The Revd Anna Walker was licensed as Deputy Warden of Launde Abbey during a service of welcome on Tuesday 3 February in Launde Abbey chapel.
Led by Bishop Martyn Snow, the Bishop of Leicester, and Bishop Debbie Sellin, the Bishop of Peterborough, the licensing service was a celebration full of music and prayer, with Anna surrounded by new colleagues, volunteers, trustees and friends of Launde Abbey.
Anna, and her husband Andy, were formally welcomed into the Abbey’s community, having made the move from the Diocese of Blackburn, where Anna was previously Director of Whalley Abbey.
Anna grew up in the Finnish Lutheran Church and first felt called to the Diaconate. A formative gap year in Taizé ignited her love for community life and, after moving to the UK, training in spiritual direction, and living in an intentional residential community supporting local churches, she discerned a strong call to priesthood.
She served at Lancaster Priory and in two churches in Preston before becoming Director of Whalley Abbey, where she and her husband lived and worked as part of the resident community.
Speaking of her calling to the role of Deputy Warden at Launde Abbey, Anna said: “For me, it’s about helping people grow spiritually, nourishing them, offering space for quiet and reflection and asking the deeper questions of faith and life. Spiritual direction and retreat ministry are very close to my heart, and they’re a big part of this role.”
She continued: “I love that what I will do here feeds into so many areas, and that I get to work alongside a great team of colleagues where what we offer together is more than the sum of our parts.
“I’m also passionate about listening - listening to what the Spirit is doing, and what people are really longing for. What kinds of retreats do people need right now? What is the church and the wider world thirsting for? I think that’s really important.
“There’s such a deep spiritual searching in society today, and the Christian tradition has always offered rich resources for that. Through retreats, prayer, and time away, we can help people reconnect with God in ways that really transform lives.”
In welcoming Anna into the senior team, the Revd Alison Myers, Warden of the Abbey, said that Anna’s experience will be invaluable and that she is confident Anna will be able to deepen the work of the Abbey over the next few years - “as a place of prayer, hospitality, community and sanctuary, offering it and us as a significant resource to the wider Church.”
