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Training

The Committee will encourage and enable the integration of the training of the whole people of God and to this end will seek to influence the philosophy and methodology of learning; the core content of courses; and the development of resources. It gives direct support to, and acts in partnership with Doctrine, Prayer and Wors hip; Life and Witness; Church and Society, and Youth and Children’s Work Committees and synods and districts, as they respond to the needs of local churches in training matters. It collaborates with Ministries Committee in the training of ministers of word and sacraments, CRCWs and Lay Preachers. It also supports all other committees and task groups, in particular the Ecumenical Committee. It also gives advice to the YCWT programme.

Committee Members

Convener: Revd John Humphreys [2007] Secretary: The Secretary for Training

Revd Paul Ballard [2004], Mrs Anthea Coates [2004], Revd Dr John Parry [2004], Revd Principal John Dyce [2005], Mrs Susan Brown [2006], Revd Sue Henderson [2006], Revd Malachie Munyaneza [2006], Mrs Valerie Burnham** [2007], Dr Ian Morrison** [2007]

1. OUR ASSEMBLY REMIT – RECENT HISTORY AND CURRENT WORK

1.1 Our remit given by General Assembly when the Committee took its present form in 1994 was amended by Mission Council in March 2003.

1.2 Since the mid 1990s the Training Committee has been engaged in three phases of activity.

1.2.1 In the mid to late 1990s a number of creative initiatives came to birth, not least the Continuing Ministerial Education programme and the Training for Learning and Serving programme, both of them developments of earlier training provision. At the same time, the committee wrestled with the perennial difficulty of the relationship between the numbers of students for ordained or commissioned ministry and the provision of training institutions. Initiatives to alter the number of institutions used by the church were not, however, taken up by the Church’s councils.

1.2.2 Then from 1999 a great deal of detailed consolidation of the new programmes was undertaken as well as negotiating the terms of our relationship with training colleges in the light of the decisions referred to above.

1.2.3 In the last year or so, a new phase has begun. Building on the previous work it seems clear that this period will be marked by a radical review of training provision. This process of review coincides with the reviews being undertaken by the United Reformed Church itself, (Catch the Vision) by the Ministries Committee (Equipping the Saints) and the major review of training undertaken by the Church of England (Formation for Ministry within a Learning Church, often referred to as Hind) – a close partner for us in England in many aspects of our training – and in which the Methodists are involved.

1.3 The Training Committee largely, though not entirely, provides training for the ministry that the church requires and does so in the context of the mission strategy in which the United Reformed Church is engaged. In that sense its review will seek to be responsive to the results of the other reviews being undertaken whilst ensuring the outcomes of its own work remain flexible enough to respond to the training needs the church elsewhere decides it requires.

1.3.1 It ought also to be noted (as the Committee’s remit above indicates) that the Training Committee does not carry direct responsibility for all training within the church. Apart from the training that individual committees may undertake for their particular agendas for example Racial Justice or Resource Sharing, the Life and Witness Committee carries responsibility for Christian Education (including the Windermere Centre) and the Youth and Children’s Work Committee for training in that sphere of the church’s life.

2. THE STRUCTURE OF THIS REPORT

2.1 The heart of this report is the interim Training Review which immediately follows these paragraphs. It is divided into three sections. The first expands on paragraph 1.2 above and indicates the Pressures and Opportunities which have led us to undertake such a review. The second delineates some theological and other Principles on which we have based our work and the third outlines some provisional Pathways for the future.

2.2 The paragraphs that follow the Training Review describe the ongoing work in which the Committee is engaged as the Review proceeds.

3. TRAINING REVIEW

3.1.1 The Training Committee is engaged on a major review with the intention of bringing resolutions to General Assembly in 2005. The Committee submits this interim review paper to Assembly 2004 after considerable reflection over the last year and more, for discussion and comment. It hopes that reactions will help to inform our presentation in 2005. The committee is also engaged in other avenues of communication. A consultation with representatives of training institutions, synods and ecumenical partners was held in February 2004 and another is planned for the autumn.

3.1.2 This paper, therefore, is presented in three parts:

• Pressures and opportunities – current issues and demands.

• Theological Principles – the big vision.

• Possible Pathways

(Please note: in this paper, our use of the term ‘theological education’ is very inclusive. Some hear ‘theological education’ as if it only referred to training ministers or as if it was only about academic study of a sophisticated (– ivory tower? –) type. Instead we are using it to refer to all of the ways in which people think and speak about God (theos = God, logos = word) and the ways in which we need to learn, share and develop that thinking to equip our discipleship, which will include training in particular skills).

3.2 Pressures and opportunities

3.2.1 In March 2003, a paper was presented to Mission Council, which outlined the Training Committee’s intention to undertake a review of the resources for training at the disposal of the United Reformed Church. The impetus for such a review was a range of pressures and opportunities of which the training committee was forcibly aware.

3.2.2 The previous lengthy discussion in our central councils about resources for training was in the 1999 Assembly of the United Reformed Church in the United Kingdom, when Assembly voted not to reduce the list of institutions to which it sent trainee ministers. Not for the first time, the Training Committee had invited the councils of the church to consider the issue not least because of an over capacity of provision of colleges against the number of students. At the Union Assembly in 2000 the church decided, although without debate, to go on using all of the training institutions that had been used by the two uniting churches – twelve in all. It has been important to live with those decisions for a few years, for they led to planning and commitments in the institutions, which we could not fairly expect to be reviewed hastily. (For a note of the institutions currently used see the paragraph in parenthesis at the end of this review).

3.2.3 It could now look as if we are simply returning to these questions. However, whilst these concerns remain real and need attention we cannot narrowly focus on the number of institutions we use to train ministers (Church Related Community Workers and Ministers of Word and Sacrament). There are other needs also to be considered too such as:

• our provision of lay training;

• the training needs emerging from Catch the Vision and the Ministries Committee’s report entitled Equipping the Saints;

• the impact and opportunities afforded by the Church of England’s ‘Formation for Ministry within a Learning Church’ (Hind) programme, (for more information see paragraphs under 8.1 in this Training report).

Indeed, we cannot simply focus on the number of training institutions we use because though a vital resource for the church they are not the only means by which we deliver training. As well as through i) colleges, training is also delivered ii) regionally though synods (occasional courses, elders training, ministers schools) through ecumenical courses (part time ministry training) and iii) through Assembly’s Training Committee, of which the Training for Learning and Serving Programme (for all the church and as the main recommended route for lay preacher training) is the most obvious example. We believe that we must review the provision of training via all three of these means and reflect on the relationship between them. (For details of the wider training responsibility of the committee see the range of material in the rest of the Training Committee report. We acknowledge that yet more training is delivered in the church such as through the Windermere Centre and the Youth and Children’s Work Training and Development Officers. These fall under the responsibility of other committees – Life and Witness and Youth and Children’s Work respectively – with whom we collaborate carefully. They nevertheless fall outside of the remit of this report).

3.2.4 In light of the above the following provides a list of those pressures and opportunities that led us to embark on this process and continues to both stimulate and influence our thinking. These are not listed in any particular order of priority, nor are they a closed list; they are simply some significant issues of which we are aware and are set against the vital background of our church’s primary ecumenical commitments.

3.2.4.1 The ‘Catch the Vision’ Review of the life of the United Reformed Church.

As indicated above the work of training partly flows through Assembly committees and synods. The purpose of our training is to help equip the church for the vision it has of its mission. We seek to be ready to do that. We seek to be responsive to any changes in the next few years and to any disparity in training resources (human, ecumenical and financial), across the councils of the church.

3.2.4.2 The ‘Equipping the Saints’ process of our Ministries Committee.

This may well offer some re-definition or re emphasis of the ministries of the church. If it does, there will be consequent demands on the training committee to provide appropriately amended training.

3.2.4.3 Quite apart from the Ministries Committee’s work, there is a developing range of ministries that we have in the church.

These will need to be equipped and supported appropriately.

3.2.4.4 The numbers of candidates we expect to come forward for ministerial training inevitably influences our strategy.

3.2.4.5 The need for institutions and programmes to be educationally, socially and financially viable.

We currently use (as well as part time courses) five colleges, mainly to train ministers. (See note at end of paragraph 3.7 for more details). They cost two thirds of the training budget and yet because of the small number of ordinands, all four institutions in England are on a very precarious budget.

There is also a related question about whether we are spending a disproportionate amount of the training budget on ministers of Word and Sacrament, and to what extent we take into account synod budgets/contributions to training.

Four of the five colleges are independent; the United Reformed Church ‘owns’ one. All are deeply but variously, engaged with ecumenical partners. However the colleges, and the ecumenical courses also, have barely sufficient students to create viable United Reformed Church student cohorts. Nevertheless, in our deliberations over student numbers and finance in recent years, we have discovered good arguments for using these institutions and some tremendously deep ties to them.

3.2.4.6 The wider value of these institutions as theological resources for the training of the whole church.

All our institutions currently serve the church well beyond their particular remits.

3.2.4.7 The needs of the people who work within training institutions.

The Training Committee is well aware of the dedication of those teaching in our training institutions and does not wish to be care-less in how it relates to these people at this time of great uncertainty.

