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Reports from Colleges

Mansfield College Ministerial
Training Course

1. Inspection

1.1 Last year we could report to Assembly only the provisional findings of the ecumenical inspection of the ministerial training course. We are now pleased to report the following points.

1.2 The inspectors recognised the results of the considerable amount of development that has gone on in the past few years in the ministerial training course delivered jointly by Mansfield College and Regent’s Park College.

1.3 The inspectors were impressed by the excellence of the Bachelor and Master of Theology degrees as demanding courses for ordinands and ministers. The tutorial method of teaching was commended for its flexibility, high expectations and supportiveness.

1.4 The inspectors recommended that Mansfield College should continue to be recognised for initial ministerial training by its sponsoring churches (the United Reformed Church and the Congregational Federation); should develop further its commitment to theological education; and should expand its Masters studies programmes in theology for Continuing Ministerial Education.

1.5 The inspectors noted the small numbers of ordinands at Mansfield College and recognise that this is a cause for real concern.

1.6 The staff and ordinands at Mansfield College are rightly encouraged by the points made by the inspectors, but share their concern about low numbers of ordinands. Regarding the last point, we recognise that it is only because of our combining with the larger number of Regent’s Park College ordinands that we are able to have viable student cohorts in year groups.

2. Ordinands

2.1 While the number of ordinands in training are fewer than we would like (currently 6), we are impressed with the quality of our ordinands expressed in the following ways: in the sacrifices made in order to pursue their vocation; in their commitment to training and thirst for theological learning; in their close fellowship as a United Reformed Church contingent and also with their Baptist colleagues. At the end of the last academic year the following ordinands were awarded their leaving certificates, and have been ordained and inducted:

2.2 Alan Seymour to Folkestone and Hythe (Southern Synod), Sheena Dickson to South Oxhey (Thames North Synod), Assistant Chaplain to Mansfield College, and Assistant Chaplain to Campsfield Reception Centre, Oxford, and Dr Sarah Hall to St Andrew’s, Sheffield (Yorkshire Synod).

3. Postgraduate Study

We are pleased to report that we currently have 6 students taking the Master of Theology in Applied Theology. Five of these are studying part-time, three of whom are United Reformed Church ministers. One, The Revd Florence Tache Che from the Presbyterian Church of Cameroon, is studying full time. This is an excellent course for rigorous theological reflection on pastoral practice. We would encourage ministers and others to contact us for further information on this course if they are interested in applying to study.

4. Staff

Teaching staff continue to be active in research alongside teaching commitments. 

Walter Houston, Director of Ministerial Training and Chaplain Fellow in Old Testament, took a sabbatical from January to April in order to write his book on Social Justice in the Old Testament. John Muddiman, G B Caird Fellow in New Testament, is currently writing a book on Pseudepigraphy in the New Testament, and has been commissioned to write a monograph on Galatians, and a book on Mark’s Gospel and Mission.

Julian Templeton, Assistant Director of Ministerial Training, is in the process of submitting a PhD thesis comparing the theological realism of Bonhoeffer and TF Torrance.

Peggy Morgan, Tutor in the Study of Religion, is currently preparing a second enlarged edition of Ethical Issues in Six Religious Traditions for Edinburgh University Press.

Staff are often willing to speak at ministers’ summer schools and other events out of term time.

5. College and Chapel Life

Those undertaking initial and continuing ministerial education at Mansfield College do so as part of a multi-disciplinary college of the University of Oxford with a student body of 300 and a teaching staff of 30. They are part of the Middle Common Room and have their vocations tested as they eat, socialise and converse with students studying a range of subjects and holding a range of religious beliefs. Compared with many other Oxford colleges, Mansfield maintains a strong contingent studying theology (28), and maintains an active chapel life. During term time prayers are offered in the Chapel each morning. There is a once-a-week communion service and a Wednesday evening service to which visiting preachers are often invited. Undergraduates lead their own Sunday evening service. We believe that this combination of multi-disciplinary pluralism and regular Christian worship provides a challenging, stimulating and enriching environment in which to test and respond to the call of God to ministry.

6. Future hopes and challenges

Staff of the ministerial training course have been pleased to be consulted by the Training Committee about the emerging reconfiguration of training in the United Reformed Church. We realise that the gradual decline of conventional vocations poses particular challenges about the viability of ministerial training courses such as Mansfield’s. At the same time, we recognise that the vision of the Training Committee for educating the whole people of God presents us with particular opportunities.

6.1 We welcome the opportunity to play our part in the new integration and extension of lay education, and pre and post ordination education.

6.2 In addition to initial ministerial training, Mansfield is well-placed to host those who wish to continue their education by taking postgraduate qualifications in theology at the University of Oxford.

