Don’t become an ordinand unless you are well-off, that was the message of a new report released by the Church of England.
The Living Ministry research follows cohorts of 85 ordinands and clergy through their ministry over a decade.
According to the report, non-residential ordinands who started training in retirement, maintaining their pension drawings or those who retain an adequate salary even after a reduction in working hours to fit in training,report the best financial wellbeing.
This is the same for those whose main household income is their partner’s (about two thirds are reliant to some extent on income from their partner).
One male participant reported:“I think actually [the Church has]probably got it bang on that that is what you need to live on, because I can live on that, but it is so tight that anything extra that comes up, you’ve got no way of doing anything.”
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