The Reverend Dr Jill Firth
Lecturer in Hebrew and Old Testament

I have not always been confident in the Lord, but over my lifetime he has shown me his faithfulness, care, and wisdom.

I grew up in a non-Christian family, but I was baptised as a toddler, and I later came to see this as a sign of God choosing me for his own, even before I knew his name.

In primary school, I was on a search for God. I remember in Grade 1 asking my friend Gaby Boch if she knew anything about God. It “just happened” that Gaby was a well-taught Catholic who gave a very good explanation of the Trinity. We moved interstate when I was seven, and at three different primary schools I endured the aching loneliness of a new girl. I did not realise until many years later that Jesus had always been with me as I sat alone in each break and lunchtime. I finally was able to become a Christian when I went to high school, where I was in leadership in Christian groups and many friends came to know Jesus.

I have not always been confident in the Lord, but over my lifetime he has shown me his faithfulness, care, and wisdom.

At the end of school, I applied to study theology at Ridley, but Dr Morris told me that Ridley did not accept students straight from school. I followed his advice to enrol at university, and was a Ridley residential student for a year. I then unexpectedly moved to Western Australia and transferred to the University of Western Australia, where it “just happened” that I was able to include New Testament Greek and a focus on the Reformation in my honours course.

With my husband Len, I ministered in the wheatbelt and in a new area parish before returning to Melbourne for Church Missionary Society missionary training. We supported Indigenous clergy on Groote Eylandt in Arnhem Land, then led an international congregation in Hong Kong for ten years. I was drained by the hectic years of evangelism and discipling leading up to the handover to China in 1997, but God encouraged me that “he had more for me to do.”

We returned to Melbourne in 2000 to work at St Andrew’s Hall. I also enrolled at Ridley, completing an MDiv, Grad Dip and PhD, and I trained as a spiritual director at both Wellspring and Campion. I was an adjunct lecturer in Old Testament while in ordained parish and Cathedral ministry, and I led teams for EFAC retreats and Evangelical Women in Academia conferences. It “just happened” that when I was invited to teach Hebrew at Ridley in 2011, Len and I had already enrolled for a five-week immersive Biblical Hebrew course in Israel. I now teach Hebrew, Jeremiah, and Psalms.

Every year, I see more of the truth of the words of this old hymn:

“Hast thou not seen how thy hearts wishes have been granted in what he ordaineth?”

This is an article from our 2027 Ridley Connect Magazine – Confident In the Lord. Please share it with your church, family, friends, and networks. If you would like to receive a hard copy of the magazine, please get in touch with us.