6.3 We are already in a partnership with other theological colleges in Oxford, sharing the same theological syllabus, and are willing to take our place in the emerging Regional Training Partnership.

6.4 We are also presently exploring being a ‘hub’ for those engaged in theological/ministerial research and discussion in the United Reformed Church in England.  Such a hub would require a funded Research Co-ordinator who would encourage networks of those engaged in various areas of research to communicate with each other and meet occasionally for seminars and conferences.

6.5 We are also hoping to build closer links with Synods in our area order to combine our resources and expertise in lay education.

6.6 However, with the equivalent of 2 half-time staff dedicated to ministerial training, finding time to engage in such ‘developmental’ work is difficult. We are therefore very grateful to members of Mansfield’s education and training committee who have made available additional time for this important work. Please pray for staff, ordinands, and committee members as we balance our present responsibilities with future possibilities.

Northern College (United Reformed and Congregational)

1.New Staff

1.1 The Partnership for Theological Education of which we are an integral part both in terms of buildings and of teaching programmes, began the 2004-2005 academic year with three new staff members. Revd Dr Andrew Pratt joined the staff of Hartley Victoria College (Methodist), Revd Dr Glenn Marshall joined the staff of Northern Baptist College and Revd Dr John Campbell joined the staff of Northern College as our new Principal. All three have brought their own particular skills and enthusiasm to add to our shared commitment to offering a diverse array of attractive and relevant theological education for the people of God.

1.2 In April 2004, Revd Graham Cook was appointed as Secretary to the Board of Governors of Northern College, in succession to Revd John Mitchell. We thank John for his work and welcome Graham.

1.3 At the end of 2004, Professor James O’Connell completed his period as the part-time President of the Partnership. As we go to press, the search for a new full-time President of the Partnership, who would also serve as Director of the Manchester Ecumenical College, is well advanced.

1.4 In the summer of 2005 Professor Clyde Binfield, who has served as President of the Northern College Governors since the formation of our new smaller Board of Governors and as a College Governor for nearly thirty years, will be stepping down as President. We want to acknowledge his commitment and particular gifts offered in our service. The governors have agreed that Revd Dr John Sutcliffe will take over the role of President in succession to Professor Binfield.

2. New Links

2.1 On behalf of the Partnership, we continue to explore closer links with the Windermere Centre and the Scottish College and also to investigate possibilities for closer co-operation with all the other colleges and courses used by the United Reformed Church. Our staff are also seeking appropriate ways to engage in continuing ministerial education, support for lay preachers and training and events open to all interested people in co-operation with the training programmes of the synods in the north of England and Wales.

2.2 During the course of the year our staff have shared in a range of training events outside Luther King House (from one-off days on worship and preaching to various ministers’ summer schools), in addition to the wide range of educational opportunities ‘in house’ in South Manchester.

3. New Ministries

Last year’s leaving students received calls to pastorates, as follows:

4. New Techniques

As in other colleges and courses, our programmes continue to evolve and develop. At present we are trialling a new package to help students, their placement supervisors and tutors to better assess each student’s personal and spiritual development for ministry – an important part of our work  where fair assessment is far harder to achieve than in the area of academic performance. We hope that this new tool will enable much more incisive and helpful discussions between students and those who supervise them about their personal development for ministry.

5. New Challenges

The uncertainties about the future of theological education in the United Reformed Church, where the process of review is taking place against a background of falling ministerial student numbers and the ongoing Hind process in which our denomination seeks to share with the Methodist Church and the Church of England, make for real uncertainty about the future role Northern College will play. However, as we wait for clearer indications of what is happening to us and around us, we continue to work to improve the quality and the range of what we do.  By all means, we want to continue to contribute to the theological education of the whole people of God as creatively and effectively as we possibly can.  We continue to take a deep delight in that challenge and remain very grateful for our particular calling.

The Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education

1.1 The Queen’s Foundation, comprising the Queen’s College, The West Midlands Ministerial Training Course and the Research Centre, continues to operate a unified centre for theological education and ministerial training. As a Foundation we are dedicated to excellence in theological education and formation for ministry in partnership with our sponsoring churches the Church of England, the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church. We believe that our ecumenical and theological diversity, together with our setting within the multi-ethnic and multi-faith city of Birmingham, and our relationship with the University of Birmingham, provides a rich and challenging resource for students to explore the distinctiveness of their own tradition and identity, as well as fostering lively dialogue and deep respect for the traditions of others.

1.2 The Foundation is an active partner in the emerging West Midlands Regional Training Partnership.  Practitioners in the region are working closely together to deepen our understanding of each other’s work, to start developing convergence in our activities, and to begin the complex task of designing new pathways and curricula for a range of educational, ministerial and training needs. The Church Leaders have given a positive lead in this process, including the Moderator of the West Midlands Synod. The experience of Queen’s in offering flexible pathways in various modes - full and part-time, residential and non-residential, helps us all in the region to be creative and innovative in our thinking and planning.

