My name is Hannah and I am the newest member of the Turton Moorland Team Ministry following my Ordination on July 4th, 2021. Here is a short piece about myself and my background, and some of the journey I have taken to get to being here with you…
I was brought up as part of the church family at St John the Evangelist, Wingates. I drifted away from the church but not my faith whilst I was at university. Practicalities meant that I had to work on the weekends. I finished university in 2008 and started work as a teacher. If you had asked me then what I’d be doing in ten years time, I certainly wouldn’t have said I’d be exploring ministry! But after returning to worship in my mid 20s I started to feel that I should be doing something more so I initially explored a call to Reader ministry but realised that I wouldn’t be able to balance full time teaching and a part time ministerial role and concluded that I should really test a vocation to full time ordained ministry further.
As part of my exploration, the Director of Vocations organised a placement for me to experience ministry away from Wingates so I attended and supported worship at St Thomas Werneth and St Paul’s Oldham for a short period. Here I had new experiences of faith expression, saw more of the diversity of the Church of England and had an opportunity to grow into a more public role in leading services. After this I went back to the team in Westhoughton but based myself more at Daisy Hill where I was also able to take on a more active role in leadership, then in 2019 I was recommended for training!
I have completed my training at St Mellitus College with a placement at Bury Parish Church and St Paul’s. The experiences I have had at college have been diverse and I have made lots of new friends from different traditions. We have learned lots from each other over the course! In Bury I found a welcoming community. There I’ve been part of choral worship, civic ceremonies, online worship and had lots of different pastoral encounters. Being in a town centre has really shown me another side to the Diocese and how we operate in different communities. The worship at Bury Parish Church was more diverse than I expected. When I first arrived, I was unsure what to expect and a little worried that it would be unfamiliar to me but I have learnt that the liturgy of the Church of England is flexible enough to translate well into different settings.
As I embark upon my time as Assistant Curate in the Turton Moorland Team I am looking forward to learning more new things in another different setting and from the various communities the Team serves. Being out in the moors of Bolton and having a team that is spread quite widely will be a challenge, but I am keen to get stuck into whatever I can. I’ve started to meet some new people already and I have experienced a lovely warm welcome. I hope that I am able to bring something of myself to the team and be able to enhance an already very exciting set of ministry skills. The people I have met on the journey so far have all shaped me in different ways and I can’t wait to see what new things I learn from new people in the future as the journey continues.
Rev’d Hannah Lane
