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The Meenister
14 Dec 2001
"If you can sell the gospel, you can sell our products". That鈥檚 (more or less) how Archers listener Rhona Dunphy - an ordained Church of Scotland minister - came to be the international sales manager for a German software company.
Rhona (39) grew up near Stirling in Scotland and read theology at St Andrews.
"It might sound pompous but I felt called to the ministry", her quick, soft voice explains over the phone line from her home in Bavaria. After a probationary year in Perth, she married a fellow CoS minister, Grahame.
They moved to Germany in 1993, when Graeme started work on his doctorate. "We came here for two years, and that was eight years ago", she smiles. Rhona worked hard to learn the language, but found that there was a glut of Protestant ministers in her area, so didn鈥檛 have much opportunity to work in that field. After teaching and translation jobs, some work she did for the computer aided design company SMAP 3D eventually turned into her current post, following the slightly unusual leap of faith by her boss.
Rhona can鈥檛 remember not being aware of The Archers, but she realised she was really hooked when her children鈥檚 bedtimes was dictated by the timing of the evening episode!
"The biggest argument not to move here was that we would miss Radio 4", she remembers. A friend sent her selected tapes until they had satellite television installed, and could listen to all of Radio 4 . "That was like Heaven. Until they turned it off." (Radio 4 was removed from analogue satellite transmissions last year)
But then Rhona started to listen to Archers episodes on the internet, and through that found the Archers message board, where she is known as the Meenister. "Everyone is so friendly, and there鈥檚 an amazing pool of knowledge. You can post a question and someone will very quickly know the answer". She even had a visitor arranged through the message board. "Susan Marks was visiting family in Munich, and when I knew she was coming over, I said you鈥檒l have to get in touch. She brought her granddaughter over and we had a really nice day."
As a real life minister, what does Rhona think of Janet Fisher? "Well, she鈥檚 a bit C of E", she jokes, "but I think she鈥檚 good value. I thought the dilemma earlier this year where she was attracted to Tim was done very sensitively."
Despite the limited opportunities to practice their ministry, the Dunphys show no signs of leaving their adoptive home. Grahame teaches at the nearby University of Regensburg. The children - David (11), Elizabeth (9) and Catriona (6), all bilingual - are well established at local schools.
"And we have such a good lifestyle here. We live right out in the country in a village smaller than Ambridge. It鈥檚 a beautiful part of the world, near the Danube, the Alps, and the Bavarian forest."
Selling the place like that, Rhona may well be entertaining more visitors from her friends on the message board, or maybe a job offer from the Bavarian Tourist Board.
Visit The Archers Message Board>>
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