1.3 As part of our continual curriculum development we are offering a new MA in Ministry from September 2005. This has been designed specifically for United Reformed Church ministerial candidates in their internship year.  The MA focuses on reflective practice which helps to structure and deepen the experience of the internship. The programme can also be taken as a post-graduate diploma, so the majority of United Reformed Church candidates in training will be able to follow this pathway.

1.4  Discussions are also at an advanced stage with the sponsoring bodies of the United College of the Ascension (UCA) on the Selly Oak campus in Birmingham. The UCA is a mission college, whose work in recent years has embraced a wide range of ecumenical activities and interests globally and locally. Proposals are being developed to move the activities of the College from Selly Oak, and to develop a new Centre for mission studies in a global and ecumenical context within the Queen’s Foundation. All parties will consider these proposals in depth before the summer but, from Queen’s perspective, we hope that they will be fruitful. We believe that the presence of an international community of scholars and students will greatly enhance and enrich every aspect of ministerial education and formation at Queen’s.  We are confident that there is much to gain by the experience of worshipping, studying and living together.

2. Students

2.1       Recruitment has held up well in all areas of the Foundation, with approximately 140 students studying here. The proportion of students in each of the three ‘departments’ remains roughly equal, and of these students, 11 are members of the United Reformed Church, with 6 sponsored for training for ordained ministry, and 5 who are serving ministers undertaking in-service studies and research programmes.

2.2 As in previous years our Foundation life has been enriched by student exchange visits and by the presence of a number of research students from overseas. Our links with the Tamil Nadu Theological Seminary remain close, with exchanges operating between students and visiting scholars. Three students are undertaking a placement in Port Elizabeth in South Africa, and we look forward to welcoming two members of their community in the autumn. Last year a group of 10 students from Queen’s spent a week with the faculty at Leipzig, and this year we look forward to welcoming 10 students from the faculty at Queen’s for an intensive programme on Christianity and the Arts.

3. Staff

We have been delighted to welcome new members of staff to the Foundation. The Revd Dr Jane Wallman is a pastoral and practical theologian, bringing a wide range of ministerial and teaching experience in course and college. We are delighted to welcome Professor John Hull who joined our staff team at the beginning of the academic year having spent all his working life in the University of Birmingham. John’s expertise as an educationalist, his theological work on disability, and his track record in research strengthens the resources of the Foundation, and we are fortunate to have him as a colleague.

4. Research

The Research Centre flourishes with nearly 50 students, registered with the University of Birmingham in association with the Foundation, studying for a range of postgraduate degrees from MA to PhD.  Staff research also continues in the course of the busy life of the Foundation. Paula Gooder has published a commentary on the minor prophets; Nicola Slee has published Words for Today, a rich an exciting  collection of daily bible notes – and Praying like a Woman – a collection of prayers, poems, psalms, canticles, litanies, laments and creeds. Peter Kevern and Paula Gooder have published Exploring New Testament Greek – practical textbook for undergraduate students and serving ministers is specifically designed to teach the reader about New Testament Greek, and to enrich the readers understanding of Scripture. Andrew Chandler, Director of the George Bell institute which is based at Queen’s, has published Presences Felt – Encounters in a Lost Century, examining the realities of power and resistance in history, politics, biography and culture. Stephen Burns has published a Grove Booklet Welcoming Asylum Seekers and contributed a chapter ‘Forgiveness in Challenging Circumstances’ in Forgiveness in Context eds. Fraser Watts and Liz Gulliford.

5. Worship and Spirituality

Visiting president and preachers at Foundation services, in their sharing of our journey, enhance our spirituality and deepen and challenge our faith. Worship, together as a Foundation, and separately as College and Course communities, lies at the heart of our life. In an ecumenical context we welcome the challenge of drawing deeply on the traditions and best practices of each participating Church, attending to places of convergence and difference which are often not located on denominational lines, and working hard to explore new patterns of worship that serve churches committed to working and worshipping ecumenically. We have been privileged to receive a wide range of visiting preachers and speakers, including among others Dr David Cornick, Ian Randall (Spurgeon’s College), Sue Hope (Anglican Renewal Ministries), Inderjit Bhogal (Urban Theology Unit), Fr Gerard Hughes, and Esther de Waal, Sr Benedicta Ward.

6. Future directions

This is a critical time for all the churches’ training institutions. We are confident that the Foundation is well placed to serve the churches and to respond to new challenges and opportunities. We value highly the integral place of the United Reformed Church in the Foundation and welcome new opportunities to develop this relationship further.