3.2.4.8 The Church’s responsibility to its people to make available good lay training programmes.

3.2.4.9 The secular environment of life long learning which is appropriately influencing our church culture.

3.2.4.10 The place of ecumenism in training policy.

In this we need to address and balance our aspiration to be increasingly United and our character as Reformed. All of our training is done ecumenically and in many ways we are dependent on the Church of England. The ecumenical commitment can however, make us vulnerable to the decisions and policies of more powerful partners. It needs to be balanced with the difficult but important responsibility of bearing witness to the reformed heritage in the pilgrimage of the church catholic. This task is to be undertaken from a shrinking and minority base and with a prior calling to ecumenism.

3.2.4.11 The different opportunities for educational and ecumenical partnership in the nations we serve.

Scotland and Wales are at different places in terms of ecumenical engagement and training patterns and Assembly policy must be assiduous in relating as a church across these islands. The Training Committee is planning a consultation with the National Synods of Wales and Scotland as the affect of ecumenical developments in England Scotland and Wales are different in each nation.

3.2.4.12 Current Church of England progress in implementing ‘Formation for Ministry within a Learning Church’ (The Hind Report).

This programme is in the process of re-forming the English ecumenical training scene. It will directly affect the four colleges and all the courses that we use in England and to some extent Wales. With the Methodists we are partners in the implementation process of which the Church of England is the lead body.

3.2.5 Many of the above developments and not least the United Reformed Church ‘Catch the Vision’ process will not be completed before decisions have to be made about educational and training resources. Therefore, the United Reformed Church must travel towards being adaptable and flexible in the ways in which training is operated.

3.2.5.1 In particular it may want to focus on the opportunities posed by the pressures or difficulties of some ‘loose ends’:

• Does regional variation merely reflect a response to the variety of contexts in which the church operates or is there something to be explored in terms of standards and consistency?

• There are a variety of ‘loose’ training networks into which some parts of the church opt more strongly than others. Should there be a greater cross-fertilisation of ideas/ experience/ insights and issues/ challenges across the whole denomination? (Some acknowledgment of a need for a school for theological education, or some manner of theological education faculty in which all involved are embraced)

• Does the United Reformed Church take on board the insights of educationalists and also the experience in training and education of those with whom the system interacts?

• Where does the United Reformed Church create space for theological enquiry? There is much pressure on people and there is much business and busy-ness, yet we need to address and be addressed by our fast changing context.

3.3 Theological Principles – the Big Vision

The committee recognises the pressures of limited resources and the need to work within severe constraints. It believes, however, that such pragmatic decisions that have, at all levels, to be taken, together with the constraints of history, must be viewed in the light of fundamental Gospel principles.

3.3.1 The primary task of the Church remains to be a witness to the saving reality of God as given in Jesus and to be a people found by the love of God in Christ, mediated by the Holy Spirit:

• through the proclamation of the Gospel in the whole world;

• as a priestly fellowship of praise, worship and intercession in and for the whole world;

• as a community of faith, love and hope in the world;

• in the service of the broken and marginalized throughout the world;

• by prophetic commitment to justice and peace and healing for the world;

• as those who discover and share liberation, openness and the fullness of humanity in and through Christ.

The Christian calling, as a pilgrim people, both personally and corporately, is to be with Christ, in the power of the Spirit, serving the Kingdom of God, wherever we have been set, whether in or beyond the Church, in ecumenical solidarity and with those of true heart of any faith or none, believing that creation and history are under the lordship of Christ and will find completion and fullness in the mystery of his love.

3.3.2 Within the calling of the whole Church the United Reformed Church has been given its own special but not exclusive calling in the service of the Kingdom for our own time:

• to witness to the ecumenical journey of sharing in the search for that ‘unity that Christ wills’ in a renewed and reshaped Church;

• to affirm creatively, in fresh and relevant ways, the heritage and insights of the Reformed tradition, founded on Scripture informing the highest levels of intellectual learning and practical wisdom;

• to work through a conciliar understanding of the Church, at every level from the local to the national, as the pilgrim People of God journeying together;

• to recognise that Christians are undividedly bound together in the Body of Christ, so that we all, in our own calling, work together and are supportive of each other in our common task;

• to recognise the ministry of the whole people of God exercised corporately and strengthened through the particular ministries of eldership and word and sacrament;

• to be inclusive and welcoming, in the name of Christ, of all, especially of the marginalized and oppressed, and to seek how all manner of people can find Christian freedom as disciples of Christ.

3.3.3 This charge has to be worked out in our present. This is a time of accelerating social change, the outcome of which it is impossible to discern. All that can be done is to try to be faithful to the Gospel (as did our forebears in the faith) as we see it in response to contemporary trends and events. In a time of confusion, there will be many siren voices clamouring for attention. The challenge is to be both discerning and flexible, open to new insights yet recognising the treasures of the past and still to be able to hold fast to the Christian vision. As ever God will bring new things to light as old forms crumble, but even these will be embedded in the ambiguity of the world.

3.3.4 Perhaps it is possible to point to three broad areas that will dominate Christian thinking and action in the immediate future:

A. Cultural and religious pluralism and the marginalisation of the Church in our society; but at the same time, a post-modern, romantic rediscovery of spirituality (often in the form of paganism) and the hardening of identities (sometimes as what is called ‘fundamentalism’).

B. The rapid advances in technology and science, especially in IT and medicine, challenging the perception of what it means to be human and raising new, acute moral issues.

C. The apparent triumph of rampant capitalism and economic globalisation which, on one hand, raises the issues of poverty and ecology and, on the other, turns us all into consumers with all the consequences for social cohesion, belonging, responsibility and personal identity.

3.3.5 Each of these has consequences for the Church from the global to the local, at the theoretical, practical and pastoral level. They are not just happening to the Church’s environment but affect it and are experienced within it. It is also important to look at what has happened to the Church in recent years.

A. Most obviously and painfully there has been the near meltdown, as with so many other inherited social structures.

B. The ecumenical vision has transformed inter-church perceptions and relations (of which the United Reformed Church is the major British example), but this has also thrown up its own problems of change, identity and confusion. We also now find ourselves at a point where across the churches there is little consensus on ecumenical direction.

C. Reflecting political and social change there has been a re-visioning of mission both internationally and locally. There have been pioneering developments in ordination education, pastoral structures, community work and now the need to come to terms with the sexual/gender issues and youth culture.

D. As part of the end of an assumed Christian culture, the churches have rediscovered the understanding of the ‘whole people of God’ with its concomitant stress on the diversity of ministry and the nature of the ‘laity’. This has both set free new initiatives and raised problems of catholicity, authority and recognition.

The result is that the Church lives in an heightened tension (which is always present in some form) between increased diversity and flexibility, as the response to change elicits retrenchment as well as (desperate) responses to crises, and a need to sustain structures of working and authority that will enable commonality and unity, allowing corporate shared thinking, planning and use of resources. It is here that the Training Committee, in collaboration with others, has to work out its aims and objectives and structures in an attempt to be faithful stewards.

3.3.6 The committee is clear:

• that there ought to be a drawing together of the different strands of theological education (including lay) to make best use of resources and for mutual reinforcement without improper confusion;

• that there is also an issue of the importance of institutions and place;

• that we must make new skills available at professional levels;

• that ‘training for training’ is an aspect of the ‘learning Church’. This includes upgrading supervision practices.

3.4 Furthermore, the Training Committee believes that the United Reformed Church needs a pattern of theological education and training which is accessible, has internal integrity, promotes the growth of communities and individuals, is disciplined, flexible and promotes the highest possible intellectual rigour. The six principles below have under girded our praying, thinking and planning and are presented now as signposts on the way forward to a new pattern of working.

3.4.1 Open Access, diversity and unity

Training and education are not merely for the privileged. It is a gospel imperative that all people should have access to courses (geographically, educationally and ecumenically) as they engage theologically in preparation for a variety of formal and informal ministries within the United Reformed Church or none. Theological education needs to stretch and nourish people in the whole of their development. It therefore needs to be provided in different ways and at different levels for different people learning alongside each other and learning to respect each other’s gifts and skills. Theological education should promote and be an experience of diversity, learning to live in unity.

3.4.2 Integrity, enrichment and confidence

We look to an internal integrity in the training we offer to the church. It should tackle both the continuities and the fractures between training and education for membership, for elders, for worship leadership and all that Training for Learning and Serving offers as well as preparation for the variety of ministries developed or being developed by the church.

Theological education is a mutually enriching activity. Teachers are taught and the taught are teachers. This is particularly true as people engage in theological education with a wide variety of life experiences and skills. Theological education can never be completed. Formal continuity needs to be built in to recognise the need for life-long learning.

Theological education should stimulate confidence in the Christian faith and the journey of discovering the biblical text in a way which is disciplined and open in a multi-cultural and multi-faith environment. There needs to be a direct and honest connection between theological education and other means by which the church seeks to equip the people of God.

