THE Church Army is to train its evangelists at the Community of the Resurrection (CR), Mirfield, it was announced this week.
The move follows the Church Army’s decision to sell its Sheffield headquarters, the Wilson Carlile Centre, as part of a downsizing (News, 7 March). Its Board warned in March that, on the current trajectory, it would run out of reserves in the next 12 to 18 months. The centre, named after the Church Army’s founder, was launched in 2011 after a £2-million building project and relocation from London.
CR was founded, at Pusey House, Oxford, in 1892, ten years after the founding of the Church Army. The founding Brothers were Christian Socialists who sought a home in the industrialised north, opening their theological college, the College of the Resurrection, in Mirfield in 1902. Today, ordinands (18 this year) continue to live alongside the 13-member community on the 22-acre parkland site.
A press release this week said that CR had “long been committed to theological, liturgical, and pastoral education for the Church”, and shared “deep historic roots with Church Army in the formation of working-class people for ministry. Both organisations have a strong focus on vocation and mission. The presence of Church Army on site will enrich the formation and training environment and foster new opportunities for collaboration.”
CR also hosts St Hild College, a non-residential theological college formed in 2017 after a merger of the Yorkshire Ministry Course and St Barnabas Theological Centre (News, 20 January 2017). All three organisations that will be present on the site are part of the Yorkshire Theological Education Partnership.
The Church Army’s head of training and equipping, Dr Elli Wort, spoke this week of “a new season of hope for us at Mirfield”. The Church Army was “excited about the move of our six training weekends a year” to the monastery. “We are truly grateful to the Community of the Resurrection for offering us space and for welcoming us into their home: this has been greatly appreciated by our senior leadership team, tutors, and students,” she said.