Church Events

News

Curate Tapani Ordained

On 27 March, Curate Tapani became Pastor Tapani as he was ordained into the Office of the Holy Ministry at Christ Lutheran Church in Petts Wood, Kent, and installed as the pastor of Our Saviour Lutheran Church.

Having completed nearly two years of curacy, faced an oral examination by the ELCE's Church Examination Board, which recommended him for ordination. Once the Executive Council of the ELCE had approved Tapani for ordination, Our Saviour extended a call to him.

What a joyful occasion it was when the congregation of Our Saviour — boosted by Tapani's family and friends from Finland and the UK — once again celebrated a communion service on Palm Sunday with their own pastor.

Chairman of Our Saviour, Mike Covington greeted the congregation with this joyful declaration: "Thanks be to God: we have a pastor!"

British LutheranThere is a special section in the latest British Lutheran on the ordinations. It can be downloaded by clicking here. (NB. This is a large file, approximately 4MB, so will take several minutes to download on a dial-up connection.)

Procession
Procession of ordinands and ELCE clergy
Congregation
The congregation
Congregation
A packed Christ Lutheran Church
Graham Jenks
The Revd. Graham Jenks read the OT reading
Joel Humann
The Revd. Joel Humann read the Epistle
Claudio Flor
The Revd. Claudio Flor read the Gospel
Anssi Simojoki
The Revd. Dr. Anssi Simojoki, Pastor Tapani's father, preached
Ordination 1
Tapani's Ordination
The ordination of Tapani Simojoki
Reg Quirk
The Revd. Dr. Reg Quirk, Chairman of the ELCE, presided
Jaime's Ordination
The ordination of Jaime Kriger
Laying on of hands
The laying on of hands
Kurt Van Fossan
The blessing from the Revd. Kurt Van Fossan, Tapani's curacy supervisor
Kurt Van Fossan
Pastor Van Fossan was also the last vacancy pastor of Our Saviour
Anssi Simojoki
A father's blessing
Anssi Simojoki
Stole
The placing of the stole, the yoke of office
Stole
Installation
Tapani was also installed as pastor of Our Saviour Lutheran Church
Tapani and Jaime
Hymn-singing
Finnish triptych
Pastor Tapani flanked by his father Anssi and his cousin, the Revd. Juhana Pohjola of Luther Foundation Finland
Aerial view
The gathered congregation
Our Saviour congregation
The congregation of Our Saviour Lutheran Church with her new pastor
Simojoki family
Family Simojoki
Mike Covington
"We have a pastor!" Our Saviour chairman Mike Covington
Cake
First Communion
The first communion service at Our Saviour with her new pastor on Palm Sunday. Pastor Juhana assisted.
Our Saviour congregation
The congregation and visitors after the Palm Sunday service