From America to a Church in Wales
An American who fell in love with Wales has been ordained priest at St Tyssil’s Church, Llandyssil near Montgomery.
The Reverend Dr Alexis Smith was ordained priest by the Bishop of St Asaph the first an ordination has ever taken place in this church.
A large congregation gathered to support Rev Dr Smith, who has been ministering in the area of Llandyssil and Castle Caereinion since June.
The service marked a significant milestone in a long and interesting journey that has taken her from the United States of America to ministry in rural Wales.
In the USA her ministry had included fulltime hospital and hospice chaplaincy in Greensboro, North Carolina.
But, when she began studies for a PhD at the University of Wales, Lampeter, she said a deep love for Wales and its people developed, along with the sense of God’s calling to live and minister in Wales.
Rev Dr Alexis returned to Wales at every opportunity and in 2014 she began the discernment process for ministry in Wales. Though ordained in Christian traditions of the Church of God and the Mennonite Church, Alexis made contact with the Bishop of St. Asaph and so began the process towards her ordination as priest within the Church in Wales.
She moved to live in Welshpool in September 2016,prepared for her ministry at the Church in Wales’ training institute, St Padarn’s and ordained deacon in St Asaph Cathedral in June.
"My ministry in Wales has been a dream long awaited and now that it has come to fruition I look forward to the journey continuing, following God in the company of the people of the communities in and around Welshpool."
