First In Line

One Woman's Groundbreaking Path to Ordination in the Church of England

First In Line is the inspiring and candid memoir of Judith Rose, the first woman to become an Archdeacon in the Church of England. Spanning over five decades, Judith’s story traces her journey from a Somerset farm girl to a pioneering leader in the Anglican Church. With warmth and honesty, she recounts her early career in agriculture, her gradual awakening to faith, and her unexpected call to ministry at a time when women’s roles in the church were strictly limited.

Through personal anecdotes and historical insight, Judith offers a unique perspective on the struggles, debates, and triumphs that shaped the movement for women’s ordination. She shares the challenges of breaking through ecclesiastical ‘glass ceilings’, the joys and frustrations of parish and cathedral life, and the pivotal moments that changed the face of the Church of England forever.

Mixing national history with her own remarkable experiences, First In Line is both a vital contribution to the story of the church and a testament to perseverance, faith, and the quiet courage of those who lead the way for others. This is essential reading for anyone interested in the evolution of women’s ministry, the life of the church, or the power of answering a call against the odds.

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'In First in Line Judith Rose tells a typically modest tale of her own life and ministry as women began more firmly to take their proper place in the life of the Church of England. In fact she was a trailblazer, time and again gently but firmly pushing the Church on to accept the role of women alongside men.

Judith started her life in farming but was soon ploughing her own furrow through the roles of parish worker, deaconess, deacon, priest and archdeacon. She served in several parishes, a cathedral, a bishop’s chaplaincy and a diocese; nothing of the Church of England was hidden from her. She therefore gives us a fascinating inside view of the Church convulsing and eventually ‘resolving’ the complex issues around women’s ministry.

What makes the narrative particularly engaging is the way Judith’s personal story threads through the bigger picture. We follow her reasoning as she makes decisions about her ministry. We see her having jobs before she is legally qualified to do them. We see her ‘accidentally’ at the heart of far-reaching changes, guiding debates at General Synod. We see her coping with domestic complexity as she finds deep happiness with her husband David in her 50s, only to lose him tragically eight years later.

Judith hands the torch on. The struggle for equality in the Church is not over. Judith tells of how as an archdeacon in some conservative evangelical churches she could preside at Communion but not preach, while at some anglo-catholic parishes she could preach but not preside. Paradoxes remain.

In this charming and straight-forward memoir we come closer to these debates and many readers will have cause again to be grateful for the quiet courage shown by Judith and her generation of pioneering women.'

- John Pritchard
Former Bishop of Oxford

Specifications

• Book Format - Paperback/eBook
• Published - June 2025
• Weight - 175g
• Page Count -  125
• Dimensions - 198 x 129 x 9mm
• ISBN - 9781838582210