Rev Leanne Fowler was ordained in the Church of England recently but less than 20 years ago she was ready to leave the Christian faith altogether after losing a second daughter to stillbirth, reports churchofengland.org
Grief stricken and angry with God – “I was going to tell God where to go and I was not going to have anything to do with him” – she was persuaded by a vicar to come into church to express her anger at God.
She said: “This vicar said to me ‘do you think that God has not got broad enough shoulders for you to tell him how angry you are?’
“I was shocked by this and said I would come to church for one more time.
“I came into church and sat at the back and it was at the point that I was going to give everything up that I saw and felt what was like water washing over me, and I heard God saying ‘you know it is going to be alright’ and I said to God ‘I am going to trust you and follow you’.
“Obviously there was the grief – and grief takes a long time – but it was a turning point.
“It was then that I became a Christian in my own right.”
Rev Leanne, a school pastoral assistant, was ordained as a deacon at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, after training with the diocese’s local ministry pathway.
She will work part time for six years at St John’s Newbury in the South Newbury Benefice as an assistant curate. Her particular interests are working with families and schools and ministry to bereaved parents.
Rev Leanne is mother to a son, born in 2001, and a daughter, born in 2010. Her daughters Emily and Amy Keren (Keren meaning ray of light) were still born in 2000 and 2005 respectively.
