Resources for ordinands, as featured in the Church Times. Anglican ordinands in the UK, the ROI and the Diocese of Europe are eligible for a free subscription.

On placement and in college

Hannah Barr: How I found the true side of formation

“Like many ordinands, I spent this summer on placement. I was initially apprehensive. Through no fault of my college, I felt de-skilled, with nothing to offer a bustling benefice with an exceptionally gifted ministry team”

 

Rich parish, poor parish — time to choose

“I finished my placement with a more realistic understanding of what estates ministry would mean, and more openness to being called there in the future”

 

Don’t hush children: learn from them

“Jesus insists that interaction with children is a key means of formation. He took a child and put the child in the midst of his disciples”

 

The work of God within his servants

“At the heart of formation is something that values the range of difference God creates, redeems, and brings into the ministry of his Church”

 

Mark Pickles: First is first, but second is not nowhere

“If you are an Anglican ordinand, for example, you cannot get away with thinking that infant baptism is unimportant, and therefore that it really does not matter what you think about it”

 

After ordination

What weakness taught me

“How you start off on this journey is important. The practices and patterns you put in place now will serve you well over many years”

 

Petertide ordinations: What we’ve learnt in our first year

“The way I'm functioning as a priest has not been at all as I thought. That's a good thing”

 

Mission and ministry

Rachel Treweek: When religion is put through filters

“Our faith is lived out in community and relationship, and I am increasingly challenged about how I live with authenticity, and recognise the filters I apply to my words and behaviour”

 

With his burial linen dry thine eyes

“Bringing a resurrection perspective into our lives is not just head knowledge, but has real pastoral outworking, helping us make good endings and helping us to let go of the non-essential.”

 

The birth pains of pioneer ministry

“Pioneers are very much connectors and networkers. They tend to love learning, and recognise that there is a lot they don’t know”

 

Eric Lobsinger: Western promise

“There is nothing like perspectives from parts of the world where Christianity is marginal to underscore how this kind of ecumenical collaboration should be the norm”