3.4.3 Inspiration, transformation and community

We look to the growth of community and of individuals as the Spirit liberates and the reading of Scripture inspires. Both community and individuals can be ‘led out’ or ‘brought out’ (from the Latin word ‘educare’) in ways they could not have imagined. People and communities can be led to somewhere new, beyond their particular experience or expectation. Theological education should aid the transformation of individuals in communities engaged with the search for justice.

3.4.4 Discipline and dialogue

Theological education is disciplined and develops discipline and self-discipline, individually and collectively so that communities discover unity in diversity and are freed to rejoice in that diversity. This type of education will better enable the church to be in dialogue with other faiths and with other communities with integrity to our calling as the whole people of God.

3.4.5 Flexibility

Theological education will be flexible as the church learns to rejoice that people offer for training and seek theological education from a variety of contexts and a variety of life experience as well as for a variety of motives. It cannot be a matter of ‘one size fits all’.

3.4.6 Intellectual

Theological education should always promote the development of intellectual skills. Each person should be helped to fulfill her or his own potential and should be valued as part of the learning landscape of the church. The United Reformed Church needs to encourage future teachers and academics as well as to equip people with the whole range of skills needed by the church. The United Reformed Church has a history of introducing individuals to the world of academia and to ecumenical pilgrimage. The present review should ensure that this valuable contribution continues and that these people and all people are affirmed in their vital ministries. But it should also resist any pressure to concentrate on ‘academic’ achievement as an end in itself rather than as a fulfillment of God given potential for service in the church.

We wish to promote the ethos of the United Reformed Church as a Learning Church, learning to be disciples in an increasingly complex world, learning together, learning with and from each other and learning in the power of the Holy Spirit of God who leads us into all truth.

3.5 Possible pathways

3.5.1 The training committee paper addressed to Mission Council in March 2003 (which is the foundation of the Pressures and Opportunities section above) offered the prayer that in our review of training we might be ‘Visionary, Sensible and Wise’. We need to offer sensible, wise ways forward, which build on the successes of the past and take us into visionary ways of nurturing the whole people of God in the twenty first century. We also need to be speedy. For the sake of staff, present and future students, other denominations with whom we work and the institutions and courses which may be affected by any future Assembly decision based on our recommendations, we cannot allow ourselves the luxury of putting off decisions. Indeed the Church of England’s implementation of its ‘Formation for Ministry within a Learning Church’ is already proceeding with pace.

3.5.2 In this paper, we are putting forward five possible pathways into the future. Within these models we will need to discover the contribution of each synod and course, each college and the Assembly training programmes and this in turn will depend on how the implementation of ‘Formation for Ministry…’ will affect those very organisations. The Training Committee suspects that, with regard to ministers of Word and Sacrament and Church Related Community Workers, the United Reformed Church will want to ensure educationally viable and denominationally supported cohorts of students and that it will not be able to fund training from the training budget to present levels. We suspect that some colleges may cease to be used for initial ministerial training in the way we currently use them. However, the possibilities of institutions developing specialisms or finding life and work in the regional training partnerships that are coming to life under the ‘Formation for Ministry within a Learning Church’ process are real. We know that both colleges and ecumenical courses, to varying degrees, are used for other than ordination or commissioning (for Church Related Community Workers’) training and we are keen to see this accelerated. We know that the developing regional training partnerships are founded on the principle that they will deliver training across the board of need. The immediate future is uncertain and we will need to hold our nerve as new arrangements take shape but in any event, we should prepare to bring resolutions to the Assembly in 2005.

3.5.3 There have been many changes since 1999. The Union in April 2000 brought the distinct educational and cultural environment of Scotland into the United Reformed Church as a separate Synod, bringing with it well established and firmly rooted ways of working and the legacy of the Scottish College. Additionally, the Assembly of Wales and the Parliament of Scotland hold education as part of devolved power. It is therefore likely that our three educational contexts will become increasingly distinctive. The particular ecumenical contacts of the three nations will bring new and divergent possibilities. The Training Committee has planned conversations with representatives of these national synods to ensure that its agenda and review is properly reflective of a tri-national denomination.

3.5.4 In what follows everything is up for discussion and there are many issues to be explored. The period of discussion will be an uneasy period for many people within the church including those involved in and concerned for theological education. However, the Training Committee believes that the anxieties could well be even greater if discussion were confined to the committee until the production of its recommendations. We also recognise and welcome the prospect that in the discussion that will follow the circulation of this paper greater insights and greater challenge will emerge. Nothing is decided in advance; there are no hidden agendas. We seek the will of God for the future of education and training in nurturing the People of God in the love and service of our Lord. We invite comments both at Assembly and in written form before and after Assembly, the sooner comments come to the Training Committee the better.

3.5.5 Status Quo versus Change

3.5.5.1 The stark choice before us is either for the United Reformed Church to continue with the present patterns for the provision of training or to change. The decision to change cannot be simply for change’s sake. If there is to be change then the Training Committee seeks to work towards a model for the provision of theological education suited to the requirements of the principles in section 2 of our paper and taking account of the context outlined in section 1.

3.5.5.2 At present there are colleges, courses, synod programmes and Assembly generated programmes such as Training for Learning and Serving, what is at the time of writing called Continuing Ministerial Education and within that Post Ordination Commissioning Education and Training as well as district and local initiatives. All of these make up a large part of the total picture of training within the United Reformed Church. We are being challenged from within and without the church to make radical responses to the realities of church and religious life. The church’s traditional approach is ‘nothing changes here’ and we have a history of retreating from thorny issues. But we hope that the range of pressures and opportunities indicated in the first section above has shown clearly that to do nothing is to risk our current provision creaking under the pressures and to miss the creative opportunities that presently abound to equip the church for its missionary task. If the church continues its previous patterns of not grasping nettles then we could be stung far more than we might be by reaching out to new possibilities – however sharp they seem.

3.5.5.3 What is more, fractures in theological education – especially between lay and ordination training – are not addressed by the maintaining the status quo. If we are not prepared to change, we not only ignore our own current problems but allow the Church of England to develop its training initiative without our influence. Given our dependence on the Church of England in some quarters that could give us serious difficulties. Failure to change might also allow the ‘market economy’ to dictate which college(s)/ courses survive to serve the church. In other words, Assembly could declare its intention to use the colleges available, as required, but without accepting responsibility for their financial support (except Westminster, the only college that is not independent). The Training Committee, for all its concerns about its budget, is of the mind that this would not be a satisfactory way of approaching the development of theological education for the future of the church and society. Nor does it feel it would be a just or acceptable way to treat those serving in these institutions or to recognise the way the institutions themselves are vital resources for the life of the church.

3.6 Against the above background we present five possible pathways for the future from our own discussion and research. The Committee recognises that these pathways are not necessarily mutually exclusive but offers them in this way as an indication of the particular characteristics that are emphasised in the pathways.

3.6.A Pathway A

Maintain Assembly and synod programmes much as they are, perhaps continue to use ecumenical courses for part-time ordination training (however these are reconfigured by the Church of England) and reduce the number of colleges from 5 to 3 (or even 2)

3.6 A.1 It might be agreed that significant change would not be in the church’s interest and that the key problem remains one of college over provision. Assembly would be invited to return to the recommendations it made in the 1990s, namely that the United Reformed Church should reduce the number of colleges to which it sends students for training for ministry. Each time this was recommended the move was to reduce from four to three colleges. To follow this option would imply a reduction from the present five colleges to three, though already the decline in the number of students in training might well provide the case for a reduction from five to two. Such retrenchment would lighten the financial load considerably and in full time training concentrate the number of students into larger groups.

3.6.A.2 The Training Committee is doubtful whether taking this road would be the most constructive or imaginative way of meeting the demands and challenges of theological education and training in the future. Section 1 of this paper outlines many of the challenges and questions before us as a denomination with regard to training and this option fails to address these, with the exception of easing the financial situation and the size of student cohorts. This approach would appear to suit a church in constant retreat and we are uneasy about recommending a strategy of decline and withdrawal.

3.6.A.3 The other major disadvantage is that this pathway concentrates proposed change exclusively on full-time ministerial training – a very small part of the whole educational enterprise. It does not address the vast range of theological education available and being delivered in the United Reformed Church and ecumenically.

