Esther was pregnant when we met for a pub lunch in the run up to Christmas. The baby is due in March and she talks enthusiastically about her journey into her current role and how her move to Oxfordshire saw her meet her husband and learn how to bring the Bible alive for herself and for the teenagers she encounters.
 

Esther, 31, has four brothers and was brought up in a Christian family, but didn’t understand what a personal faith was for a long time. “I call my life the Frank Sinatra life, I did things my way. My understanding was that Christianity was very law-based. Esther did not think she was bright enough for university. “I wasn’t from that kind of family. They all did trade type jobs but I thought I might as well go for the interview,” she says. She believes the ‘gift of the gab’ secured her a place at St Mark’s College, Plymouth to do Youth and Community Studies.
 

There she attempted to get involved in church. She says: “I tried the Christian Union but thought they were cliquey and boring. I always wanted to do the God thing but it seemed to be so not where I was at,” she says.
She says that from 17 and throughout university she was drinking and dating ‘inappropriate blokes’. She would occasionally go to church on a Sunday, having had a Baptist preacher for a grandfather and the seeds of faith planted at Sunday school.
 

Graduation saw Esther doing youth work in Plymouth. She got experience of working with asylum seekers and refugees as well as challenging young people. She says: “I remember praying to God saying: ‘if you need to intervene in my life then do something about it.’”
She then felt she had nothing left in Plymouth, and her parents drove to pick her up and that phase of her life was over. She went straight back to church and began doing youth work in Gloucestershire, breaking down barriers between the police and young people. She was ‘dunk’ baptised and became a worship leader, but felt her lifestyle hadn’t changed. Issues with her boss saw her move to a new role as Crime Education Manager with Network Rail in London. There she joined Hill Song, a large, trendy church with a mainly young congregation.
 

But she says she got back into ‘bad dating’ ending up with a gambler and felt dragged away from church. “I felt I had a foot in both camps, trying to do what I felt was the right thing, the Christian thing. The gambler spent my money and I couldn’t talk to my parents or people at church about how bad he was. I felt I was such a mess and didn’t understand how anyone would want me, or why God would want me,” she says.
When she spotted the advert for her current job, she thought there was no way she could do it, but one day before the deadline, filled in the application form and was called for interview. She says: “I was bluntly honest in the interview. I told them my dating stories and that while I’d done youth work for years I didn’t really know the Bible. I got the job. It was less pay than before but came with a house.”
 

As she moved, generous offers of furniture and white goods meant Esther was quickly set-up in her new home. In Chipping Norton the vicar and his wife looked out for her for three years. In that time she has seen her parents, who are in their 50s, break up and two relatives die in tragic circumstances.
“The vicar and his wife even bought my wedding dress for me. They had me around every week for three years. A lot of youth workers lack good supervision. I could not have done this without God,” says Esther. “I was single and on my own in Chipping Norton. I was ready for leaving but went onto a Christian dating website, thinking I could make friends in Oxford.”
 

That is how she met Jon, who she first thought was a geek, but when he uploaded a better profile picture, she agreed to meet him. The couple are now happily married and settled in the close knit Chipping Norton community. Esther can’t walk down the town’s street without bumping into someone she knows.
A ministry training course at St Ebbe’s Church, Oxford has helped her learn the Bible and bring it alive. “Because of my dyslexia my brain works in pictures. I got so inspired by the Bible and I love teaching it. My youth work radically changed. I went from doing games and a five minute Bible slot to doing much more Bible work.
Her role includes running family services, an informal Sunday club and work in the community, particularly dropping into the local comprehensive school on Tuesdays. “It took us more than two years to get into the school, but I absolutely love going there. The teachers are getting more confident at referring people to me. On Tuesday evenings I’ll see people from Year Six to Year Nine,” she says.
 

She also helps out at the local youth centre, running a school of worship for young people, where Jon leads worship. On Sunday nights she runs Zion for young people aged 14 into their 20s. “I love working with young people who are struggling with self esteem, maybe self harm and self protection stuff. I love giving them that one-to-one support and as it is Christian youth work, I don’t want the Bible to be an add on. She is used to getting out of hours texts and calls from young people who are facing crises.
 

She says: “I am so happy here. I have been so unhappy in previous jobs, but when you are in the right place at the right time, it all fits into place. I am also aware of not getting too comfortable if God has plans. I trust that God is in control.”