get my own charge – and I am happy to be there."