3.6.B Pathway B

Maintain Assembly and synod programmes much as they are, perhaps continue to use ecumenical courses for part time ordination training (however these are reconfigured by the Church of England – but see below) and reduce the number of colleges from 5 to 1 institution

3.6.B.1 A logical extension of Pathway A would be to accept that now is the time for the United Reformed Church to operate with one college only. This one college would be responsible for the oversight and provision of all the training currently undertaken by the five colleges and possibly all/some of the courses. A denomination of our size could easily place all its theological education eggs into the one basket and expect that the one institution would carry the burden and be the beacon of Reformed theology in England and contribute to the Reformed scene in both Scotland and Wales. The National Synods of Scotland and Wales would be asked to develop the partnerships necessary to operate ecumenically. General Assembly could decide on this route based on the number of students that are to be available for full time theological training. This would carry and extend the advantages and disadvantages of pathway A

3.6.C Pathway C

Ceasing to use all the designated United Reformed Church institutions that we now use and working in 9 English Regional Training Partnerships (Church of England ‘Formation for Ministry within a Learning Church’ – Hind) plus Scotland and Wales

3.6.C.1 This option focuses totally or almost totally on participating in the ecumenical developments in England. By the time General Assembly meets, the process of restructuring that the General Synod of the Church of England has embarked on will have already decided on the precise definitions of the regions within which theological education is to be arranged. The United Reformed Church and the Methodist Church are partners in the Committee that is defining the regions. This Hind’ process of the Church of England (for details see elsewhere in this training committee report) calls for theological education to be provided in a way that closely links with many of the principles which the Training Committee has been emphasising. These include:

• repairing the fragmentation between ‘lay’ and ‘ordained’ training;

• healing the fracture between training for recognised ministries and the increasing range of ministries and activities for which people are being trained/ employed within the church, and

• emphasising continuity between pre-ordination and post-ordination training and CME;

• expressing most completely our ecumenical vision;

• allowing us the probability of financial saving and enable us to concentrate student numbers;

• enabling an integrated organisation of all our training (college, synod and Assembly programmes) through regional partnerships (colleges, ecumenical course, synods, dioceses, Methodist districts etc).

3.6.C.2 There is much to be commended in this ecumenical approach. The ecumenical perspective of theological education is one in which the United Reformed Church and its colleges have been and still are pioneers but the Training Committee is anxious about a number of issues.

• How does a small denomination such as ourselves influence the training culture developed by one as large as the Church of England?

• How does a small denomination with distinctive insights and gifts to offer the church catholic develop its own perspectives and insights with confidence as a gift to the ecumenical pilgrimage?

• How does the United Reformed Church participate fully and effectively in nine regions and maintain and support those who have particular skills in theological education from the reformed tradition?

• What would be the situation if at some time the Church of England went down a route which was unacceptable from our Reformed perspective?

3.6.D&E Pathways D and E share a central idea but it works out in different ways. It involves the creation of a new body within the life of the church which for the purposes of this paper will be called “The United Reformed Church School for Theological Education” (“School” in short!). This School could be either a faculty of people engaged in the provision of training etc (pathway D below) or a Reformed resources centre for theological education to which those engaged in the field could turn to resource their teaching needs (pathway E below).

3.6.D&E.1 These options assume that all institutions currently used find their place in the new regional training partnerships and, where possible and appropriate seek to develop particular specialisms in their service of the church.

3.6.D&E.2 In both D and E there will need to be a careful analysis of all the resources the Assembly places into training to discover where there would be saving and where there would be extra costs. The Training Committee does not expect either D or E to increase the amount spent on training and education, rather we expect that, by bringing together the whole variety of ways in which training and education is financed there would be more than enough human and financial resource to promote either pathway. We do however recognise that there is much to examine, not least the financial implications and staffing of pathways.

The School would be of and for the denomination.

3.6.D Pathway D

United Reformed Church School for Theological Education working in 11 local areas (nine regions in England plus Scotland and Wales)

3.6.D.1 The School would oversee the provision of all theological education and training in the United Reformed Church offered in the name of the whole denomination, including those aspects of education and training that are deemed necessary for Assembly recognised ministries (elders, Church Related Community Workers and ‘ministers’). It would also provide education and training for other areas of service and commitment in the work of the people of God as otherwise is identified.

3.6.D.2 All those undertaking or delivering training and educational opportunities under the auspices or for the United Reformed Church would be members / students of the School. This would mean some cross committee negotiation and reflection by Assembly/Mission Council, given that some areas of education are the proper responsibility of other committees. Nevertheless the School’s responsibilities could include ministers, Church Related Community Workers, elders, worship leaders, youth workers, junior church leaders, evangelists, church membership classes and so on. Students’ membership of the School would be expressed in regional gatherings, integrated learning opportunities (including residential learning opportunities) and would concentrate on exploring both the joys and trials of both the Reformed heritage and its contribution to the future of the church catholic. Students would receive localised education and training delivered as ecumenically as is possible, depending on the particular facilities and relationships in the region in which they are resident. The Scottish College provides a useful, but by no means prescriptive model for how the School might operate.

3.6.D.3 The School would:

• be a human and educational resource in the broadest sense;

• localise education and training delivered ecumenically whenever possible;

• be disciplined in preparing people for a variety of ministry for a church witnessing across the British Isles. The larger part of the School’s workload would be generated within England, and it would therefore be vital for the School to be sensitive and responsive to the needs and distinctiveness of Scotland and Wales;

• foster the vast range of teaching and training skills needed within the United Reformed Church;

• be at the centre of the provision of training such as Training for Learning and Serving and TLS LITE (Local Introductory Training Experiences) and thereby be committed to addressing those fractures in theological education that are not necessary;

• seek to develop a relationship between all those engaged in denominational education and training within the School. All those appointed by synods and those recognised as providing ‘Assembly’ training and education would be members of the School faculty and be supported and nurtured by it;

• oversee all ministerial and other training, including the Reformed input to the regional training partnerships;

• The relationship of the school and Assembly and Training Committee would need examining.

3.6.D.4 This pathway would seek to deal with many of the pressures and opportunities developed in paper 1 but it has yet to be tested in terms of feasibility, how it would relate to existing institutions, developing ecumenical partnerships or how effective it would be.

3.6.E Pathway E

United Reformed Church School, working in 11 local areas (9 Regions in England plus Scotland and Wales) plus Reformed Resources Centre

3.6.E.1 Pathway E assumes that however the regional training partnerships develop and whatever the role of those institutions the United Reformed Church currently uses there will be need to resource that training from the Reformed perspective. We would envisage a ‘Reformed Resources Centre’ (probably based in Westminster College, Cambridge – whose other role in the region or for the church is not determined in this model) to act as a library; and as a centre of expertise and research into the reformed tradition. The resources in the Centre would be personnel as well as books, artifacts and on line resources and would be co-ordinated and delivered where needed by means of a clearing house organisation.

3.6.E.2 The School could attract people to it and its staff could go out to people in local situations. It would be responsive to providing the specifically Reformed elements to any training or educational activity prescribed by the Assembly and being delivered in regional partnerships. It could be at the hub of a network for those who are or have been engaged in research. It would have a major role to overcome the inevitable variation in training and educational practice across these islands.

3.6.E.3 Whilst not an educational institution per se and thus not able to deliver directly the activities listed under D it would make that task easier and less complex by building on the resources that the denomination has already accrued. It could use and coordinate the skills and experience of United Reformed Church staff living in different parts of the church.

3.7 CONCLUSION

The Training Committee has seen these pathways but as yet ‘they look like trees walking’ (Mark 8 24). There is much to be clarified, discuss, explore and investigate before any informed proposals can be taken to General Assembly in 2005. The Training Committee anticipates a very full agenda in the coming months. The Committee will need to:

a) work through what the structures of any future school might be

b) bear in mind the position of various minorities within those structures

c) do detailed work on costings – present and future – including the place of volunteers within the structures

d) work with the synods in England to help them determine their place in the Regional Training Partnerships in that nation

e) work with the national synods of Scotland and Wales to determine how they operate within those nations for training and educational purposes

f) work with our training institutions to see how they may be a positive part of ecumenical regional training

g) work with other Assembly committees to explore the nature of life long learning in many contexts

h) gather reactions from around the church

i) decide a direction to recommend and

j) and then work on the consequences of that direction to prepare for presentation to and discussion at the 2005 Assembly.

(FOR INFORMATION Extract from the booklet Becoming a Minister – Colleges and Courses used by the United Reformed Church for Training.

In order to obtain the minimum requirement for ordination, candidates are required to follow one of the following course paths, or a mixed-mode combination:

The satisfactory completion of the Introductory Course, including attendance at the “Our Church United Reformed Church Ethos and History” weekend.

Followed by either:

A Full time Course

This is College based and includes 3 or 4 years of full-time training including an Internship year or placements in each year.

or

A Part Time Course

This takes place at a recognised Ecumenical Course (3 years) plus one year assessed placement work, usually supervised by college staff & overseen in consultation with the Synod Training Officer

Or it can be on the Faith in Living Course, a four-year integrated course at the Partnership for Theological Education, Manchester. Most Ecumenical Part-time Courses operate with regular weeknight sessions and some weekend; the Faith in Living Course provides local home-based tuition with six residential weekends a year usually in Manchester.

Full-time Courses recommended by the United Reformed Church are:

Mansfield College, Oxford

Northern College, Manchester

Queens’, Birmingham

Westminster College, Cambridge,

and for candidates accepted by Scotland Synod of the United Reformed Church:

courses arranged through the Scottish United Reformed and Congregational College.

Part-time Ecumenical Courses currently recommended by The Training Committee are:

The East Anglian Ministerial Training Course (EAMTC)

The East Midlands Ministry Training Course (EMMTC)

The North East Ecumenical Course (NEOC)

The Partnership for Theological Education, Manchester (PTEM)

The St Albans and Oxford Ministry Course (SAOMTC)

The South East Institute for Theological Education (SEITE)

The South Wales Ordination Course

The Southern Theological Education and Training Scheme (STETS)

The South West Ministerial Training Scheme (SWMTS)

The West Midlands Ministry Training Course (WMMTC)

The Scottish Congregational and United Reformed Church College

Candidates accepted for training by the Scotland Synod may train through certain Scottish Universities, supplemented by a course run by the Scottish Congregational and United Reformed College.)

