God in the life of Sue Doggett

As far back as I can remember I had a sense of the presence of God. It’s amazing because my father wasn’t a Christian then and my mother never discussed her faith. But she did go to church, and I remember from an early age wanting to accompany her and realising that church was something to do with someone called Jesus. 

There was a very strong youth group at our church and it was there that my faith started to develop. I can remember making a conscious commitment to Christ at the age of 15 after a vivid dream that I was drowning in a deep and angry sea, and that I was plucked out of the water. When I woke up I realised it was God who plucked me out of the water. 

Religious Broadcasting

After that I sensed that God had a plan for my life and I wanted to be part of that plan. My A level grades were good enough for university, but it wasn’t possible financially for me to go so instead I joined the BBC. They were running personal assistant courses and I went for the interview just before I sat my A levels and they offered me a place there and then. I discovered afterwards that there were 2000 applications for 20 places.

For my first placement they gave me religious broadcasting in radio, and everyone was really sorry for me but I was thrilled because I knew it was where God wanted me to be. I started my career in religious broadcasting with W. D. Kennedy Bell who was the producer for the world service and a caring, compassionate man who nurtured me in the whole process of radio. Then one day David Winter, then a producer for the ‘Sunday’ programme found himself without a PA. I applied for the job and got it, and worked with David for two very special years. We put the programme together on a Saturday evening and then I used to stay overnight at The Langham. The programme went out live on Sunday morning and afterwards I took the train home, went to church and taught in Sunday school. It was all part and parcel of the same thing.

Then I was ready to move on and I retrained as a studio manager. I did six months in the world service and then worked in current affairs on everything from News Beat to Women’s Hour. It was here I met Chris, a fellow studio manager but with a technical background, so we made a good team and we were married in 1976. Our first daughter was born in 1977 and I left work to look after her. My husband also left the BBC about the same time and we decided to go into local radio in Reading.

My one regret was that I hadn’t really prayed about the move. Chris wasn’t a Christian in those days and when we got married I just put my faith in Gods hands and it did feel very right. But it did mean that he wasn’t geared up to going to church and when we moved to a new estate in Reading I felt cut-off from church. My friends went to the Methodist church, so I decided to go with them and for the first time my husband came along with me. They were good growing years for both of us. They were also non-threatening years for my husband, because the Methodist church doesn’t really have the pomp and ceremony of the Church of England.

When we moved to Amersham in 1987 I prayed a three-way prayer about our home, church and community life and we did feel the move was exactly right. The little Church of England school was round the corner and on the first Sunday we went along to St Leonard’s church and were met at the door by Mike Hill who was then the Rector there. The children settled into the Sunday school. The Bible study group was brilliant and my faith started to grow enormously under Mike’s guidance. I realised that in some ways I had been following my mother’s pattern and that my Christian life was implicit rather that explicit.

Chris was now working for the Churches Television Centre in Bushey and quickly realised that it wasn’t the job he thought it was. I had started to run a production company supplying audio facilities from home. In fact my first contact with BRF was when we put Gerard Hughes’ ‘Oh God, Why?’ on to cassette for them.

Praying for the next step

My husband was getting more and more frustrated with his job. Our two daughters were growing up and I was ready to move on. I can remember praying really hard over a long period of time that God would show us the way forward. Then I had a visit from David Winter who said that BRF were looking for a Commissioning Editor and was I interested in applying. 

It was a Christian environment and thanks to Mike Hill I was actually quite steeped in the Bible and I had completed an evening course at the London Bible College. I took to the job like a duck to water. In 1995 I was made Commissioning Editor for Barnabas, the children’s imprint which was launched that year and last year I took on the role of head of children’s ministry too.

I’ve always loved working with children and seeing them get the most out of life. I am very aware that many children nowadays don’t have the benefit I had of having the choice to go to church and find out for themselves what it’s all about. It was through being left alone to discover the experience of church for myself that I was able to sense the presence of God from a very early age.

Called to be a Reader

And then surprisingly I felt called into the Reader Ministry. I can remember Colin Bennetts, when I first joined BRF, looking at me and saying what do you do at church. At that time I was doing the Sunday school but his words stuck and I thought perhaps God was calling me to do more than trying to hold a job and family life together. I did feel that God was calling me to be in a place where I could express my faith, and pass it on to others and the Reader Ministry felt very right, as it sits in the middle of home, family life and work.

After the three-year training I deferred a year. It was a difficult time. Chris had finally left CTVC to start his own company and life was not easy. I was really glad to take that year to talk and pray it through and to be with him. But in October 1999 I was licensed. Chris was with me and and when I got home and hung my robe in the cupboard he said he felt ‘safe’ with it there. I was so pleased he had said that.

I know that some people come to Christian faith through a life crisis, but for me I have always felt that life reaches into eternity so that I know that this life isn’t the only life. I feel as if God is in control and his presence is so strong, that I just can’t imagine life without him any more than I can imagine life without breathing. That’s not to say I haven’t been through wilderness periods but Jesus went through them too and he didn’t lose his faith. 

I think that Christianity answers every single question that we might have about the meaning of life, about our personal mortality, our fundamental loneliness, or our freedom. My relationship with God is now very much closer than when I was a child. Then he was an outside presence, whereas now he is an inside reality, a personal friend and Saviour.

Sue Doggett was brought up in Chiselhurst. At 18 she joined the BBC and worked with David Winter on Radio 4’s Sunday Programme before retraining as a studio manager. It was then that she met Chris, a BBC engineer. They were married in 1976 and have two grown up daughters. When Chris moved to Radio 210 in Reading Sue worked for the station too. After the family moved to Amersham Sue ran Beta Productions from home. She has worked for BRF since 1994 and is also a licensed lay minister (reader).

BRF is a charity, founded in 1922 by Leslie Mannering, Vicar of St Matthew's Church, Brixton to help resource people on their spiritual journey and to encounter the living God through regular Bible reading and prayer. BRF publish Bible reading notes and books for adults and children. They also have an expanding ministry programme offering quiet days and retreats and workshops and training events. Barnabas Live offers day programmes to primary schools using actors and storytellers to bring the Bible alive. Their ministry personnel (Anne Hibbert & Sue Doggett) also speak at a wide range of events.

This year BRF celebrates ten years since their move to Oxford. Their celebrations includes a reception at Mary Sumner House on 28 March and four services for readers and supporters.

More information about BRF from:

Karen Laister,
BRF, First Floor, Elsfield Hall,
15-17 Elsfield Way,
Oxford OX2 8FG.

Telephone 01865 319700.

BRF website: www.brf.org.uk