Supporter spotlight: an occasional series in which supporters share their stories with BRF Ministries. We always love to hear from supporters and readers about what BRF Ministries has meant to them, and some remarkable stories emerge. This week, we meet Ann Abernethie, who, in a phone conversation with one of our supporter care team, told us a little about her life, and her long connection with BRF Ministries.
30 August 2026
Meet Ann Abernethie
Born in Jersey in March 1940, just before the German occupation, Ann and her family faced near starvation in the final months before the island was liberated in 1945. She lived with her parents and younger sister on a smallholding in a remote part of the island, where her father dared to keep a secret wireless. After liberation, when the family returned to Midhurst in Sussex, five year-old Ann was so weak she was not expected to survive.
Happily, she did survive and despite many family challenges and life-long health issues, she went on to have an exceptionally rich and varied life, personally, professionally, and spiritually. But, she says, although she recovered physically, her early experience of hunger and deprivation shaped her understanding of poverty and gave her a particular, heartfelt empathy for those in need.
Ann attended Catholic boarding schools as a child and vividly remembers sitting in a Sunday morning service when she was seven or eight. ‘Sunlight streamed into the church and I suddenly became strongly aware of the Lord’s presence. That was the beginning of my spiritual journey.’
A years or so later, a close family friend introduced her to BRF Bible reading notes, and they’ve been part of her journey ever since. As a teenager Ann got involved in a local Anglican church as she prepared for confirmation and joined the bell-ringing team.
Ann has had an exceptionally rich and varied life, personally, professionally, and spiritually.
The move to London
When she left school, Ann moved to London to work in the overseas section of the then Westminster Bank and, at the same time, study for her banking qualifications. At work, she began encountering Christians whose faith intrigued her. ‘I didn’t fully understand what they were saying, but I knew they had something I wanted. At 19, I knelt beside my bed and prayed, asking the Lord to change me.’
Alongside a high-powered, award-winning career in international banking, Ann went on to be involved in a number of different churches and Christian communities, including St Mary Woolnoth, where she was the youngest member ever elected on to the church council, Emmanuel Northwood, St Andrew’s North Oxford, Windsor Gospel Hall, and Northwood Hills Evangelical Church. She served on church councils, led and co-led groups, helped with Sunday school at RAF Northwood, and became involved with the Bible Society. She was also shaped by retreats, the Lee Abbey community, quiet days, and the wider retreat movement.
On occasion, she was able to combine her professional and Christian lives, as when she received one of the bank’s first chief executive’s awards, given to employees who had made an exceptional contribution at work or in the community. ‘It was a wonderful opportunity,’ she recalls. ‘The award allowed me to travel for a month at the bank’s expense and I went on a six-week tour of Canada, including ten days in the Canadian Arctic, to learn about Bible translation work and how churches supported Bible Society activity in the region.’
Ann spent ten days in the Canadian Arctic to learn how churches supported Bible Society activity in the region.
A love story too
Ann married Austin Abernethie in 1983. She says, touchingly, ‘I remember sitting in his sports car for the first time and feeling unexpectedly complete. I knew early on that he was the person I believed the Lord had chosen for me, though it took Austin twelve years to reach the same conclusion!’
Sadly, Austin died in 2022, but they more than made the most of the time they had together. Ann took early ‘retirement’ and, while Austin looked after things at home, she set up her own consultancy, mentoring micro businesses with the aim of ‘enhancing community cohesion and thus giving an entrée for the good news of the kingdom’. Mission remained an important part of their lives and they visited friends and missionaries in the Philippines, North Africa, and Zambia, including a remote mission hospital in northwest Zambia, where they helped with practical work and village outreach. Closer to home, Ann was the first woman in its 150-year history to accept an invitation to join the governing committee of The Evangelization Society.
Mission remained an important part of their lives and they visited friends and missionaries in the Philippines, North Africa, and Zambia.
Later chapters
Ann now lives in a bungalow near Bournemouth and is a member of Poulner Baptist Chapel. ‘I’ve not been well enough to attend in person regularly in recent years,’ she says, ‘and I have no official role, but I still walk alongside people one to one.’
And even after long years of diligent Christian reading and Bible study, Ann doesn’t rest on her laurels and her faith remains vibrant and energetic even in the midst of failing health and mobility.
‘I continue to value good teaching and seek out excellent writers and theologians, nowadays online,’ she says. ‘Tom Wright and John Lennox are among those I most admire.’ She has even written a book of prayers and reflections herself. Called Cries of the Heart, it’s intended ‘for times that are tough, times that are good, and everything in between’.
‘I’m very aware that the Lord is carrying me through these challenging times,’ she says, ‘and, rather than waning, my faith has grown stronger. When I’m in hospital, I always pray for the ambulance staff, the doctors, and ward staff, and give out gospels and New Testaments when it seems appropriate.’
It’s incredibly encouraging for us to learn that Ann’s remarkable spiritual journey has been gently underpinned by our Bible reading notes. ‘Their influence on me has been low-key – subtle and steady rather than dramatic,’ she says.
‘I read them at breakfast and they’re an important part of my routine: a holy habit that keeps me grounded. I’ve tried other Bible reading notes over the years, but have always returned to BRF’s because they suit me best.’
