The General Synod has committed itself to \u201ctaking the necessary steps to raise up and support a new generation of lay and ordained leaders from estates and working-class backgrounds\u201d…. 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.<\/p>\n
As the Principal of Emmanuel Theological College, the Revd Dr Michael Leyden, said this month: \u201cWithout greater diversity within the formational pathways we have, we will continue to give the impression that the Church of England prefers middle-class clergy \u2014 but that does and will continue to hinder our engagement with the communities we\u2019re called to serve in Christ\u2019s name\u201d….<\/p>\n
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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a> (registration or subscription).<\/p>\n "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 \u2014 24-carat potential that can change the direction of travel for the Church."https:\/\/t.co\/gr22g79710<\/a><\/p>\n — Church Times (@ChurchTimes) April 29, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n