New Rector for Dorchester Abbey

We are delighted to announce the appointment of the Revd Jane Willis as our new Team Rector (subject to formalities). Jane will be licensed on Monday 13th February, 2023, at 7.30 p.m. at Dorchester Abbey. She has written this to introduce herself to us all:

Greetings to everyone in the Dorchester Team! It was great to meet some of you on the interview day and I’m really looking forward to serving as your new Team Rector. Nothing quite beats meeting face to face, but for now a few words of introduction…

I’m presently Rector of Holy Trinity Church, Hurstpierpoint – a large Sussex village just beneath the South Downs and north of Brighton. I’ve served here for 8 years during which time the church has experienced new life and growth – as well as navigating covid times. Having felt the time had now come to move on, I’m delighted to have a deep sense of call to serve the Dorchester Team.

I’m married to Gerry and we have three adult daughters, four grandchildren – and we’re presently ‘between dogs’. I was born in Canada, spent my childhood in Hampshire, teenage years in Cheshire and moved to Sussex when I was 17. That was where I came to faith, met and married Gerry, had babies – and where my call to ordination began. Since then we’ve been on God’s great tour of England – moving first to Northampton to a full time lay ministry post in a town centre church, then to Oxford for two years ordination training (we love Oxford!), curacy at Shrewsbury Abbey, first incumbency with a group of rural churches in North Devon along with being chaplain to the children’s hospice, before being called back to Sussex. Gerry runs his own property maintenance business, which he’s restarted every time we’ve moved! He is also a Reader (LLM/Licensed Lay Minister in Oxford terms).

In our free time we enjoy walking, exploring new places and landscapes – and I’m a keen photographer. Family time is also precious to us – a real bonus for us is that in Dorchester we will be nearer to them all. I have a feeling the next few months will fly by and we will soon be with you – in the mean time we will be praying for you, and would really value your prayers for good endings here and good beginnings with you all.

Every blessing