A LOCAL minister is celebrating a landmark anniversary this weekend and is inviting people to join him at a special service.
At the service on Sunday, the Very Rev Patrick McManus, minister at the United Reformed Church in Sion, St John, will celebrate 25 years as an ordained minister of the United Reformed Church.
The service, which will begin at 10.30 am at the URC, will be led by the Moderator of the Southern Province, the Very Rev Nigel Uden, who is travelling over especially from England. Refreshments and a time of fellowship will follow the service.
‘Although many ministers have served a longer time than I have, 25 years is a landmark and I feel very honoured to be in Jersey for this special occasion,’ said Mr McManus.
Following a career in teaching, Mr McManus was ordained in Fareham, Hampshire, in October 1983, serving the Church there and then in Hayling Island and Chichester before being appointed to the Channel Islands in 2005. He travels between the United Reformed Churches in Jersey and Guernsey each month and is also the president of Christians Together in Jersey.
He believes that the support and encouragement of the Church and all its members and friends over the last 25 years has helped him to fulfil his calling.
‘We are all called by God to some kind of ministry and service and without the love and support of my wife and family, and the care of the churches, I should not have been able to fulfil my own calling,’ he said.
Mr McManus will be joined at the service by his wife, Gillian, and his sons Andrew, and Matthew, who will be playing the organ.
