An unconventional path: Jemima’s story

Jemima Halls was given a taste of theological study in a slightly less conventional way than most. It was during her final year of high school that her mum enrolled in a Diploma through Trinity, and Jemima would sit in on classes during free periods from school. She loved what she experienced, and the rest, as they say, is history.

For much of her early childhood years, Jemima didn’t grow up attending church or fully appreciating the difference that Jesus makes. But that all changed when she and her mum moved in with her grandparents during Jemima’s teenage years. Her grandmother decided that it was important for them to be attending church, so she took Jemima along to the nearest church one Sunday. Eventually, Jemima’s mum and her grandfather began joining them, too.

It was while she was taking part in a young adults Bible study group that Jemima started taking Jesus seriously.

“I realised that faith is a lifelong journey, and that asking questions to get to know God better is a really good and amazing thing,” Jemima explains. “This group helped me to not feel embarrassed about wanting to know more, but just being able to humbly come and learn more about God and grow in my relationship with Him.”

Jemima’s mum was on her own journey with God during that time. She ended up enrolling in a Diploma of Theology at Trinity while Jemima was in Year 12. During this time, the lecturers would graciously allow Jemima to sit in on some of her mum’s classes — and she loved it.

“I heard some systematic theology and a fair bit of church history, and I thought, ‘This is amazing’ — the level of conversation that was happening in the class, and the ways in which students just really wanted to glorify God and get to know him better.”

Jemima was so impressed by what she witnessed that she wanted to start studying at Trinity straight out of high school. She says that some “wise people” encouraged her to spend time gaining life experience elsewhere first, so she enrolled in a physics degree at university.

“I went to uni so I could be a part of Christian Union, really, and grow that way,” Jemima shares. After graduating with her Bachelor’s degree, Jemima undertook a one-year ministry apprenticeship with a Christian group on campus at Curtin University. The whole way through, Jemima became further persuaded of the usefulness of theological study and never stopped looking forward to studying at Trinity.

Now that she’s married to Mitchell and mum to 18-month-old Edmund, Jemima is finally enrolled in the Graduate Diploma of Divinity in a part-time capacity. She’s been a student for about a year now, and the experience has been just as good as she had hoped it would be.

“What I really like about Trinity is that you are forced to go deep into good things,” Jemima says. “When you get into it, you’re like, ‘Oh, wow, this is amazing. I’ve never thought about God like this before.’”

It has been hard to juggle part-time study with everything else going on in her life, and Jemima is the first to admit she would prefer to go full-time if she were able to. She says the community at Trinity is wonderful, and she wishes she could throw herself into relationships on campus in a deeper capacity — but she’s making the most of her current reality.

Every single lecture sees Jemima amazed by God all over again, as she soaks up just how good and how big he is.

“I’ve been doing church history this year, and I’ve just been amazed at how all of history fits together,” she says. “God has been sovereign over the whole lot. It gives me a lot of hope for what God’s going to keep doing into the future as well.”

As for her own future, Jemima isn’t sure yet what life will look like for her once she graduates, but she’s not concerned. She can already see how her study through Trinity is blessing her in multiple ways, and she highly recommends it to others.

“You grow in your love for God, your understanding of what he has done for you, and your ability to serve in so many different ways at church and in your community,” Jemima says. “It’s just got so many benefits, and not just in head knowledge, but in your heart for God and your practical skills.”