This year we have been sharing stories about the type of roles people play in the life of the diocese. In this piece, we speak to The Revd Jonathan Huff, an Oversight Minister

 

The Revd Jonathan Huff strongly believes ‘God does not call the equipped but equips the called’ – and he can see the Holy Spirit working alongside him through life.

As an oversight minister, Jonathan covers three churches in the St Austell area: Holy Trinity in St Austell, All Saints in Pentewan and St Levan in Porthpean. Each congregation serving its community in its own unique way.

“I have a real mix bag of traditions, styles, preferences, and approaches to doing life and community together.” He says. “Oversight ministry in this context looks like nurturing leaders within each community who understand this, recognising their own characteristics but being willing to work with me to integrate these into the larger whole.Image shows Two adults holding children in a church - they are all wearing Christmas jumpers

“I spend most of my time at Holy Trinity because this is the biggest congregation and has the largest and broadest range of events and programmes but thoroughly enjoy the opportunities I have to be present in St Levan’s and All Saints too.

“I am supported by a team – some employed, many volunteers – so, oversight ministry also means investing primarily in a small core who can then take responsibility for various areas of ministry and leadership themselves.”

Jonathan says his role has many positives, such as being surrounded by a good team, seeing the Holy Spirit work through the congregations in different ways. Another is the privilege of ministering in a spiritually mature community in which people recognise mission and ministry is God’s call on all believers, not just the parish priest or the employed few.

Taking up his role in Cornwall last year, Jonathan says he is gaining more experience each day and is reliant on God to help show the way.

“I am still quite new to it all,” he explains, “there can be a lot of pressure, but I’m gradually learning the important lesson that it’s not my church: it’s God’s church. Jesus promised He would build His Church and the gates of Hell would not prevail against it. What greater encouragement do we need than that?”

“I am a big believer that God doesn’t call the equipped, he equips the called.” – Jonathan

Growing up in Essex, Jonathan has always known Jesus. His parents were both dedicated Christians and took him to an independent house church every Sunday.

As he hit his teenage and student years, he began to lose sight of the importance of God.

“I have never stopped being a Christian,” Jonathan says, “but I was not living as though He had made a difference in my life.”

He stopped going to church altogether.

“When you have had a real relationship with the Lord, you can feel a lack of what you had and that is very uncomfortable,” he says. “I did pray, but there was a big hole in my life.”

Two adult holding two children - they are outside on a sunny day and here is green grass and a blue sky behind them.Jonathan went to Durham University to study an undergraduate degree in Music – focusing on the trumpet. He then carried out a postgraduate MPhil in Opera at King’s College London. But God was still not central to his life.

It was in his mid-twenties when he realised he needed to decide – was God was real or not?

So he prayed for guidance.

Jonathan says: “The one thing I knew I could do was to go to church on Sundays. My parents had moved to a local Church of England church, so I started going there.

“By doing this, I really came to faith again and could see God had answered my prayer. I went to church, and He did the rest.”

Jonathan signed up to take part in a Living Free course which he says, ‘changed my life’.

 “… God had answered my prayer. I went to church, and He did the rest.” – Jonathan

“During the last session, we were worshipping and all of a sudden I experienced a revelation,” he says. “It’s difficult to describe, but I felt God speaking to me very powerfully – not in an audible voice, but I heard a single word ‘ordination’.”

In that moment, he sat and prayed. He was still praying after everyone else had left the session.

Some time later he felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking up he saw it belonged to the course’s creator who was visiting to see how his resources were being used.

Jonathan remembers: “He said to me ‘I really hope you don’t mind but I feel God has called me to pray for you over the revelation He has for you’.

“He was very kind, prayed with me and told me if I was to be sure this was from God I wasn’t to rush into it, avoid talking about it to others and pray about it.”

The only problem was with that was people were now starting to approach him to ask if he’d ever thought about becoming a vicar.

Jonathan started his training for ministry at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, and in 2021 became an ordained deacon with the Diocese of Chelmsford before then becoming an ordained priest the next year.

In 2024, after three years as a curate, he started his role in Cornwall.

“I saw the vacancy for St Austell,” says Jonathan, “and something in me jumped. It just felt right.”

Today, it still feels right and he can see the guidance of the Holy Spirit leading him in his role.

“I am now surer than ever that this is the place God called me to,” he says. “I am a big believer that God doesn’t call the equipped, he equips the called.

“God calls us out of our comfort zone so we can trust Him.

“Every day God leads me to the right people.

“I have a real sense of God working.”