The Revd Jane Powell: 1946-2024 

Midwife-turned-Baptist minister who 'grasped that nursing and ministry in the church and in the wider community are all part of the one seamless garment of Christ’s healing grace' 

 

On 19 April 2024 the chapel at Steep Lane Baptist Church in Yorkshire was full to celebrate and give thanks for the life of Jane Powell who has died age 77. Jane had been the pastor to the small hillside congregation above Sowerby Bridge for more than 30 years.
 
Jane was born in Swindon and came to Christian faith through a Christian Union meeting at school, started by her RE teacher Dorothy Sutton. Dorothy took a group of girls, including Jane, to an evangelistic service at Swindon Baptist Church. It was here that Jane committed her life to following Jesus and Dorothy had the privilege of praying with her afterwards. They became lifelong friends.

During her faith journey, Jane enjoyed fellowship in many churches including a local independent fellowship in Swindon, the church of the Nazarene, the Anglican and then finally the Baptist Church. As she often said, she was ‘a Christian first and a Baptist second’.
 
In her early life Jane trained for nursing and accepted a post in Halifax. She became a midwife and latterly a midwife tutor first in hospital and then as a lecturer at Huddersfield University. She was described as being 'welcoming and supportive'; always ready to listen to students and members of the team.

She could give calming words here and there and be ready to lighten the sometimes very serious moments in nursing practice. She was described as unshockable, with a wicked sense of humour, by those with whom she worked. Alongside this, she revealed a compassionate heart, including the giving of care and prayer support as appropriate to mothers whose babies had died.
 
While in Halifax, Jane became part of Lee Mount Baptist Church. In the early 1990s she was invited to become part of a preaching team helping smaller churches in the Halifax area, including Steep Lane. Soon, she sensed a call to ministry and trained part-time at the Northern Baptist College alongside continuing her nursing career. Jane Day, a serving Baptist minister, also from Halifax - recalls that when she was leaving school she was considering nursing. 'I remember Jane offering me time, attention and hospitality. And I shall always be grateful to her for her wise and thoughtful words,' she said.
 
After Jane’s time in college, she was ordained at Lee Mount Baptist Church on 26 June 1993 and inducted to Steep Lane on the following day. Throughout all these years, Jane gave almost full-time service to the fellowship  and spoke at many meetings for churches in and around the area. She was the guiding hand through wedding ceremonies, infant dedications,  baptisms and funeral services both for the Steep Lane congregation and  for other people in the area.

In more recent times, Jane became more immobile and then there was a cancer diagnosis. Her last service at Steep Lane was on 5 of November 2023, not long before her death on 28 March 2024.
 
During the service of thanksgiving, tributes to Jane were expressed by her aforementioned school teacher, a nursing colleague, the church secretary, a former college tutor and past Regional Minister. 

Jane died on Maundy Thursday which was deeply symbolic as she had 'put on the apron of humility in serving others', as I Peter expresses it. Jane had grasped that nursing and ministry in the church and in the wider community are all part of the one seamless garment of Christ’s healing grace.
 
We give thanks to God for a faithful life of service.
 

Brenda Heyhoe and Ernie Whalley