Resolution 34: Review of Training Needs

General Assembly encourages the Training Committee in its review of training needs, to explore further the pathways A-E it has identified in the light of the Assembly debate and to sample opinion and consult widely before returning with proposals to Assembly in 2005.

4.1. TLS has gone from strength to strength. Supported by a staff team consisting of Revd David AL Jenkins (TLS Programme Co-ordinator), Revd Hilary Collinson (One-year Course Co-ordinator) and Mrs Heather Skidmore (Course Administrator) the expanding programme reaches into parts of the United Reformed Church other courses cannot reach. Designed as ‘open access’, its Bible based courses relating to present day contexts stimulate the mind, challenge the heart and enrich the soul of all involved. In its 9 year history in England and Wales it has reached people from all walks of life, ranging in age from late teens to mid eighties and coming from very diverse theological and church backgrounds including ecumenical partner churches. In this period 627 people have enrolled on courses and at least 1,927 and probably closer to 2,500, have acted in a support network capacity for course members. In Scotland, the closure of the Scottish Churches Open College (SCOC) in 2003 is regretted both educationally and ecumenically but it has afforded the TLS Programme an opportunity to offer its resources in Scotland also.

4.1.1 The 2 year Foundation Course which, in common with other courses, includes home study, local groups, regional weekends and optional assessed written work provides a base from which opens the Gateway One Year Courses, although some of these may be accessed directly with the right background knowledge and experience.

• Experiencing Faith – a novel approach to interfaith relations through meeting people rather than simply learning from a book

• Gateways into Care – suitable for anyone acting in a Christian caring role both inside and outside the church

• Gateways into Prayer – an opportunity to widen and deepen our spirituality by learning together and through concentrating on listening and responding to God

• Gateways into Worship – the main United Reformed Church route to Assembly Accreditation as a Lay Preacher but also for anyone interested in worship

• Gods’ Jesters – inspiring and promoting the use of Performance Arts in worship

4.1.2. The new TLS LITE (Local Introductory Training Experiences) programme of local short courses is targeted for any who wish to undertake a programme of learning and assumes no prior study but it is especially targeted at those who wish to train for District/Area recognition as a lay preacher. It has been developed at the request of the United Reformed Church’s Lay Preaching Support Committee. It was launched in June 2003. Unlike TLS standard courses (which start every September) LITE courses can spring up at any time of the year whenever they are locally organised. Three courses are currently available (‘Introductory Course’, ‘Getting to grips with the Bible’ and ‘Leading Worship’) with take-up as in March 2004 of around 180 course members in 11 Synods. 70 of these people had already registered for a second short course making a total of over 250 registrations in the first 9 months. 2 new courses will be available this year – ‘God’s Word for Today’ (Preaching) and ‘Talking about God’ (Theology).

4.1.3 The development of LITE (Local Introductory Training Experiences) is an exciting if unpredictable development. TLS has tended to encourage people to undertake the standard courses. However the Training Committee seeks to supply the training needs which the church requests. The Lay Preaching Strategy Proposal adopted by assembly in 2002 included this recommendation to Districts/Areas: ‘Identify training programmes appropriate to different people at different stages of experience and development which could be delivered by district or in co-operation with synod training officers or ecumenical partners. (Assembly Reports 2002 2.3.3 page 69). The Training Committee has provided LITE as a serious option to meet this need and as a way of indicating a standard for locally delivered training.

4.1.4 The take up of LITE is as stated above and is encouraging. However there is indication that it may change the shape of TLS. There is a smaller expression of interest in TLS standard courses for September 2004. This may be because there is a bow wave of initial interest in LITE and a backlog of people looking for something more locally deliverable. The balance of take up between LITE and the standard courses may settle in the near future. It may also be the case that our best hopes may be realised and those who undertake LITE as an accessible first step in theological education may so have their appetites whetted that they embark on standard TLS thereafter.

4.1.5. LITE is not intended nor able to be a resource sufficient to support a sustained ministry of lay preaching. We hope that Districts/Areas and Synods will work with TLS in encouraging people who undertake LITE (and people can of course still start straight away on the TLS standard courses if they wish – LITE is not a compulsory prerequisite) to take further their interest in learning into the more developed TLS standard courses.

4.1.6 In any event we are delighted that this locally deliverable training is being taken up and we will seek to both monitor and develop this provision.

4.2 Learning Standards

A TLS Standards Board has been established and is now operational. This makes completion certificate awards and oversees the quality of material and delivery. To our delight, TLS was nominated for a 2003 New Learning Opportunities Award. Editorial Boards have been set up for each course and have completed their reviews of courses delivered in 2002-3. The Foundation and Gateways into Worship courses have been completely revised and re-written since we bought the copyright from the Scottish Churches Open College in 2000-1. First full deliveries will complete by June 2004. Difficulties were experienced in the delivery of some of the new Foundation Course material in the academic year 2002/2003 but these teething troubles have been addressed and proper revisions undertaken.

4.2.1 In conjunction with the University of Wales (Bangor) – who validate TLS, an Examination Board has been set up for TLS students who opt to study for a Certificate and Diploma of Higher Education in Contextual Theology. Currently 66 course members (out of 144) are registered for this option. An External Examiner nominated by United Reformed Church and appointed by the University has delivered her first report.

4.3 Teaching Standards

Weekend tutors are closely monitored by student assessment and local tutors are invited to annual training sessions held regionally. We are always looking for suitable people to teach and encourage TLS course members on standard or LITE courses. We urge local churches to seek out and help us train those who have tutoring talents – lay or ordained, old or young.

4.4 New Courses

We are developing a ‘Community Experience’ suite of 3 courses at the request of General Assembly 2002 and in conjunction with Ministries Committee and the CRCW community. This will be available at 3 levels of learning relating to experience of serving and interest in training. It is targeted for availability in September 2005.

4.4.1 We have been able to engage in this project relatively speedily because the United Reformed Church already has a recognised community work ministry and ready partners with whom TLS can work in developing training modules. However, we are also conscious of the request from Assembly 2002 to develop a course on evangelism. Although the ministry of individual evangelists is currently being identified in a variety of situations by the Life and Witness Committee, they advise us that there is as yet no ‘across the board recognition’ of any one style of evangelist which might lead to the development of a TLS module. Nevertheless, the Secretaries for Training and Life and Witness are exploring an ecumenical training course in evangelism with our counterparts in the Methodist Church. Representation from the TLS community will figure in these discussions.

4.5 Wider Involvement

We remain responsive to approaches and requests from all parts of the United Reformed Church and outside. ‘Experiencing Faith’, the one-year course developed in conjunction with the Inter-Faith Relations Committee and now in its first year of delivery is one such response. The Community Experience suite is another. The request from Ministries for training ideas for District Lay Preaching Recognition has led to the development of TLS LITE – a robust response which is producing a programme of locally delivered courses entirely relevant to mission in context.

4.5.2 The Training Committee’s involvement in the Church of England’s Formation for Ministry within a Learning Church (HIND) implementation groups (see paragraphs 8.1. for further information on Hind), working on the implications of ecumenical Regional Training for all, ensures that the process is fully aware of what the United Reformed Church has to offer by way of lay and lay preacher training.

4.6 Management

The United Reformed Church TLS Management Group, with course member representation and ecumenical observers, operates as a sub-committee of the Training Committee. It has continued to meet quarterly, setting policy and overseeing implementation of the Programme. We note that 149 completion certificates have been awarded over two years and that this includes 39 new Lay Preachers.

4.6.1 We offer our thanks to Course Managers and to the 15 Regional Organisers/Administrators, 108 Local Tutors, 47 weekend tutors, 28 markers and around 600 members of Support Networks involved with TLS over the last two years. We also thank the United Reformed Church Communications and Editorial Committee for layout and for the production of 5,070 volumes of bound material.

4.6.2 The Committee is in correspondence with the Communications and Editorial Committee over the use TLS makes of the United Reformed Church Bookshop.

4.7 Personnel

David A L Jenkins retires from the Programme Coordinator role this summer and we acknowledge with deep thanks the results of a monumental piece of work for the United Reformed Church in guiding and nurturing TLS to its present point of development. It has been a gift to the church of incalculable value. To reiterate and reinforce some of the statistics above, in the 9 years he has been co-ordinator there have been 617 course members enrolled for courses, over 2,000 members of support networks, 226 local tutors, 98 tutors on residential weekends, 25 people serving as regional organisers or administrators, 33 as academic markers. There have been 236 residential weekends organised (which by the way have raised £12,500 for good causes through their weekend offertories). 92 course units have been written under United Reformed Church sponsorship. £70,000 worth (price list) of text books have been purchased by course members and David has travelled 183,000 miles in his car on TLS business. His energy, dedication and skill have taken a project, established by the Scottish Churches Open College and rooted it successfully in the United Reformed Church. It has grown and flowered under his care as a dynamic lay training programme and it is proving increasingly flexible in offering training in different fields and at different levels. This is in very large part due to David’s indefatigable energy, tireless capacity to work and commitment to the programme and its worth. He is an administrator par excellence with great attention to detail, a teacher of skill, a dedicated pastor, an organiser and educator and the church has benefited hugely from the generosity of his life and service in this capacity amongst us.

