Starting training for ordination in the CofE

[MrsTulip]

As promised new thread now based on training over the next three years.

In terms of the numbers, which they also use at Stage 2 I think anything from 4 up is OK, 5 is fine, 6 is ideal and if you get 7s they'll check you aren't already ordained and just doing this for a laugh.

I think the colours go from red, through yellow to light green and then dark green.

Thank you everyone ☺️

Sorry only just seen this, its pretty much as others have said my DDO worked with me on the areas where I got 5s because the stage 2 panel want to see how you have grown in that area since stage 1.

And just like that the first half term of year 2 is done! Will be having a few days off to relax then will be using the rest of this week and next to get some reading and note making for assignments started.

My DD has found her first half term pretty intense and is getting back into essay writing. Juggling the needs of two children and a husband at the same time is hard work too!
But she's sure she's made the right decision.

A few of my cohort found the first half term tough, it does get easier as you get into it. I'm so blessed that I train with some fantastic people and we have a great formation group tutor. Our college chaplains are also amazing.
Remember it's still all new and still early days.
Whilst I don't think the academic /essay writing will ever be top of my list of strengths I do feel a lot more settled about it all since starting, it certainly helps me that my college also focuses on formation not just academics.

I think lots of us found the first term tough. I very nearly didn't go back after Christmas. Thankfully I had some great tutors who helped me see the bigger picture when I found the academics overwhelming. Family circumstances didn't help my situation either though as my husband was away for all of my first term. It was worth sticking with it though, especially now I'm in curacy.

Can’t believe that I’ve only got another two weeks of learning sessions and the residential left this term, although my usual placement days and self study/ assignment writing will continue. The year is going so fast and some of the people I’m studying with who are on a two year pathway have curacy sorted or are beginning to sort it.
I’m looking forward to seeing what my placement supervisor has planned for me over the Christmas period. He’s brilliant at making sure I get a good range of learning opportunities and also balancing my time.

So had some great opportunities over the last few days ( Christingle, leading with visiting clergy preaching and presiding and I preached on Christmas morning) but yesterday afternoon, today and tomorrow will be family time. I'm having this Sunday off, so worshipping at another church. Will then get going with assignments before having some down time on new years day and then full steam ahead on the 2nd Jan with a residential 9-11th Jan.
Nearly half way through my three years of training, time is going so fast!

DD had to preach recently as her training vicar was unwell. Totally off the cuff, no preparation, 10 mins notice! She was fabulous- teaching is good practice.

She's finding the course very intense ( it's the 2 year version) and has no time off from writing essays. It's not very family friendly.

How can anyone train to be a priest in just two years. It takes 7 in the RC church, and the short course is 4 years for older men.

In the case of my DD, she's not really starting from scratch. Many years as an RE teacher and lay reader has prepared her. It is still very full on, full-time.
And the church needs good ministers- now!

Different people do different pathways depending on their starting point. I'm doing a BA as part of my training so will have been at theological college for three years. In the CofE we also serve a curacy which is more training after theological college so by the time I come to have my own first parish/parishes I will have done roughly 6-7 years training.

You can’t train to be a priest in two years. Hopefully theological college (two to three years) can install some good habits of study and prayer. You need the tools in the toolkit and to learn that you will never stop learning. Most people are ordained as a deacon at the end of college and ordained as a priest a year later. A curacy of at least three years gives some practical experience and time to explore what ordained ministry is really about. After that you are theoretically ready to take on a parish or multiple parishes as an incumbent.

The C of E is short of priests and the reaction to this in some dioceses has been to shorten the courses to a year as the theory seems to be that priesthood is just a set of skills to be learnt. It isn’t. The new short course priests do not appear to be feeling the call to the deprived parishes or to the countryside where four to eleven parishes are the norm, but stay in their big churches.

It takes time and formation to grow into ordained ministry which the RCs know as well as those of us who support those in discernment, training and early ministry.

MostlyDrinksTea, you've kind of put the kibosh on my wonderful DD and her calling. This has made me very sad. I'm sure she'd be very sad too, at the suggestion she is somehow lesser, not good enough and will stick to the easy options.

I wish you knew her.

This isn't true for all ordinands though. I personally don't feel called to the countryside because I don't drive so would struggle and wouldn't be able to serve well in that context. Having done a placement on an estate that high levels of social need and deprivation it is an area of ministry I would like to spend more time discerning.
Just because someone trains over a shorter period of time doesn't mean it's an easy option. It also doesn't mean their training is any less valuable or they are less prepared to entre curacy.

Also as mentioned earlier in this thread, it wasn't started for debates and arguments but to simply give insight into what my training looks like, as it maybe helpful for others.

@FuzzyPufflinghopefully your daughter will be ordained as a deacon in the July or September two years after she started training. She will then be ordained as a priest a year later so that is three years after starting. She will be ready to apply for first incumbency after five years ie two years training and three years curacy. This is not being a priest after two years which was the question. Some dioceses are ordaining candidates as priests after two years and that is a mistake in my opinion. It takes time to grow into this life because the weight of the calling is heavy. Hopefully your daughter will be well supported through her training and curacy and then into wherever she chooses to serve thereafter. If she can preach with no notice that is a really useful skill. If she can develop a prayer life that allows her to sit with the dying, lead a school assembly, rustle up a cuppa for a homeless chap, deal with the complaints about not having proper Matins and then unblock the drains all before lunch her training will have prepared her well.

@mostlydrinkstea

If you would like to start a thread to debate the pros and cons of various ordination pathways that might be best. I'm in training (as it happens at the same institution as MrsTulip) on a fairly accelerated pathway and would be happy to share my thoughts and experiences about all that - just not on this thread.

Yeah, she can do all that - maybe not the drains, but she can ask me for advice on that one.

The comment was about two year training for priests which is a mistake in my view. I’ll leave it there.

Training for ordination is very exciting. It’s hard work and it stretches. I hope that everyone who is training has a spiritual director to accompany them through this journey. As I said, the weight of the calling is hard and that reality can get lost in training. You cannot know what it is like to be ordained until you are. I’ve run training courses for ordinands who push back on this, possibly because they think ordination is just a set of skills to be mastered. In my cohort back in the dark ages, one of my colleagues burnt out after two years and another was bullied out of their parish. The three of us that are left are thriving but tired.

I wish you all the very best in your training and your ongoing walk with the Lord.

Currently things are very quiet in placement, so cracking on with assignments. Had two on the sacraments which I've finished and a 5,000 word one on leadership which I'm about half way through and is due at mid day on Thursday. Plus two reflective practice ones (that I've not even started) that are due the Thursday after.

That's a lot of work. Hope you're feeling fairly relaxed about it.

I know DD also has a lot of assignments to do and not enough time, especially with the demands of two pre-teen children. She's a tremendously hard worker, but I do worry that she has no down time at all.

Can I ask what type of training you're on? Is it a full time / part time course and over how many years? Also, is it the same for Assistant / Incumbent level?

Thank you both

Yeah fairly relaxed about it, I've been doing the reading and note making over the last few weeks so just need to pull it all together now. The weeks that assignments are due tend to be a bit more intense but I always like to have something nice planned for afterwards.