“ONE of the things I love about Methodism is that being a woman does not actually matter,” said president designate, Rev Heather Morris.
“I have not been treated any differently. It has never been an issue.”
The 48-year-old mother of two boys (Peter, 20, and David, 17) knows when God called her; He also called her husband Neil.
Rev Morris met her husband in Dublin, when she was training to be a speech therapist at Trinity College in Dublin.
Neil, an accountant, also lived in the city.
“It was a big change for him when he found out God was calling me,” she said. “It was huge for him and really tough.
“We actually broke up for a while because we couldn’t work out how being a married woman minister could work.
“It has been a real journey for both of us. We got back together a year later when we felt it could work.
“For Neil it meant giving up a brilliant job in Dublin and coming north.
“And because Methodist ministers are moved frequently it meant him being willing to say he would look for jobs as we are moved, which was a huge thing.
“We married when I was 23 years old.”
Rev Morris said her husband’s “faith was key” as “he felt that God was calling us both to this and we were in it together”. Before Rev Morris was ordained, she was no stranger to her forthcoming duties as both her father and grandfather were also Methodist ministers.
Whilst the first female Methodist minister was ordained in the 1970s, Rev Morris said when she “was called” she joined a small number of female clerics.
But times have changed. Rev Morris said there are now more than 20 women working in Methodist churches across Ireland.
“Five women are currently taking part in the five-year period of initial training to be a Methodist minister,” she added. “The Irish Methodist Church has a lay leader who works alongside the president, and at the minute that is Mrs Gillian Kingston. Mr Ken Twyble will take over from her in June. So there are women in leadership across the church.
“Training lasts five years split between college and being attached to a church.”
Rev Morris said that these days people who were being ‘offered’ for Ministry - the church’s term for being put forward - came from both various stages of their lives, and ages.
“A big strand of training is spiritual preparation and growing as a Christian,” she added.
“It is head, hand and heart.”
Born in Nigeria where her parents were working as missionaries, Rev Morris later attended Lisnasharragh Primary school in east Belfast when her father was appointed as minister of Glenburn Methodist.
Then, when she was 12 years old, the family moved to Dublin when her father became Minister of the Dublin Central Mission.
A year after Rev Morris returned to Belfast to begin her training for the church, she and Neil got married, and he moved there too.
“It was a huge step for Neil and he got a job with an accountancy firm,” she said.
“Then he went out on his own working for charities to give us freedom to move, as we believed we were going to be moved.
“But in the end we stayed in Belfast.
“My first parish was in Belfast Central Mission in Grosvenor Hall where I was a junior minister.
“After that I was ordained (when I was 27 years old and then I took six years out as I was expecting our first son Peter. Our second son, David, came along three years later.
“Then we went to Dundonald in east Belfast which was a brilliant place to be. It was really one of the happiest times of our lives.”
Rev Morris said she would not have been able to do her duty without the help of her husband and her parents.
“My mother and father have really stepped up and helped me by making what I do possible,” she said. “They have been wonderful. Especially when the boys were younger. As a minister you need to give yourself to the church, as well as being a mum/wife. This can make you feel constantly guilty.“But I do think everybody battles with that - men and women.
“I am working in the college now and there are men there who are great ministers and great fathers and they have the same things to grapple with. It is not just a woman’s issue.
“For ministers there are no set hours so it is hard to see your family when you are not working 9am to 5pm.”
There are around 53,000 members of the Methodist Church in Ireland, with more than 70 million members worldwide.
Rev Morris said “a key word from the ethos of Methodism is ‘all’; ‘Friends of all and enemies of none’.
She added: “We believe that all people need to come into a relationship with Jesus. People need to live it out. Historically Methodism has been involved with building schools and hospitals amongst those who are in need. You see that still now in the City Missions.
“Our ministers are very involved in their communities building peace. Ministers Gary Mason and Jim Rea in Belfast are good examples of that.
“Methodist ministers were involved in very early peace talks in the 70s in the days when people didn’t speak across the sectarian divide.
“But when it was really, really needed, they were courageous, as of now, speaking peace in the community.
“In recent months, with regard to the flags issue, as I am district superintendent of the Belfast District of the Methodist Church, I asked that a pastoral letter be distributed to the Methodist congregations in Belfast, calling for prayer and for Christians to build peace.”