This faith story is part of a series where we are speaking to people who are due to be ordained this month (June).

 

Full-time civil engineer Jason Hoole-Jackson has found training for ordination is opening discussions about God outside church walls.

Jason, who is married with two children and three grandchildren, became a Christian in his 40s and has been growing in faith ever since. He is working to become a Self Supported Ordained Minister this month.

He says: “Since I started going to church and since training, a lot of my ministry is talking to people I meet through work. A lot of people are interested in what I am doing and having discussions about God. So a lot of my ministry is outside the church.

“I will still be talking to people outside the church when I am ordained too.”

After finishing school in Redruth, Jason went to work in the tin mines until they were made redundant. He moved on to retail and when he was 21 years old, secured a job at Cornwall Council. He was given training opportunities and studied for a HNC in Civil Engineering, becoming an Incorporated Engineer with the IHIE while working with Cornwall Council and Cormac, a career he still has today.

In his 40s, Jason, who describes himself as a creative person, completed a BA (HONS) degree in Applied Media (Photography). It was photography that inspired him to want to know more about God.

He says: “I was photographing nature and was looking at all the ways everything was connected. I thought ‘there must be something else, there must be a God’. There has always been a spirituality about me.

“I had both my children christened at church and each time I’d say, ‘I must go to church more’ but my career and children made it hard to attend. Every time I thought about going, something else came along.

“Eventually I couldn’t ignore the call to church.”

Jason spoke to his neighbour who invited him to a charismatic church which wasn’t for him, and his mum who went to St Euny Church in Redruth – where he joined the congregation.

He says: “I went to different places of worship and decided it was the Church of England for me.”

He began to attend more often. People started to invite him to take on roles in the church, but he felt he was still learning and so, at first, just attended services.

“I gradually grew into it,” Jason remembers. “As I went more and saw more, I started to take part more.

“I went to confirmation classes, then I was confirmed and explored what else God had in store for me.”

After talking to trusted figures in his church, he trained for two years at Spiritus Theological College to become a Reader, also known as a Licensed Lay Minister.

Jason says: “I thought I was going to be a Reader for the rest of my life, but after two or three years something was pulling me into discernment.

“I wouldn’t say it was an easy journey to ordination. At times it didn’t make sense what God was asking of me, but I still followed the path. Sometimes, when you are following God, you just have to stick with it. The rewards are far better than if you just gave up.”

Jason will be part of the Camborne Cluster, where he went on placement during his training, after ordination.

 

 

This is one of a series of pieces about those who are training for ordination. There will be further faith stories appearing on our website in the future …