New Gorebridge minister: “It feels this is where God is calling me”

Gorebridge Parish Church was packed with friends, family, congregation members and well-wishers for the ordination of Rev Tim Linford as assistant minister at the Lothian kirk.

"I feel really excited," Mr Linford said, the morning after the service, which was led by former Moderator to the General Assembly, Very Rev Dr Susan Brown.

"It will give me an opportunity to learn more about what Gorebridge does really successfully, which is seeing church as family and valuing people – everyone has something to contribute.

"I will be consolidating some of that, but also building on what I have started in ministry."

However, this was not the first such occasion for the Linford family.

His wife Victoria was a minister at Stow and Heriot Parish Church in the Borders, although she has currently stepped away from parish ministry and is working in the principal clerk's office in the Church of Scotland offices in Edinburgh, drawing on her background in corporate law.

Mr Linford acknowledged it has been useful to have another minister in the family for some support and advice.

While Mrs Linford was still a parish minister, he was a locum minister in a neighbouring parish and the couple were able to bounce ideas off each other before each going on to preach in their own way.

The ordination has not been the only big event for the couple, who have two adopted sons, Kieran and Luke.

Their first grandchild, Noah, was born three weeks ago and parents Kieran and Sophie brought him to the ordination.

"That was brilliant – Noah got lots of hugs," his proud grandfather beamed.

Bumpy path to ministry

The ordination was an important final step on what Mr Linford acknowledged had been a long and sometimes bumpy path towards ministry.

Originally employed in the defence sector where he worked for British Aerospace and Marconi Avionics, he made the move into IT with local government at the start of the millennium.

He then took a career break to look after Kieran and Luke while his wife embarked on her own ministry career, and made his own first enquiries about joining the ministry.

He applied again in 2015, when he discovered he had undiagnosed dyslexia, before finally being accepted in 2019.

"I felt that was, in a weird way, quite timely because we hit the pandemic at the start of 2020 and all my past systems engineering experience started coming to the fore," he said.

"I'd had theological training already so I was starting to mix digital ecclesiology and online media, which made me stand out from other people.

"I ended up using my post-graduate studies to research hybrid church. I was training in real time as this was happening, and it felt useful."

Digital church

He met Rev Mark Nicholas of Gorebridge Parish Church at another ordination and felt the Holy Spirit was directing him to work at Gorebridge, where Mr Linford completed his probationary period prior to ordination.

"The probation experience has just been amazing," he said.

"Again, everything seemed to fit together, mixing the technical and the personal and the online.

"My last research essay was looking at the techniques of Fred Rodgers, who was played by Tom Hanks in the film A Beautiful day in the Neighborhood, and learning from what he did.

"He was an ordained Presbyterian minister in the United States as well as being a television presenter, and seeing what we could do now with digital streams, and mix that with in-person.

"That's what we are doing in Gorebridge."

Autism mission

Contributing to the "bumpy ride" to ministry was a late diagnosis of autism.

This has had an impact on Mr Linford's approach to ministry, but one he finds very positive.

"There is a lot of neuro-diversity in Gorebridge Parish Church, but there are a lot of people who feel they can come in and feel comfortable as they are.

"We are really doing some good work with them," he said.

"It is just amazing for me, watching some of our folk flourish.

"I have been pretty open about my autism diagnosis and what I can do and they have been encouraged by that.

"There has been a deepening understanding of autism recently and it affects so many people that I believe there is real mission in this and I want to figure out how to build on that for where I go next."

Mr Linford said he had carried out quite a lot of research on the condition.

"I researched the experiences of an American pastor who was diagnosed with autism and how being open about that grew his ministry.

"A number of people have said to me that I am spearheading something here, but it's also felt a bit like being a heatshield on a space capsule going into the atmosphere.

"I feel as if I have gathered a lot of heat at times, but my feet have landed on the ground now so I have survived it!"

Ultimately, Mr Linford's ambition is to have his own charge, but in the meantime he is looking forward to extending his stay at Gorebridge.

"It feels that this is where God has called me and people in the church are very happy that I'm staying," he said.