January 2024: Kirsty Forsyth
Each month the Church of Scotland's ‘Talking Ministry' series shares personal stories from those serving in Christian ministry, along with resources filled with questions, prayers and reflections to help encourage reflection on how God might be calling you at this time.
In our first interview of 2024, Kirsty Forsyth talks about why the Church of Scotland Diaconate is such a good match for her personality and experience.
My Ministry: Kirsty Forsyth A former paramedic, Kirsty Forsyth is continuing to serve her community as a deacon at Richmond Craigmillar Church in Edinburgh.
After studying at New College, University of Edinburgh, she completed her probationary period at Richmond Craigmillar and DuddingstonKirk in Edinburgh before being ordained as a deacon in December 2022.
When did you become a Christian?
I was born into a church-going family and it was probably early high school when I became a Christian myself.
In my late teens, I started to drift away from the church, then in my mid-30s, although I loved my job, I began to feel there was something quite significant missing. I just got up one Sunday morning and went to the church along the road. It was nothing more dramatic than thinking I'd maybe go once, and that would tick that box. But I decided this was really nice and began to get more involved, so there was a rediscovery of faith.
I began to feel there was something quite significant missing."
Why did the Diaconate appeal to you rather than other forms of ministry?
I always find this a really interesting question because it makes it sound as if any of it was my idea!
My minister, Mike Taylor, probably recognised that I would be good at ministry, but I was quite resistant.
I hadn't heard of the Diaconate and hadn't come across any deacons until Mike suggested I go to a vocations conference and I heard people talking about the Diaconate.
What really appealed was the bridge building aspect, the encouragement of people and the practical aspects of the Diaconate. These spoke to the kind of person that I thought I was.
That was confirmed more and more as I did my training.
How would you explain the role of a deacon?
It is quite varied and it is very contextual because the job I have now is different from what I was doing at Duddingston. I think that is perhaps why people sometimes don't understand the work of a deacon quite as clearly as Word and Sacrament ministry.
One important element of my work at Richmond Craigmillar is the adult bereavement groups I run with the minister, Liz Henderson. We take referrals from GPs surgeries and community workers and others to help people in the community who are struggling with bereavement. That is quite a major part of my role.
I work with the church teams and the Sunday Club on a Sunday – which keeps me on my toes!
During the week I work with the Nearly New and Fare Share volunteers, helping to support them. It is a crossover between pastoral and missional work. You get to know about peopleand you can help them sometimes with practical things, but you can also help by listening to them talking about their lives.
It is the Christian hospitality tradition of welcoming people and helping them, but different people need different skills. I would use different conversations and techniques at Duddingston from the ones I would use at Craigmillar.
What do enjoy most about the role?
I like the variety. Different groups use the halls every day so you get a chance to talk to different people.
We have a multicultural congregation with members from Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda, as well as different European families.
That has been really interesting because I work with the teenagers and they were telling me that on 31st December, they would go to church at 5pm and be there all night. Even though they were from different countries, they all remember being taken to church, praying and singing and dancing. It was fascinating to hear what their experience of church was like and share different ideas.
The bereavement work is very challenging, but very rewarding. People are glad they have come along, even though it is a big step initially. They feel that they have had a chance to speak about their bereavement with people who understand them, and they find that a positive experience.
Who have been your biggest influences?
I would have to start with my mum. She is a reader in the Church of Scotland in Aberdeenshire and I remember as a child she would hold a Bible study group in the house.
She was very enthusiastic when I began looking at ministry and couldn't wait until I finished my job and started university. My whole family has been very supportive.
My fellow candidates have also been very important. Not everyone understands when you are called into ministry and it helps to have people who do know what you are going through.
And through my placements and probation, you always pick up something that you want to try, just from the ways that different people do ministry.
At Richmond Craigmillar, Liz knows a lot about bereavement, so I am learning every day. There is a steep learning curve that I have been on a big journey with.
Do you receive support from other deacons?
I don't work with other deacons, but we have a local gathering and in September a group of us went to Neuendettelsau in Germany for the Diakonia Region Africa Europe conference.
That was really good because I got to go away with really experienced deacons and also a student from the Diaconate, so there was a breadth of experience. And then, when we got to Germany, I met deacons from across Africa and Europe.
