Published on: 07/04/2026
When was the last time you were in a conga line, dancing around like a train across the floor?! Family wedding or birthday party or school disco, we’ve probably all enjoyed (or not) snaking around a hall grabbing the waist of the person in front of us, collecting people along the way and never quite knowing how to stop.
I was reflecting recently on the nature of vocation and calling and how for each of us there will be people we can name who played a key role in our journey in ministry. The person who asked whether you’d ever thought of training in something, the person who gave you an opportunity to help them with an aspect of their ministry and learn from them. The person who prayed for you and with you as you discerned. And I bet those people could, in turn, name the people who played those roles in their lives too. It’s like a long and winding ministry conga line, snaking back through church history.
Each of us has been raised up and released into ministry by someone who has gone before us. Very often, those people have intentionally invested in us, coached us, mentored us and walked alongside us, giving us responsibility for things and being available to us. We can see examples of these relationships in scripture too, whether it is Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, Paul and Timothy.
Much like the person at the back of the conga line, it is our responsibility and our joy to look out for people who can join the dance of ministry – whether they are keen and ready or whether they are apprehensive and don’t know the steps.
Who are you raising up to come after you?
Do you need to slow down a bit in order to make space for them to join you, and make time to show them the ropes?
Are your eyes so fixed on the mission ahead of you that you’ve forgotten to look around at who hasn’t joined in yet?
If you find yourself at the front of your particular conga line of ministry, can you redirect your steps so that you intentionally go and scoop up people who are sometimes overlooked in ministry but who are just as gifted and needed as part of the body?
As you’re journeying with those who are stepping in to ministry, you may be helping them to discern their giftings and where God is calling them. As a Diocese we have a new leaflet which outlines all the different roles and training options there are for lay ministry – get in touch if you haven’t seen one yet and we’ll send some to you for your church, email layministry@sheffield.anglican.org.
This week’s Blog post was written by Beth Burras, Lead Lay Ministry Enabler