Talking Ministry: Rev Andrea is a shepherd to all her flocks

Following the call of scripture to be a good shepherd has had rather literal repercussions for Rev Andrea Boyes.

As she reveals in our latest Talking Ministry interview, it was pondering chapter 10 of the Gospel of John – a passage which talks about Jesus as the Good Shepherd – which became one of the first stepping stones to a career in ministry, a career which has led to her becoming a real-life shepherd, and not just a spiritual one.

Mrs Boyes, like her husband Jimmy, had been working as a psychiatric nurse in Inverness when she received the first indication that ministry might be a future career.

"I woke up one morning as if someone had shouted very clearly ‘John 10," she recalled.

"I fell asleep and it happened again and I decided I had to read it when I got up, because I wasn't sure what John 10 was. It happened a third time and I heard the words ‘John 10' really clearly. So, I got up and got my Bible out."

While she was reading the chapter, which includes the famous verse "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me", Jimmy arrived in the kitchen to put the kettle on and asked why she was reading her Bible so early.

So, she told him that she thought she heard God speak to her during the night and that His voice woke her up.

"So, you can imagine the conversation that two psychiatric nurses had early morning in their kitchen when one is saying that they have heard God speak to them!" she said.

That nocturnal message was unexpectedly reinforced the following Sunday in their local church in the village of Ardersier on the shores of the Moray Firth.

The visiting preacher had chosen to speak on the subject of Samuel.

"He spoke about how Samuel heard God speak to him when he was asleep, and that we could still hear God speaking to us today," Mrs Boyes recalled.

"I heard this and I sat there with my heart pounding because that was just what had happened to me."

Another push towards ministry followed soon afterwards in the unlikely location of the Glasgow-Inverness bus.

Mrs Boyes was reading a book about St Paul. An African lady who was also travelling north, noticed this and asked her if she was a Christian.

"I quietly said yes, and she shouted: ‘Hallelujah!'

"From Glasgow to Perth, she basically evangelised the whole bus because she was so loud. She spoke about how God still performed miracles and that we need to be bolder in our faith and share the good news about Jesus. She got off at Perth and I smiled all the way to Inverness thinking: was God asking me to be a bit bolder with my faith?"

With the offer of a four-year break which would allow her to return to her job at the same grade, Mrs Boyes began studying at Highland Theological College in Dingwall, but never returned to nursing.

Instead, she was ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Church of Scotland, taking up her first charge at Chalmers Church in Larkhall, following placements with churches in Inverness and Orkney.

A part of the community

Six years ago, she returned to the Highlands as minister for Durness and Kinlochbervie in Sutherland.

With a big patch to cover – almost all on single-track roads – for Mrs Boyes, rural ministry is an adventure with its own challenges and rewards.

"Living in a small rural community you are part of that community, and you are known wherever you go and seen wherever you go," she said.

"It also means being flexible and realising that pastoral conversations happen anywhere, from the shop, the café, on the road, in the passing place, at the beach, at the fank with the sheep or in people's homes."

The fank is somewhere Mrs Boyes has seen more of over the last three years, ever since acquiring her first few sheep so that she could train up her collie dog.

Her flock has grown since then and she has recently taken over a disused croft where she hopes to grow produce to donate to the church food store.

Mrs Boyes, whose standing in the community was reflected earlier year when she became the first member of the clergy to be named chieftain of Durness Highland Games, has taken lessons from her shepherding life into her other pastoral role, such as wondering how to apply the camaraderie and humour of market days to church life.

"It is about being able to share your faith in normal everyday life and being open to conversation, open to questions and open to encouraging people and listening," she said.

You can read Rev Andrea Boyes' full interview and access the resources for December on our Talking Ministry page.