Scotland hosted the conference in 2019. I was still a student then and got to help and atNeuendettelsau I saw some of the people I met then and they were still talking fondly about it. I got to meet new people, and I saw how the Germans hosted us, which was quite different. It was a great experience.
Working in a city church, how involved are you in your community?
Because so many groups use the halls, we come into contact with different people, including people who are either in recovery or have disabilities that mean they need assistance, or refugees coming for English classes. There is just quite a wide variety and people still sometimes want a church funeral and will come to us at those times.
We are involved with the local schools and if they have a family in need, they know they can pick up the phone to us.
We are part of the community. People can just chap on the door. They see the building open and used and if they are willing to come in we will try and help them.
Sometimes it is not about fixing people, but realising that God knows that person and we are here to let them know that they are loved by God in the worst of their circumstances and the best of their circumstances.
A year on from your ordination, what have you learned?
I have learned a lot from working with our volunteers and bereavement groups. It struck me the other day, especially working with other people, that things take time. People take time to get to know you and you need time to see what motivates them or see what works for them.You could have the best idea, but if you just jump in and they are not on board with it, it is not going to work.
There is also the gift of the unexpected. We plan a lot, but the unexpected idea that really works or that unexpected conversation can be the most important thing about that day. There has to be that adaptability.
There has been such a steep learning curve on the bereavement work and I would love to have time to distil that knowledge into something that could be useful to other people.
What are your hopes for 2024?
That in any kind of work and day to day interactions, I would be able to tell people that God loves them, that they would feel that love, that belonging, when they are in or around the church or interacting with us.
Apart from that, just continuing the work we are doing. We have a new project starting this month where we are going to be refurbishing the café space. That is going to be an opportunity to perhaps expand our bereavement work and maybe try a few different things with that, but also explore different ways of being a church or of helping the community, but we have to wait and see the space and how people might want to use it before we make any final decision.
Would you recommend being a deacon to others?
I really, really enjoy being a deacon and I highly recommend the Diaconate.
If you are interested and don't know a deacon, ask somebody who does or give me a wee phone because we are good to talk to!
January discernment resources
Who am I?
When we think of our Christian faith, it defines in many ways how we understand ourselves in relation to God. It also underpins how we understand ourselves in relation to others and the world around us. Knowing that we are loved and held by God offers us an identity that is bound up in something much greater than the unique life we live.
To understand that we not only belong to God, but are part of the wider Christian family is a powerful thing. How do we understand our place, our part, our call to serve in the living of our lives?
The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him — though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being'.
Acts 17:24-28
We are all called by God to something…in all our seeking and searching, God is calling each of us to discover who we most fully are in this relationship. God is not far from us, and has revealed in Jesus Christ and by the Spirit this real and refreshing presence that shapes our days and our destination.
This call is always a journey, and movement is at the heart of any journey. Where we are today in our relationship with God may be quite different than in the past, and perhaps God is leading us on to something new. Our identity is God is being continually reshaped as we open ourselves to what God is doing and saying now.
O LORD, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, O LORD, you know it completely. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.
Psalm 139
To contemplate/discuss
Beginning from here, how do I think of myself in relation to God?
Is this relationship one of movement or does it feel static?
What could I do to deepen and develop my faith?
What are the patterns that have shaped my faith journey?
Who are the people that accompany me on the way?
Is God saying something new to me today?
Prayer
God of each and every moment, I thank you that you have given me a home in you. You hear me and hold me, and offer a life of fullness. Help me to know your call and assurance in my life, and to keep exploring with you where that journey may lead. Amen
More information
"Now, with God's help, I shall become myself."
Søren Kierkegaard
If you would like to consider how God might be calling you to serve at this time, you may want to discuss further with your minister or be in touch with your Presbytery to explore local opportunities.
If you are interested in exploring a call to the recognised ministries of the Church, you can find more information on our vocations page and can contact ministry@churchofscotland.org.uk for a Discernment Conversation with one of the Recruitment Team.
More information
If you would like to consider how God might be calling you to serve at this time, you may want to discuss further with your minister or be in touch with your Presbytery to explore local opportunities.
If you are interested in exploring a call to the recognised ministries of the Church, you can find more information on our vocations page and can contact ministry@churchofscotland.org.uk for a Discernment Conversation with one of the Recruitment Team.