Navigating ministry together: One married couple's journey to God's calling
Ministry training is an exciting journey for anyone, but what’s it like when you do it as a couple? We asked recent ordinands Jacqui and Leigh Richmond for their views
JACQUI’S STORY
As a former teacher, Jacqui was a natural fit to work as Elim Church Northampton’s Children’s Ministry Director during her training. While she was there, however, she felt called in a totally different direction. Now, she serves in women’s ministry as a pastor at Bridge Community Church in Leeds.
I’ll be honest: I wasn’t planning to do ministry training. Leigh and I had lived in Sheffield all of our lives. We were being stirred up and challenged separately to do something with regards to training and when Leigh explored going to Bible college, I went along because I was trying to be supportive. By the time I walked out of an introductory session, though, I was like, “Where do I sign up?!” So we went on the journey together.
On a leadership module during the Ministry Foundation Certificate, one of the lecturers asked me if I’d thought about becoming an MIT. I’d been feeling it, praying about it and I talked to Leigh about it. Step by step through moments like this, that’s where the journey began. MIT training for us was about exploration. We had no idea where we were heading but were simply open to what God wanted us to do.
We relocated and I joined the team at Northampton part-time as children’s ministry director but then Covid hit the following month. I automatically found myself in a position where I was supporting adults as well as children, and that grew organically.
I found myself trying to do kids’ work but also trying to help ladies I’d seen during the week. So, while I’d done kids ministry since 2006 and been a primary school teacher for 12 years I could feel I was coming to a season where things were changing.
We were ordained in June and there was an amazing opening for a female pastor at Bridge Community Church so I applied and took the role in July.
It’s been a massive, positive change! Since I started, I’ve supported various women’s ministries, helped with our Grace Conference and been a pastoral support to many of our ladies and young adults. It’s been a privilege to journey with people and to support them. Leigh and I have been commuting between Leeds and Northampton while we sell our house and that’s been quite a tough season, but I’m really expectant for the New Year. I know we’re in the right place in Leeds.
I’m growing and changing and I’m open to what God wants for me. I love the fact our journey with God is always evolving.
LEIGH’S STORY
Leigh had years of experience managing operations in the secular world. While on his MIT placement, working as operations director at Elim Church Northampton, his calling to apply that experience in ministry was confirmed. Now, he heads up operations and a team of staff at Bridge Community Church in Leeds.
Before we started our MIT training in January 2020, I’d been working all over the world as the operations director for a large multinational recruitment business, and Jacqui had been a teacher for 12 years, so this was a massive change for us.
We did our training at Elim Church Northampton. They were looking for a children’s director and invited Jacqui down to visit. They wanted to employ her so I came as a plus one! I became their Operations Director.
My role was facilitating pretty much everything that goes on in the church – leading the admin and finance departments and, with Jacqui, the volunteers.
We learned a lot through these roles, but the other great thing about the MIT process was the opportunities we were given to explore the wider ministry too. The role of a minister can be very broad – doing weddings, funerals, preaching, hospital visits, discipleship courses – and Northampton gave us the opportunity to do all of those things.
That really helped us on our journey of discovering where God was leading us. Jacqui understood she was heading towards pastoral ministry because she was seeing fruit there and had a heart for it, too. That really wasn’t the right path for me. I felt my strengths were in the operational side of things, particularly in leadership of people. So we started to grow in these different areas.
MIT gave me a wide view of ministry and the areas God was highlighting where I was thriving. When I had my interview for my current job I thought, “This is me!” Now I support Steve, our lead pastor and oversee around 20 of our 30 staff.
This church is ridiculously amazing. It’s got stuff going on like you’ve never seen. As we speak, we have an NHS conference running with 1,000 doctors and nurses. Then we have an English-speaking lesson for refugees in another room, we’re giving out food parcels to people in the community, we’ve got a toddlers group and an employability course.
Thanks to the training, I came to this knowing fully what lane I needed to be in, what my strengths are, what God’s called me to do and how I can make a difference in our church. For anyone considering ministry training I’d say that finding a church which gives you opportunities to explore and discover this is really important because it will help you on your journey towards what God has for you next.
What’s it like to be an MIT at the same time as your partner?
Jacqui: We were much more separate before – I was at school and Leigh was doing his thing all over the world – so we’d come in at the end of the day, have a five-minute work moan, then carry on with something else. Then you switch to working in the same church!
To be honest, we had to work at boundaries early on. I remember one morning, I was brushing my teeth, and Leigh was talking to me about work. I was like, “No, we’re not in the office now!” You need to set boundaries; otherwise, your work and ministry life can overtake you as a couple. We’re much better at it now. We still like to talk about our days, but we’re also good at saying, “That’s it, dinner time.”
Leigh: That’s easier to do in a larger church because we have completely separate worlds. We walk through the door in the morning and Jacqui heads one way, I head another. That said, I’ve actually just moved myself into her office because it’s got more room to meet with people and work. I’ll work downstairs on the days she’s here, though. Jacqui is right about the boundaries, but on the flip side, I do feel we’re more aligned in God’s purpose for us now. This journey has brought us closer together.
Jacqui: Definitely. I remember when we were working on assignments, we’d study separately, then explore and talk things through together afterwards. That was great.
Leigh: We’re different from a lot of couples in that many already lead a church together or are aiming to, whereas we have supporting functions in different lanes in the same church. You have couples like Mike and Beki Nicholls, who lead Luton Christian Fellowship very well together, but I don’t think that would work for us right now. You never rule anything out, though... I ruled out going into ministry, and look what happened!
Jacqui: We always leave things in God’s hands, but it’s working extremely well.
Leigh: Christmas will be interesting this year. I’ll be involved in supporting with the planning and practical management of people, process and so on, whereas Jacqui will be supporting in other areas. At busy times like this, it really helps that Jacqui’s mum, Estelle, lives with us. She’s a huge support to us with our daughter Beth, who is nine. We have family meetings where we all sit and look at the diary and plan things out. We’re able to be involved in all the Christmas services and activities because we have her support.
Jacqui: Christmas is naturally busy and I don’t want Beth to feel she’s being dragged along to everything. That’s why now, and through the whole MIT process, we’ve talked and listened to her to show we value her input. It’s about her recognising our roles in the church but she’s part of the family and has a voice too.
Leigh: When we asked her thoughts on us moving to Leeds, Beth said it was amazing she could be near her grandparents again. We sighed with relief! It’s not just Jacqui and me but us, Beth and Estelle, and family decisions involve all of us.
This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.
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