4.7.1 We are glad that both David and Jill Jenkins are willing to continue to serve as weekend tutor and Course Manager (of Care and Prayer) respectively for the time being.

4.7.2. In acknowledgement of the increase in work as TLS has grown, the scope of both the Administrator and the One-year Course Co-ordinator positions has been increased. The whole team looks forward to working with the Revd Stanley Jackson who takes over as the new full time Co-ordinator on September 1st . Stanley is a Methodist minister currently the Director of the Open Learning Centre at Cliff College (part time) as well as being an RE teacher and school chaplain. He was previously Head of Consultancy and Training at the Bible Society. The appointment is subject to formal concurrence by the Methodist Church. In his hands we know that TLS will continue to Train all who are called to Learn more in order to Serve God better in the church and in the world.

Resolution 35: Revd D A L Jenkins

General Assembly acknowledges the enormous debt that it owes to the Revd David A L Jenkins for his services to Training for Learning and Serving offered over the past 9 years and on his retirement from this post records its gratitude to him.

5.1 The Committee heard of the decision by the Scottish Churches Open College (SCOC) to close as from December 2003. This has been essentially to do with SCOC’s economic dependence on the Church of Scotland whose own financial crises had resulted in them withdrawing their funding from SCOC. This has been felt by the Synod of Scotland as little short of a tragedy because of the loss of SCOC’s provision of innovative lay training. The Committee believes that SCOC has demonstrated creativity and quality of educational output. It also brought TLS to birth. The Education Committee of the Synod of Scotland is dealing with the repercussions of this situation and working ecumenically towards establishing lay training provision in the future whilst currently drawing support from TLS.

6. YOUTH AND CHILDRENS WORK TRAINING PROGRAMME

6.1 The Training Committee’s role towards the Youth and Children’s Work Programme has changed since the Committee last reported to Assembly. Until Assembly 2003 its role was of oversight of the programme. Since that date the oversight responsibility has passed to the Youth and Children’s Work Committee with Training retaining an advisory capacity.

6.2 Assembly 2002 asked the Training Committee to consider and implement the recommendations in the Youth Review which related to ministerial training. The committee has had conversations with Youth & Children’s Work committee about these matters and been furnished with the results of a YCW survey of training institutions used by the United Reformed Church. The Committee considered that the results indicated a situation where reasonable attention was being given to these issues in ministerial training. However, the committee has subsequently written to the colleges and courses that we use, quoting the Assembly inspection criteria that were laid down in 1995 and which include reference to youth and children’s work in initial ministerial training.

6.3 The Continuing Ministerial Education Sub Committee of the Training Committee has also been pleased to receive a draft CME module on Youth and Children’s work that had been written for use with ministers by two of the Youth and Children’s Work Training Officers. The committee has been pleased to agree that (with certain suggested amendments or additions) this was a good basis for a Post Ordination Education and Training weekend. It is intended to schedule this in the programme that begins in the autumn of 2004.

6.4 Prior to Assembly 2003 the Committee had oversight of the processes whereby synods were reviewing or appointing Youth and Children’s Work Trainers. The committee has been happy to confirm the re appointment of Mick Maskell as Yorkshire Youth and Children’s Work Trainer, to agree the appointment of Andrew Mickelfield in Wessex and to support the Southern and Wessex synods in the review and re-appointment of Howard Nurden and Stephen Collins respectively.

6.5 At Assembly 2003 a consultation was held and chaired by the then Training Committee convenor John Proctor. This involved representatives of the Youth and Children’s Work Committee, the Training Committee and representatives of the synods who are not currently part of the YCWT programme.

6.6 One of the final acts of oversight responsibility of the Training Committee has been to re-write the Youth and Children’s Work Trainers Staff Development Policy Document. This work was done by John Proctor after extensive consultation. It is a foundational document in the running of the programme and the revised work was published early in 2004. The Committee is grateful to John for the extensive work he did on this revision.

7. PRE ORDINATION OR COMMISSIONING TRAINING FOR MINISTRY

7.1 Church Related Community Workers

7.1.2 It is the policy of the Training Committee to train all CRCWs at Northern College, a member of the Partnership for Theological Education, Manchester. The appointment of Revd Dr Husselbee to Northern College in the summer of 2001 with special responsibility for the Community Work training programme has been a significant step in the development of this unique course in Christian ministry.

7.1.3 She took over at a point when, due to the collapse of the local training scheme on which the course relied for professional validation, the future was entirely uncertain. Through considerable effort, and over some time, this has now been satisfactorily resolved through the English Standards Board, a recognised Government agency, so that students now completing the Diploma in the Faith in Living course of the Manchester Theological Partnership, including the community work components, are also credited with a nationally recognised qualification in Community Work. It is hoped that this programme will shortly by available to degree level.

7.1.4 At the same time the course has been shaped to meet the core competencies recently agreed by the Church Related Community Work Programme Sub Committee in discussion with the Training Committee.

7.1.5 While, at the moment, there are few students taking up this avenue of training there is the prospect of one or two new students this coming autumn and the course is now poised to be able to offer an ecumenically based resource for a wider clientele.

7.1.6 There are also plans afoot to offer courses in community work and community participation through Training for Learning and Serving and TLS LITE (Local Introductory Training Experiences), starting in 2005. This is referred to in the TLS part of the report.

7.1.7 Professor Paul Ballard, a Training Committee member, has been able to act as the link between the Training Committee and the Course Tutor in Manchester strengthening lines of communication and offering appropriate support.

7.2 Ministers of Word and Sacrament

The Hind Report

7.2.A1 All of the training of ministers which we undertake is ecumenically arranged whether:

• part-time training on ecumenical courses (which are usually strongly Church of England in terms of student and staff numbers);

• at an ecumenical foundation such as at Queen’s Birmingham;

• in the Cambridge Theological Federation, of which Westminster College is a part;

• in the Partnership for Theological Education, Manchester of which Northern College is a part;

• in Mansfield College, Oxford where training is in partnership with Regent's Park Baptist College and under the umbrella relationships of the Oxford Partnership for Theological Education;

• through the Scottish College where students are placed in that country’s major universities.

For the institutions in England to some degree or another the Church of England is a major player in the relationships that deliver our training.

7.2.A2 It is for these reasons that news that the Church of England is reconfiguring its theological education is more than just information about the work of another church with whom we have close relations. It is rather news of a process which is bound to impact on us considerably. As reported two years ago, the Secretary for Training was invited to join the process (then called the Structure and Funding of Ordination and Training ‘SFOT’ or more commonly ‘Hind’ after the surname of its chairman, John Hind) shortly after he had taken up post and as the group was moving towards producing its interim report.

7.2.A3 The process was already ecumenical in that the Methodist Church had had a representative from the outset. The Church of England also wrote to a number of other denominations inviting them to share in the process. The Churches Together in England coordinating group ‘Ecumenical Strategy Group for Ministerial Training’ which has wide ecumenical membership, was also fully informed of these developments and discussed them, thus keeping other churches in the picture.

7.2.A4 The Training Committee responded to the interim report in 2002. They noted that the report was seeking to deal with many problems that were also problems for the United Reformed Church and whilst offering various points that reflected some United Reformed Church concerns generally warmed to the developments the Church of England were unfolding.

7.2.A5 In the summer of 2003 the General Synod of the Church of England, with one or two amendments, agreed to adopt this report as policy. It has since then become known as ‘Formation for Ministry within a Learning Church’. Anyone interested in it can view it at www.cofe.anglican.org – then click ‘papers’ and ‘ordination training’.

In brief, these are some of the essential points:

• it grew out of a number of previous Church of England publications including ‘Managing Planned Growth’;

• it was originally grounded in a financial concern for the cost of training but took on a wider brief to consider what is the best possible training the church currently requires;

• originally a Church of England report (and they still are the lead body) it was slow to pick up ecumenical steam but it was never without ecumenical representation and the ecumenical aspect of it is now well developed;

• lt originates in Church of England so its immediate impact is only in one of the nations in which the United Reformed Church exists – England;

• it was originally focussed on ordination training but it has broadened its remit considerably to include concern for all training, lay and ordained.

7.2.A6 Its central concerns included two faultlines that it felt were unhelpful in the life of the church:

• between pre ordination training and post ordination training. It felt that there was a lack of cohesiveness and coordination in these provisions either side of ordination;

• between the training for those working towards the ordained ministry and those wanting formal education for a range of lay ministries.

7.2.A7 Other concerns included:

• coordinating adult education provision in the church in a way which includes all training;

• addressing the small number of students at some institutions;

• creating new structures that could be developed with ecumenical partners.

