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Beware, Methodist
minister Stanley Jackson wants to disturb the peace of the United
Reformed Church. And as the new Co-ordinator of the Training for
Learning and Serving programme, he is ideally placed to do it. Sitting on the sofa of the family home he shares with his wife and three children in Boston Spa, just outside Leeds, Stanley does not exactly seem the revolutionary type – something to do with the jumper he wears when we meet, perhaps, but perhaps more the smile that seems to wear just as naturally.
made for the job
Stanley Jackson comes to
the URC by a circuitous path. Now 50 he was ordained in the Methodist
Church in 1981 and most of the years since then have been spent in local
pastorates. Over time, however, he developed an interest in church
growth and became involved with Bible Society, working alongside his
pastoral ministry to spread some of the new insights into what makes
churches grow and supporting churches around his then home in Harrogate
who wanted to look at their mission in the community. In 1999 Bible
Society appointed him to head its consultancy and training. When that
job ended, instead of finding himself back in a pastorate Stanley took
two jobs, one as a chaplain to a local independent school and the other
a short-term appointment running a distance learning project for Cliff
College in Derbyshire. It was while running the Open Learning Centre,
which offered students a menu of different modules from which they could
design their own course, that Stanley came across the advert for
co-ordinator for another training programme aimed at church members –
the URC’s ‘TLS’. TLS has been around for
eight years now and Stanley succeeds David A L Jenkins, the driving
force behind the programme in its early years. The programme is based
around a 2-year general foundation course of six terms, after which
students can choose from a menu of follow-on courses on specific
subjects such as leading worship, the use of performing arts in worship
or pastoral care. The courses can be taken simply for interest, with no
qualification at the end, but if those who successfully complete the
foundation course and three additional courses can be awarded a
certificate by the University of Wales at Bangor. The TLS course is often described as ‘distance learning’ but Stanley Jackson prefers to describe it as ‘flexible learning’. It is true that students don’t go away to college and that most of the work is done locally, through self-study or regional tuto-groups but residential meetings are also part of the mix required to complete the course. A typical TLS term sees
students studying a theme broken up into five units, which are studied
alongside set passages of scripture. One term, for instance, looks at
the church itself, alongside readings taken from the Letter to the
Ephesians. Themes include the development of the early church, recent
developments in the form of the ecumenical, the relationship between the
church and the community and a look at the shape of the world church.
The aim is not an isolated academic one but rather to help participants
understand the development of the church as an institution, look at how
it exists today and think about the implications of the church as it is
for its mission to the world. As part of rooting the course in the
reality in Christian life, participants in TLS nominate a form of
Christian service – often something they are already doing, like serving
as an elder or as a lay preacher – and throughout their progress they
reflect on the light being cast on their chosen area of work. After 2 years students have an opportunity to move on to more specific subjects. Gateways into Worship not only equips people to lead worship on a regular basis but can be a path to national recognition as a lay preacher. Gateways into Prayer is designed to help people look at the history of prayer, ways of praying and to apply some of the lessons both to their own prayer life and to corporate worship. Gateways into Care focuses on pastoral care, while Gods Jesters is on using performing arts in worship. Some people who already have a good foundation or if they are just on an interest level, people can go straight into additional courses. Finally, Experiencing Faith looks at other faiths and their relationship to Christianity.
But as important as new knowledge is the spiritual journey involved for most of those who undertake TLS. Reflecting with others in tutor groups and in residential meetings can be a challenging process and, for many, can result in a profound change in their sense of what God is calling them to do and to be.
Over the years TLS in its original forms has served the church well. Getting on for 1000 people have been through the process – and to put that into context it is equivalent to a denomination the size of the Church of England training some 10,000 of its members. Even so, recently there has been a slight falling-off in numbers for TLS in its original form, which may be due to the pool of those who immediately react positively to the idea of further education is drying up or to the introduction of TLS Lite, whose slightly passé name is almost forgivable since it stands for Local Introductory Training Experience.
a local experience
TLS Lite takes place entirely at a local level, mostly in churches, tutors are generally local people and the material is at a more basic level. Though the course is still based on study units and students take part in group study, residential meetings are replaced by study days and assessment is based on practical tasks and only one piece of written work. The shape of courses is as flexible as possible – a Lent group might use a Lite course to shape their programme.
' I want Christians to go out with the confidence that Christ goes alongside them and enables them to be whatever they need to be in order to serve in the place they are'
The aim of the courses is similar to TLS ‘Classic’ – to help people who fulfil ministries within the life of the church. TLS Lite students are people who might hesitate to undertake the commitment of the original or do not feel the need for a nationally-recognized qualification, for instance those who occasionally share in the leading of worship. Most courses focus on worship but a new departure is a course for people involved in voluntary community work, designed to help them see what they are doing as part of the mission of the church.
Fees for TLS Classic are currently £510 a year but almost no-one pays that. A letter from the local church supporting an application attracts a £100 reduction and many students are subsidized by churches, districts or synods. In cases of real need there is a bursary fund. That the levels are so low is partially due to the fact that the national church subsidizes the programme but, equally, to the fact that most of the work is done by volunteer tutors and organizers who work for nothing more than their expenses.
When it comes to TLS Lite, which currently boasts around 250 participants, fees vary from very little to almost nothing, depending on the whim of the district or Synod running the course
a critical time
Stanley Jackson’s appointment comes at a critical time for TLS. A new logo and redesigned material speak of the desire to revamp the image of the programme. A major review of training requirements by the Church of England has uncertain implications for the training provision of all its partners, including the URC. Then there is the possibility that TLS, having proved its viability might be extended beyond the URC or even the UK.
In the immediate future, Stanley Jackson sees the need to identify TLS as a resource for ‘mission to the culture’. At present he sees it as a little too church-based. The task is to help Christians to be Christians wherever they may be working, not simply within the ‘church’. More profoundly, it is about the nature of the church: is it to be found when people gather on a Sunday or does it exist wherever Christians live out their daily lives – if the latter then TLS must be about helping the people of God inhabit the whole of life. And if mission is about many things: evangelism, social action, fighting for justice and seeking to transform people and society, TLS must be a resource for all those things.
‘That doesn’t mean having all the answers, because part of what we have to get over is the arrogance of believing that we do have all the answers – I don’t think we do, but I want Christians to go out with the confidence that Christi goes alongside them and enables them to be whatever they need to be in order to serve in the place they are.’ Not least, it is about helping church members to look at the attitudes that shape church life and asking whether some have become barriers to outreach. Which leads to the question with which we came in. Does that mean that TLS should make people uncomfortable?
‘I certainly hope so. I hope it’s provocative. People will say ‘It’s made me think, it’s challenged me. I’ve really struggled with this but I’m really glad I did.’
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