“Our new curate Jess Piper with her husband Revd Calum Piper”
We are extremely excited for the arrival of Jess Piper, our new curate, who will be joining us after her ordination in July. Originally from Leicester, Jess was brought up in the Methodist Church and discovered a living faith of her own at a Christian conference in Blackpool when she was 15. She decided to study Theology at the University of Chester and was actively involved in the Christian Union and the chaplaincy team. It was through these activities that Jess became interested in Anglicanism, and she was confirmed by Bishop Keith Sinclair in the University Chapel whilst still a student.
Jess first felt that God was prompting her to consider ordination at the age of 17; this was a call that she heard again in Chester, and so after graduating she decided to spend a year as a chaplaincy assistant at Kings College, London. During this time, she felt quite strongly that God was calling her to ordained ministry, and after returning to Cheshire she pursued this more actively. She was accepted to train for ordination in 2015 and is currently finishing her MA at St Mellitus North West, in Liverpool, where Kirsten Wood and I are also studying.
Her main placement has been at Oxton St Saviour, where she worked as a parish assistant for a year before becoming an ordinand. Jess was introduced at Oxton to the ‘mixed-economy’ model of church, which she is now really passionate about. Highlights of her time in Oxton include preaching at midnight mass on Christmas Eve and launching ‘The Loft’, Oxton’s informal, café-style worship.
It was in the University Chapel in Chester that Jess first met her husband, Calum. They grew to know and love each other through their mutual involvement in the Christian activities that the University organised, and also saw each other occasionally in the Theology department. As well as studying in the same department they both felt called to ordained ministry, and have supported each other along their distinctive journeys to ordination. They were married in 2014, one month after Calum was ordained deacon in Chester Cathedral. Calum, who trained for ministry at St John’s College, Nottingham, is about to finish his curacy at Wallasey and will be ministering at St Michael’s, Bramhall.
Jess and Calum like to spend free time with their families, friends and godchildren, and their days off exploring English Heritage sites. Jess is very musical; she enjoys singing, and playing the trumpet and the drums. She also loves going to the cinema and the theatre.
Jess will be ordained deacon on 2 July in Chester Cathedral. She sees serving others as being at the heart of the role of a deacon and hopes to be able to come alongside people, support us, and reach those in our community who need to learn more of God’s love for them. We will have a chance to welcome Jess during the services on 9 July, her first Sunday with us, at a barbecue at St Luke’s on 16 July, and at a lunch in the parish centre on 23 July.
In her words: “I am really excited about ministering in a church that takes the call to be disciples seriously wherever we may find ourselves – a mixed-economy church that shows the great variety of worship styles the Anglican tradition has to offer; and the opportunity to learn and grow as an ordained minister in a new context. I am passionate about seeing communities of people, centred on Jesus, come to a fuller understanding and love of him, and equipped to do that to which God has called them.”
Catherine Cleghorn, Ordinand