Movement Magazine Issue 163

I have always wanted to help
people, so that was a major factor in
deciding what to study at University.
The other big factor was that my
parents expected me to do a more
“employable” subject before they
would support me reading theology.
Once I added to the mix a passion
for genetics and plants, I knew that I
wanted to study for a science degree.
From there it was an easy decision to
pick genetics and the University of
Essex, because of their plant labs and
the extra volunteering opportunities
with St John Ambulance right on
campus.
University was all I imagined it
would be; up-to-date lab equipment,
interesting lectures, dating, friends,
lab coat – I was ecstatic!
However, I also soon discovered
my hands-on volunteering with St
John Ambulance proved much more
rewarding (and challenging!) than I
ever imagined – I was hooked and a
bit spoilt: I ended up falling out with
the Christian society I was a member
of because I saw a lot of talking and
hardly any doing. The fact I was asked
to start an SCM group by an elder in
my Church shortly after I quit that
group was probably the first prompt I
received, and I happily embarked on
the crazy adventure and somehow
still managed to do well enough to
graduate!
As I started my MRes with a mixture
of hubris and parental ambition, I
found myself imagining a future as a
scientist/preacher combo, and had
an opportunity to try my hand at
preaching thanks to my long-suffering
URC church. Then my second prompt:
a university chaplain I barely knew
approached me out of the blue about
the possibility of training for ministry
part-time alongside my studies, for
free! I could not let that opportunity
pass me by, even though things
were not going too well with my
research and it was affecting both
my physical and mental well-being.
As weeks turned into months and I
was welcomed more and more by the
Church I was serving, my health kept
deteriorating but I was adamant
to continue juggling
everything – with
my girlfriend’s
support being
probably the
only thing
keeping me
going as
long as I did.
Eventually, I
painfully realised there was no way I
could keep going like that and had to
accept that perhaps God was calling
me to a different type of harvest
and vine than what I had originally
envisaged, so I dropped my research
and gave my full attention to my
ministry training, graduating this year.
I do not regret my original choice of
degree: without it I would not have
found myself on my current journey
and met people I care about. Life is
like that – not always a straight line.
There’s only one thing I wished I had
done differently: I wish I had been
more open about my struggles with
my support network and less stubborn
when I first realised how things were
going. I guess we live and learn, and
it’ll make for a good sermon one day.
SIMONE RAMACCI
36 MOVEMENT Issue 163