7.2.A8 In seeking to deal with these concerns the report suggested these strategies:

• re-configuring of initial training to be the period from entry into training to the end of the first training post (in United Reformed Church terms to the end of post ordination education and training) – this is a foundational principle of the report;

• the establishment of Regional Training Partnerships (RTPs) – for ordained and lay training. These partnerships are to be of colleges and courses, Church of England Diocese, Methodist Districts and United Reformed Church Synods. They are to be responsible for all the training in a region;

• the establishment of a framework for learning which is flexible and coherent;

• the creation of a programme or framework of learning for lay people generally called Education for Discipleship and developments of Church of England Reader training;

• savings in finance were not targeted directly – but there is rather an aim to keep finances stable whilst money is raised to fund new lay training initiatives. The stability is found by proposed efficiencies and the use of IT in RTPs and some reduction in residential places.

This is a very brief reflection of the report and is intended only as a taster. Readers who want to know more should consult the published documentation. The points above may however help however to indicate the direction of the policy.

7.2.A9 After the General Synod of 2003 the Church of England led the way in setting up an implementation process but invited the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church to be full partners in that implementation process. The Training Committee responded to that invitation positively. It is hoped that implementation will be delivered in a rolling programme up to 2007.

7.2.A10 In order to organise the implementation a number of groups have been established with particular responsibilities. The first one was the group that was to decide the boundaries for the Regional Training Partnerships. Its work was completed by Easter 2004 – but after this report was written. The Training Committee invited John Waller to represent it on this group and is grateful for the service he has afforded us. The process has heard United Reformed Church concerns and needs and we believe that the outcomes will afford us the best chance possible to be involved in these partnerships.

7.2.A11 Other groups have been inaugurated or are in the process of being established in the next few months. At the time of writing these are the United Reformed Church representatives:

• Parameters for the Curriculum – Revd Dr Janet Tollington;

• Financial framework – Revd Roy Lowes Secretary for Training;

• Education for Discipleship and Reader training – Revd David A L Jenkins;

• Post Ordination Training – The Secretary for Training;

• Research – yet to be appointed – will begin next September;

• Steering Group – The Secretary for Training.

7.2.A12 Others will be drawn into this process. The representatives listed above, including the Revd John Waller and the General Secretary, have also had one meeting chaired by the Secretary for Training, to coordinate our understanding of the process and liaise over our relationship to these groups. At least one further meeting is planned.

7.2.A13 It is important to relate that the Training Committee is keeping a number of matters in mind as this process unfolds:

• that any firm policy decisions on training within the United Reformed Church will be taken by Assembly 2005 after it has debated the proposals of the Training Review;

• that nevertheless, the Training Committee cannot stand idly by and be separate from the Church of England process until then as its impact on the United Reformed Church is considerable. Rather, the Training Committee is warmly welcoming the invitation to be involved in the implementation process and is doing what it can within its resources to ensure that the United Reformed Church is able to be involved it in as fully as it can be;

• the Secretary for Training has attempted to keep Synod Moderators, Training Officers, colleges, courses and Mission Council appraised of developments and encouraged their involvement in the process;

• that secretaries of other committees are also aware of developments and to that end two meetings in the last year have been arranged for the Secretary for Training to speak to fellow officers of Ministries, Life and Witness, Ecumenical and Youth and Children's Work committees;

• that we are fully aware that this process is in England only. The Committee is arranging a meeting with representatives of the synods of Wales and Scotland and the Scottish College to ensure that their needs and ecumenical arrangements are fully taken into account as it conducts its Review and relates to the Church of England process.

Other Matters

7.2.B1 As indicated in our 2002 report we are responsible for overseeing the structures by which ministers are supported in training. The consultation referred to two years ago (with synod moderators and college and course staff) was completed and a document ‘Oversight and Care of candidates for Ministry’ was published in the summer of 2003 and circulated to synod moderators, training institutions and students. It is hoped that this will clarify the process by which candidates and students are cared for and given oversight. The Committee is grateful for the work that John Proctor, convener to summer 2003, put into this process.

7.2.B2 Since last summer further conversations have been held which focus on the situation of these who have completed training but who are not yet in pastoral charge. This is not a Training Committee responsibility but it is a matter about which the Training Committee is concerned. It has been part of the discussions and the paper above has helped to frame the deliberations.

7.2.B3.1 The Training Committee continues to play its part in the ecumenical processes of validating and inspecting the colleges and courses that we use for the training of ministers of Word and Sacrament and church related community work.

7.2.B3.2 At the time of writing an Inspection on the Cambridge Theological Federation Education in Cambridge (which includes Westminster College) is coming to an end and an inspection of the North East Ecumenical Course is in progress. Inspections have recently been completed on the Oxford Partnership for Theological Education and Training (which includes Mansfield College and the St Alban’s and Oxford Ministry Course), on St Michael’s College, Llandaff, Cardiff (including the South Wales Ordination Course) a follow up report on the East Midlands Ministry Training Course and a validation process on the South East Institute for Theological Education. Many of these have not yet reached the stage of being placed before the Training Committee but where they and earlier ones have been, the committee has been pleased to agree our continued use of these institutions.

7.2.B4 The Secretary for Training represents the committee on the Educational Validation Panel and the Inspectors Working Party both of which groups, though led by the Church of England, are ecumenical.

7.2.B5 The committee is grateful for the services of those United Reformed Church members who are prepared to serve in inspections and validation processes. It was pleased that the Church of England ran training days for Inspectors earlier in the year at which the United Reformed Church was represented.

7.2.B6 The committee was pleased to note the setting up of the Ecumenical Validation Board in Wales and to offer any support deemed useful to the national synod in this work.

7.2.B7 Ministers may undertake research in a range of ways including part time through Continuing Ministerial Education. Sometimes ministers or students in training are supported in this work (to a greater or lesser degree) by the Training Committee.

7.2.B8 In the last three years Rachel Poolman has used a United Reformed Church Scholarship to study for a doctorate through Birmingham University, a process which she hopes to complete this year. Doug Gay has taken advantage of the Millennium Bursary Fund offered by the Congregational and General Charitable Trust and is in his second year of study in Edinburgh.

7.2.B9 Meanwhile Suzanne McDonald and Romilly Micklem, both students at Westminster College until last summer have embarked on research at St Andrews and Heythrop College respectively, supported by the Training Committee.

7.2.B10.1 Sarah Hall, completing an internship year at Mansfield, has been awarded her doctorate from Edinburgh University and Kathy White hers from Anglia Polytechnic University. Congratulations to both.

7.2.B10.2 We also wish well others engaged in research with whom the Committee has dealt in recent years and who continue with their studies: John Bradbury, Kirsty Ann Burroughs and Julian Templeton.

8. CONTINUING MINISTERIAL EDUCATION

8.1 The Post Ordination Education and Training Review

8.1.1 The Committee had been conscious that the immediate post-ordination or commissioning period in a Minister’s (of Word and Sacrament or Church Related Community Work) formation was a critical one. It is a time in which pre-service learning is tested in the practical environment and in which both familiar and new areas are (re-)visited in a significantly new context. It is a testing time, in which the new minister meets a number of challenges and ought to have support for his or her learning, as well as pastoral support.

8.1.2 The programme has been a mixture of URC-wide courses, synod events and support and facilitation by a pastoral adviser. These opportunities for sharing in learning and reflection can play an important role in the person’s development. The Committee was aware however of a level of criticism, perhaps most significantly of criticism of the United Reformed Church wide programme.

8.1.3 A review group was established and this section reflects the consideration of its report in CME Sub-Committee and in the full Training Committee. The group’s work was conducted with full awareness of ecumenical developments in this field, not least with regard to the ‘Formation for Ministry within a Learning Church’ taking shape within the Church of England.

8.1.4 The Training committee has approved the principal conclusions namely:

8.1.4.1 On balance, the review group’s survey of POET participants and others indicated a broad satisfaction with the URC-wide programme of courses. There was however evidence of significant criticism of some courses and at times of serious weaknesses. This has led to the conclusion that there has to be consistent dedicated support for this element in the programme particularly in order to ensure that the programme maintains high standards organisationally, in the briefing and support of tutors and in quality assurance. The Training Committee therefore moved to the creation of a 0.5 post to undertake these duties and we are pleased to report that the Revd Betsy Gray-King has been appointed. (Betsy works in an Oxford social enterprise and serves as an NSM at Brill URC. She has supervised the placement of students and tutored in worship, preaching and spirituality at Mansfield College, Oxford. She has also co- led weekends in the POET programme and she has been programme co-ordinator for the Theology and Ministry Across Cultures exchange programme run in conjunction with the United Reformed Church’s World Church Programme.)

8.1.4.2 Our commitment to the idea and practice of lifelong learning has called us to see ministerial education holistically. We believe that different stages in that continuing education process have had tendencies to fragmentation and therefore to problems of apparent incoherence, repetition and gaps. Our view is therefore that the whole of ministerial education from pre-service training on should be configured into a single framework with recognised phases of:

• pre-ordination/commissioning (1),

• immediate post-ordination/commissioning for three years (2) and

• subsequent on-going ministerial education and training (3).

