Janice Gilligan has joined the RSR staff as a Chaplaincy Support Worker at the Northwood HQ. The establishment is an important tri-service base with a vibrant Chaplaincy department. Janice takes up her story…

As I idly leafed through the local free newspaper the job advert leaped out at me… and here I am, less than four months later and a whole month into being a Chaplaincy Support Worker!

After 25 years of being a full time wife, mum and volunteer helper in schools, playgroups and churches, the time seemed ripe for me to move out into new pastures. Three of my five children are now settled into independent lives and a fourth is hopefully off to university in the autumn. The term "downsizing" was taking on personal meaning.

Back to the advert. "For the active Christian" is not the sort of headline I'm used to seeing in the local free paper! It certainly caught my attention. As I found out more, it felt as though this could be God's next step for me. Coming from a Christian family and with my own personal commitment to Christ I have always been actively involved in Church life. Now as a Deacon and the Church Secretary of a Baptist Church, that involvement has grown and deepened as God has grown and developed me. So with encouragement from my husband, Gary…"You've got the right sort of experience" and our children…"It's you mum, go for it" I applied … and so here I am at the Northwood HQ!

So what do I do? There are coffee mornings to go to and help with. Mums and Toddlers groups to get involved in; a children's Sunday Club; a brilliant children's Art Club; a Bible study group and a needlework group. There are also dogs to be petted; people to talk to and a somewhat unruly thrift shop to sort out - at the moment it bears an uncanny resemblance to my boys' bedrooms!. There is also a Volunteer Band, to which the new Bandmaster is trying to persuade me to take my bass guitar; and other possibilities and opportunities to explore. But I must confess, I am a long way off plucking up the courage to take my middle-aged, wobbly bits down to the gym to work out among the super fit! … maybe in the future, sometime.

Making the transition from "at home mum" to "working mum" has been made all the easier by the warm and friendly welcome I've received from everyone at Northwood. I feel really blessed to be able to practise God's gift of 'friendship evangelism' and privileged to be where I am, doing what I'm doing. Please do remember Northwood and the new work in your prayers.