New initiatives encourage young vocations

A working group of the Archbishops' Council of the Church of England has produced a series of recommendations to encourage people to analyse a potential calling to ministry much earlier in life.

Completed in November, Engaging Young Vocations lists a number of initiatives to be introduced over a five-year period – ranging from a nationwide call to prayer for those exploring a vocation, to more training for clergy in vocational discernment, and the introduction of an annual conference for 16-to-19-year-olds as a way of engaging with young people.

Included in the report are outlines for a new website for those exploring ministry, eye-catching posters and leaflets, and vocations-related Bible study material and other resources for young people of school age and above, produced by the Ministry Division and Church House Publishing.

In addition, the Ministry Division plans to work alongside other project organisers and agencies to deliver gap year opportunities for those aged 18 to 30 – in the UK and overseas – to encourage vocational formation.

It also aims to promote work experience schemes in Christian ministry for school students, who would shadow an ordained person in a parish as part of their studies.

There are plans to promote the Church of England to young people via stalls, seminars and workshops at events such as Greenbelt, Soul Survivor, and the Walsingham Youth Pilgrimage.

CHARLOTTE BALLINGER

Currently in the first term of a two-year MA in Pastoral Theology at Westcott House in Cambridge, Charlotte Ballinger (21), the second youngest ordinand in the Church of England, experienced a calling to ordained ministry at the age of 10.

"It sounded like quite an unusual choice at school, and later I did think about becoming something like a lawyer, teacher or doctor," Charlotte says. "My undergraduate degree helped me explore my vocation."

Whilst reading theology at Pembroke College, Oxford, Charlotte received a lot of advice from her Vocations Adviser, and was soon referred to her home diocese of St Albans for further support and encouragement from her church, St Lawrence in Abbots Langley, and the Diocesan Director of Ordinands.

"The curate at my church was especially encouraging," Charlotte continues, "and helped me to see a wider range of options, and taught me more about what is at the heart of priestly ministry."

Choosing Westcott House because of the 'catholic persuasion', community feel and friendly atmosphere, Charlotte recommends the book The Fire and the Clay: Priests in Today's Church (SPCK) for those exploring a vocation to ordained ministry.

LUKE TILLETT

Luke Tillett (19) is this year's youngest ordinand – a fact that played a part in his college choice, Cambridge's Ridley Hall.

"There are other young ordinands here," he says, "plus I am amongst people who are older, who offer a wealth of experience and wisdom."

Finding faith at 11 via his school Christian Union, Luke was soon involved with a local ecumenical youth project in Tadcaster in Yorkshire, and embarked on work experience with a local vicar at the age of 15 – the latter illustrating to him the many tasks a parish priest undertakes in the community.

"At first I questioned my calling, and I applied for primary school training, but then I got the conviction that it wasn't the direction God wanted me to go in and I pulled out," he says. "When I then went on to become a trainee youth worker, I definitely saw God forming and shaping me."

Ordination open days organised at Bishopthorpe Palace in York, along with a regional Count Me In event, continued to clarify the calling.

"It was very good meeting other people and seeing where they were at," Luke says, "and this and the support of my diocese prepared me for the decision to go either way when the time came for my Bishops' Advisory Panel."

Not sure on the direction his ordained ministry will take, Luke has chosen the three-year Cambridge University Bachelor of Theology, having taken advice from his Director of Studies in Cambridge, and, of course, his Diocesan Director of Ordinands in York.

His reaction to the proposals of the Engaging Young Vocations report: "I think there needs to be more talking about vocations amongst younger people as it's a bit of an unknown quantity unless you get a chance to explore what it means more thoroughly."