8.1.4.3 While we believe that it would be unrealistic and possibly undesirable to attempt to specify a single curriculum for phases 1 and 2, the Committee proposes to facilitate conversations with interested parties to clarify common core curricular elements. Transfer between phases would be facilitated by the development of a portfolio process which would serve both to inform a “receiving” educational provider and to act as a reflective tool for the student/ minister. We believe it to be important that the learning programmes are flexible and responsive to the experience and needs of individual learners.

8.1.4.4 The importance of phase 2 requires that it be underpinned by appropriate support. At present, the role of pastoral adviser can be a most significant one. We see this continuing and indeed being enhanced by strengthening the support of pastoral advisers themselves, by ensuring that they are well-informed as to the learning dimension of their work with ministers and by encouraging the minister-pastoral adviser conversation as a space in which learning can be more effectively planned and reflected upon. At present, pre-ordination/commissioning students are under the care of their “sending” synod and thereafter as ministers of Word and Sacrament /CRCWs, of their districts/areas. To ensure the desired continuity in learning development, we propose that in phase 2 ministers’ learning should be in the care of the synod in which they are working.

8.1.4.5 To make communication and understanding of the process simpler and easier we propose the removal of the titles Continuing Ministerial Education (CME), Pre-ordination training, Post-Ordination Education and Training (POET), and Ongoing Education and Training (ONET). In their place we propose Education for Ministry, phases 1, 2 and 3 to respectively cover Pre-ordination, Post-ordination and Continuing Ministerial Education.

8.1.4.6 The Sub-Committee is now working on the further implementation of the recommendations of this review. (Please refer to the diagram to see a map of the process regarding Education for Ministry Phase 2 (currently Post Ordination Education and Training)

Education for Ministry

Phase 2 Flow chart

8.2 Continuing Ministerial Education grants

8.2.1 It is good that there continues to be an upward movement in uptake of grants and learning opportunities under the CME programme. The level of financial provision that the United Reformed Church makes is an affirmation of the value that the Church places on those in ministry and on the importance of lifelong learning and continuous development. Such evidence as is available points to more participants, to improved guidance in decision-making and to more extensive involvement. The CME Sub-Committee is endeavouring to improve the quality of intelligence available to it about trends in order more effectively to plan for the future. There continues to be discussion of a number of issues, e.g. the balance between personally focused learning programmes and activities of a more corporate nature.

8.2.2 The last two years have seen a change in the way in which grants are provided to more efficiently and effectively enable the church to comply with best financial practices.

8.2.3 The Committee has also kept in touch with synods over its financial support of their ministers schools. Further work will need to be done to produce the best possible system but interim measures are currently ensuring appropriate levels of funding provision.

8.3 Sabbaticals

8.3.1 The CME Sub-Committee considered the resolution of General Assembly 2003 asking that they reconsider the restriction on ministers over the age of 60 undertaking sabbaticals. The Training Committee has agreed with the CME Sub-Committee’s recommendation that we rescind this rule bearing in mind the following factors:

• The importance of equal opportunities for serving ministers whatever their age

• The fact that a number of ministers continue to serve the church in retirement

• The fact that both the Training Committee and CME Sub-Committee had earlier considered rescinding this rule. Concern to let the CME programme bed down before making any alterations – and then changes of staff in the Training and CME offices had delayed action.

8.4 Making it work

The Sub-Committee is keen not only to encourage participation in continuing education but also to help participants to maximise their learning and make best use of the range of opportunities available. It has published and circulated a guidance booklet Making it Work, aimed at encouraging ministers to engage in a positive process of planning and reflection.

Resolution 36: Sabbaticals

General Assembly resolves to rescind the following restriction on Ministers undertaking a sabbatical after the age of 60. ‘…Ministers are offered…a sabbatical term of up to three months.... but not after the age of 60. A…two month sabbatical will be available… between the ages of 60 and 63’ (CME ‘Learning for Life Leaflet’ 2001, page 4). Applications will now be processed as with most CME requests, via the synod-training officer who will assess the proposal.

Resolution 37: Education for Ministry

a) General Assembly agrees that all training for Ministers & CRCWs be reconfigured in a single framework called Education for Ministry (EM) in three phases with initial ministerial training as EM 1, Post Ordination Education Commissioning and Training as EM 2 and Continuing Ministerial Education as EM 3.

b) Assembly agrees that Education for Ministry 1 and 2 be reconfigured as a coherent programme, with the learning of Ministers of Word and Sacrament and Church Related Community Workers in EM 2 remaining under the care of Synods and the Continuing Ministerial Education sub Committee until the completion of EM 2.

c) Assembly welcomes the review of the POET Programme and the implications for the development of POET as spelt out in the text of the Training Committee’s Report.

9. FINANCE

9.1 The budget is dominated by the cost of training full-time students for stipendiary ministry. Having fewer students reduces the amount paid in maintenance grants but this is offset by rising college costs. Fees to the colleges are effectively determined by the range of courses to which the Church is committed and not by the number of students.

9.2 The success of both “Training for Learning and Serving” and “Continuing Ministerial Education” makes these significant and increasing costs. For CME in particular there is a financial commitment well beyond the current take-up but a pattern of applications is emerging which gives some confidence in forecasting.

9.3 The Sub-Committee has considered a wide range of hardship claims from students. It has been evident that there is an ever-increasing variety in the personal circumstances of students and the courses they undertake. This means that there will always be some students whose needs are not met by the standard grants and the Sub-Committee seeks to address each situation on its merits.

9.4 The Finance Sub-Committee is concerned to ensure that candidates for ordained or commissioned ministry have proper and appropriate financial counselling as they approach training. They have inaugurated conversations with and offered support to the Ministries Committee to ensure that a more developed process is established.

9.5 It is increasingly clear that grant rules that were introduced in the past to solve problems are now causing anomalies, particularly in the area of housing costs. A process has been initiated to simplify and revise the rules.

9.6 The Finance Sub-Committee has embarked on exploring the financial implications of the various pathways identified in the Training Review.

10. MISCELLANEOUS

10.1 General Assembly 2002 asked the Training Committee to evaluate and review training materials already available within the church, with a view to producing materials that could be more widely used to assist representatives to understand their roles within the various councils of the church. Whilst the committee has considered this issue time has not yet been found to pursue this work in any detail.

10.2 Regular consultations have been held with Synod Training Officers regarding Synod managed student placements (800 hours) for those students for the ministry who have been training on part time courses.

10.3 On behalf of the Committee the convener, John Humhreys, last autumn attended a consultation in South Africa organised by the Council for World Mission. The meeting, one of a series, was on training and mission issues and we await with interest the report from CWM on its response to the recommendations of the consultation.

10.4 The Secretary for Training convened a meeting of representatives from Life & Witness and Ecumenical Committees in producing a paper as a United Reformed Church response to the publication Presence and Prophesy. This book from Churches Together in Britain and Ireland promotes mission as a controlling and coordinating priority in the ordering and organising of church strategy and theological education. The United Reformed Church response has been submitted to Churches Together in Britain and Ireland and was scheduled to be discussed together with other ecumenical responses, in April 2004.

11. PERSONNEL

11.1 There are many people who in many ways are involved in tutoring and training across the church, many known, many not known to us. We offer here our public debt of gratitude to them for the work that they do to the church’s great benefit.

11.2 Most especially though here we offer gratitude for the ministry of John Proctor on the Training Committee. His four years as convener of the Committee came to an end at Assembly 2003 and also marked the end of a period of ten years of committee service. His thorough attention to detail, his grasp of complex issues and ability to communicate them with clarity, his knowledge of and experience in the theological education field and the policy of the committee were harnessed to a care and consideration for people and processes in a way which provided a ministry amongst us of unusual competence, clarity and very real Christian care. We are much relieved that that ministry continues in his work at Westminster College and in other ways in the life of the church. A meal was held during the Committee’s September gathering in Cambridge to thank John for his work. John and his wife Elaine were there and the General Secretary spoke and expressed the church’s appreciation of John’s work.

11.3 It is also a mark of the speed with which anno domini proceeds that as well as John Proctor this year we record the completion of service on the committee of Dr Graham Campling and Revd Carole Ellefsen Jones (though the latter has been asked to continue on the committee by invitation until 2004 due to her work as convener of the TLS Management Group), Revd Dr John Parry, Revd Professor Paul Ballard and Mrs Anthea Coates. This amount of experience, gifts and knowledge leaving us feels like something of a cold draft and we thank them all for the work that they have done not only in attending and contributing wisely and effectively to meetings but in various other ways outside of our gatherings.

11.4 The chill of the cold draft referred to above is warmed by the presence of talented and able new committee members whom we have welcomed in the last two years: Mrs Susan Brown, Revd Sue Henderson, Revd Malachie Munyaneza, Mrs Valerie Burnham and Dr Ian Morrison. Most particularly is this true of the committee’s new convener John Humphreys who took up the reins in 2003. John’s insightful, experienced presence and calm and careful hand on the tiller is already proving of great benefit to our deliberations.

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