New Anna Chaplain for Surrey village - with experience of the 'Camino'

debbiethrower0
16 hours ago
2 min read

Vicar, the Revd Tim Radcliffe, with Anna Chaplain Jean Leston and Anna Chaplaincy coordinator Marian Muskett

On Advent Sunday, November 30, Jean Leston was commissioned as an Anna Chaplain at her parish church, St Stephen’s, Shottermill, near Haslemere in Surrey. This makes her the seventh Anna Chaplain in Guildford Diocese.

Jean, who is an occasional preacher at St Stephen’s, gave a sermon about 'the gift of church community, which builds us up in faith to send us out to serve others—including being an Anna Chaplain!'

Jean said it was a great pleasure to have Marian Muskett, one of the national co-ordinators of the Anna Chaplaincy Network, attend the service and Marian read out a message of support from the Anna Chaplaincy team at BRF Ministries.

During Jean’s sermon, she told of having first heard about Anna Chaplaincy four years ago while attending a course on spiritual accompaniment. Since then, her interest in serving older people in the community had grown, leading her to train for Anna Chaplaincy.

For the last several years, Jean has volunteered as a ‘hospitalera’, helping to run a hostel which provides practical and spiritual support to pilgrims of all ages who are walking the Camino to Santiago de Compostella in Spain. This includes serving many older pilgrims who are walking the Camino in memory of a loved one. Jean hopes this background of serving pilgrims ‘as though they were Christ’ will help her in her Anna Chaplaincy work.

Jean also enjoyed helping to support her parents spiritually in their final years and found it a deeply rewarding experience.

Jean now hopes to increase the level of support for older people in her community; coming alongside those in care homes, or in their own homes, who need a comforting presence. She hopes to train her new puppy, named ‘Annie’, as a pet therapy dog who can eventually join her in this work. She is also keen to work with other churches in the area to run courses and social events for older people.

Jean is delighted that there is another new Anna Chaplain just down the road from her (Allison Sutcliffe in Headley Down) and they will be supporting each other in future.

Before she retired, Jean worked in business and the charity sector, including work for a number of Christian charities.