The General Synod has committed itself to “taking the necessary steps to raise up and support a new generation of lay and ordained leaders from estates and working-class backgrounds”…. But it will fail in this task if it continues to give the impression that it prefers candidates for ordination who are university-educated and middle-class.
As the Principal of Emmanuel Theological College, the Revd Dr Michael Leyden, said this month: “Without greater diversity within the formational pathways we have, we will continue to give the impression that the Church of England prefers middle-class clergy — but that does and will continue to hinder our engagement with the communities we’re called to serve in Christ’s name”….
His remarks resonated with me. I have a practical-theology degree now, and am a priest; but I started out as a habitual truant who left school at the age 15 with not a single qualification. I went on to be a van assistant for Curry’s Electrical; a failed stand-up comedian; a successful store manager for Argos; and ended up, eventually, as an Anglican priest in Burnley and a bestselling author who was diagnosed with dyslexia in his late forties.
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"I implore the wider Church to go mining for these individual human beings of raw material that, once excavated, reveal an abundance of 24-carat potential — 24-carat potential that can change the direction of travel for the Church."https://t.co/gr22g79710
— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) April 29, 2024