When Claire Morrish was young, living at home in Leeds, church was part of the rhythm of family life. Her parents were involved in their local church, and faith was something that surrounded Claire from an early age, but it wasn’t until she was a teenager that she made her own personal commitment. “Faith was always talked about and practised. I saw it. I got a window on what it was, but it didn’t really touch my heart.”
What changed for Claire was a powerful experience of the Holy Spirit on a youth retreat weekend at Ripon Cathedral. By then, Claire had moved from church middle school to a non-church high school, and she had begun to realise how much she missed a connection with God in everyday life. That longing led her to join a church youth group and an exploring confirmation class. It was with this group, when she was 14, that she prayed a simple prayer asking God to make himself known. “I just prayed a prayer of, ‘If you’re real, God, I need to know,’ and woosh, the Holy Spirit turned up big time in a real rush of colour and emotion and genuine presence. By the end of that little prayer session, me and the youth leader were both in tears and laughter all at once. I just came out of there thinking, ‘God is completely real and it all makes sense.’”
Christian Union and chaplaincy at college were where Claire’s faith really deepened. She says, “I made some fantastic friends that have become pilgrim pals for the journey ever since.”
She trained as a chemistry teacher, later becoming a lecturer in teacher education, but alongside her professional life there was a steady sense that God might be calling her to something more. “When I became a mum in 2003, I was inspired by a Greenbelt talk to attempt to begin a worshipping community for little ones and their grown-ups, and ‘Pips Praise’ began,” as a worship service for pre-school children and their carers at St Philip and
St James Church. What started as a small gathering of mothers and young children became a place where she saw the power of prayer and the presence of God at work in simple acts of worship. Claire had a sense of her call beginning to grow. “I found myself hearing more clearly from God as I explored how to share Bible stories in ways the very young could understand and through which grown-ups could be encouraged.” A deeper call began to surface. “From there onwards, really, the real niggle of actually, ‘I’d like you to lead a church,’ started. I couldn’t get rid of it. I did try because I was thinking, ‘No, no, God, you know, I’m a chemistry teacher. I’m a mum.’”
For a time, Claire resisted. Family life was busy, the children were young, and ordination did not seem practical. Instead, Claire took a leap of faith, gave up her lecturing job to follow her sense of vocation, and began work as a children’s minister at Holy Trinity Church, Combe Down. She worked for ten years in children’s ministry, a role in which she saw the Holy Spirit move powerfully and which deepened her experience of sharing faith with others and ministering in Combe Down Church Primary school. Yet still, the call did not go away. “I thought maybe children’s ministry would fulfil that. And it did in some ways. I loved it. I’ve seen the Holy Spirit move powerfully in that role. But it didn’t go away. Still, niggle, niggle, niggle. ‘No, Claire, I want you to do more than this.’”
So Claire answered God’s call and began her ordination training, 2 years ago. She is preparing to begin her curacy at All Saints, Western, where she is excited by the possibilities of parish ministry, school connections and prayerful space.