My Ordination Story: Abi Alex
23 June 2026
Burn Like a Candle
"A Christian life should burn like a candle and spread sweetness like cherries."
Abi can't remember the talk or the exact Bible passage, and can’t even recall what the leader said that evening at a Sunday School camp many years ago. But he has never forgotten the image.
The leader held up a lit candle. “A Christian life,” he said, “should burn like a candle and spread sweetness like cherries.” It was a simple picture, which stayed with Abi and kept coming back. A candle flickering in church would bring it to mind as would the quiet of a summer's day. Year after year the same image returned, and with it a question that grew harder to ignore.
What if God was asking him to commit his whole life, like a candle burning itself away to give light, like fruit spreading sweetness to others? That, in a sense, was the beginning.
Tested by Others
For Abi, a calling was never something that could simply be felt for yourself. It had to be confirmed by others too. He was heavily involved in youth fellowship and occasionally he would be asked to preach. After one of those services, a woman came to find him. “It feels,” she said, “like God has a special plan for you. Why don't you explore a little more?” He had carried the sense of call quietly but here was someone naming it out loud.
The Bread and the Cup
There came a particular occasion, sharing in Holy Communion, when something settled for Abi. Alongside the ministry of the word and pastoral care, he felt the pull of being a channel of grace to others through the sacraments. That was the moment he could name what he was called to. Not lay ministry, but presbyteral ministry.
Abi was born and raised in the Church of South India, part of the wider Anglican Communion, where the distinction between deacon and presbyter didn't feature in the same way. So why Methodism? The answer, simply, was welcome. When he first came to the UK around a dozen years ago, the Methodist Church felt like home, with a sense of you belong here that he hadn't found everywhere. It was enough to make him stay.
Stepping Back So Others Step Forward
Two years into circuit ministry in Tadcaster, Abi has learned that ministry is deeper and more personal than he first imagined. He has discovered that he is, in his words, a biblical student, loving scripture and sharing what he finds.
But pastoral ministry is more than word and sacrament. It means being present with people in the moments of their lives, baptisms and bereavements, celebrations and crises.
And it has taught him about position. A presbyter, he believes, is called to enable others to step forward, and sometimes that means consciously stepping back, making space so other people can use their own gifts. That, he feels, is where God is calling him right now.
A Village Hall and a Tiny Group
Tadcaster is a small circuit, just eight churches served by two ministers. In his first year, one chapel had to close but he couldn't leave the four or five people who had worshipped there, so he started a Bible study group for them in the village hall.Free of the burden of a building, the little group began to grow.
What started with five or six is now ten or twelve, and it is strikingly diverse: Anglicans, Catholics, Salvation Army and some just beginning to explore faith. Abi is convinced that had they still been tied to the chapel, those people would never have come. The open, welcoming space drew them in, and God, he believes, is at work in exactly those moments, where people gather, no matter how deep or new their belief.
For You, Jesus Came
In two years, Abi has only taken one baptism but many more funerals. Holding the baby in his arms, he looked at her and said, “for you Jesus has come. For you Jesus has given his life.” To his surprise, she held his gaze for a couple of minutes. The baptism felt extra special to Abi as he had been given the chance to be at the beginning of someone’s faith journey, and to be part of that felt deeply special.
Keep Your Eyes and Ears Open
For anyone wondering whether God might be calling them, Abi's advice comes straight from his own story. His call was never just a personal feeling; it was tested and confirmed by the people around him. “Keep your eyes and ears open,” he says, “and listen to what others are saying, because God may be speaking to you through them.”
Abi will be ordained at All Saints Church, Wellington on Sunday 28 June 2026.