Westminster College

1. Working together in Cambridge

1.1 How do we prepare people to minister in the Church that is coming into being rather than the Church of twenty years ago? This has been a fundamental question as the Cambridge Theological Federation has been working on a new award for its students. In addition to the BTh offered in conjunction with the University of Cambridge and the MA in Pastoral Studies validated by the Anglia Polytechnic University a new BA course which prepares people for Christian ministry is at an advanced stage of planning. It will be offered from 2005 for those on the East Anglian Ministerial Training Course and from 2006 for all other students. The planning has required us to revisit the questions of what is essential in ministerial training, not only in the United Reformed Church, but all our participating denominations. Some traditional content has been reaffirmed. The new emphases include better integration of the various subject components and recognition of the missiological needs of churches.

1.2 The Federation gains much from its Cambridge setting but always finds an undercurrent of opinion that it is somehow dry and academic and running behind the contemporary Church. It is pleasant to be in theme-park Cambridge and on the tourist routes but the reality of the University of Cambridge today is that it is a major centre of scientific and technological innovation. We are working together with both our partner universities to make sure our theological courses meet the highest standards and are relevant to our society. All our courses are vocational and all embrace a wide spectrum of theological opinion and academic achievement. The Federation is adept at providing that access to higher education which is expected in modern universities.

1.3  Westminster College is a key centre for Federation teaching and meetings. The staff contribute to the Federation team well beyond their teaching requirements, helping with the smooth running of the enterprise and its strategic development. Stephen Orchard became President in January 2005. Those engaged in ecumenical projects of all kinds will know that it is not always easy to accommodate each others needs. The Federation is no exception but Westminster College is committed with the rest of the United Reformed Church to keep the ecumenical agenda at the front of its thinking. 

2. The wider United Reformed Church

In addition to planning for changing the nature of our work in Cambridge the college has been following the debate on the future of training within the United Reformed Church and helping to move it forward. Representatives of governing bodies and staff at all the colleges recognised by the United Reformed Church met at Westminster to consider how they could best help the review. The meeting enabled the first common discussion of a possible wider sharing of teaching and learning resources throughout our constituency. Westminster continues to be substantially committed to work with lay preachers, TLS, continuing ministerial education, refresher courses and sabbaticals. This year saw the first intake of ministers to the Doctors of Ministries (D. Min) programme we have begun in collaboration with Princeton Theological Seminary. Five of the ministers on this programme are from the United Reformed Church. These services to the Church bring gains to the college, particularly for those in initial ministerial training. Our staff and students contribute to the wider life of the Church is many ways. Our major disappointment is the continuing fall in numbers of candidates for ministry and its impact on student numbers for us and for our sister colleges. Fortunately, the Federation provides a large community within which our students can flourish.

3. The world Church

Our students continue to participate in programmes which take them beyond the United Kingdom. At the beginning of this academic year two of our students visited Ghana. Staff have been to Germany and Malaysia. The Principal gave some time from his sabbatical for a visit to Singapore and Myanmar. We have received visitors from the United States, New Zealand and Poland. Two of the staff of the Princeton Theological Seminary joined us for the initial studies for the D. Min in Cambridge.  In the summer of 2005 our ministers will be travelling to New Jersey. The Federation opens up other parts of the world to us as visitors come to our partners in Cambridge. We received many such visitors from the world Church at one time when we conferred together on ecumenical education in April 2005. These visits and visitors not only remind us of the joys of Christian hospitality but how differently the mission of the Church is seen in various parts of the world. We regard this as an important part of Christian formation for our own ministry.

4.The buildings

We are carrying out the programme of improvements arising from the new disability legislation. This brings benefits all round, including a more secure system of access to the college buildings. The charm of an historic building, much admired by visitors, is balanced, as many local churches know, by the continuing challenge of maintenance. We continue to hold off any major development while we address other concerns which arise. We have upgraded our links to the Cambridge University computer network, providing access in all student rooms. There have been additions to the induction loop provision for those with hearing difficulties and new access paths for wheelchair users and those who find coarse gravel heavy going. College lighting is being improved and plans are advanced for a new en-suite facility which will meet disability requirements. The main meeting rooms have been re-decorated and carpeted. Apart from making the buildings more suitable for our own use these improvements increase our attractiveness to other groups who wish to hire the college.

5. The Library

The usual pictures of Westminster College are dominated by the Library, which holds pride of place in the buildings. We continue to develop this as a resource for the whole Church. For those living at a distance the catalogue can be consulted by way of the Cambridge University catalogue, if “Affiliated Institutions” is selected on the menu. Cataloguing of the United Reformed Church History Society collection has passed the half-way point. As the significance of our collection in terms of Reformed history becomes more apparent we receive more requests to accommodate visiting scholars and to answer queries. Some days we are providing rare manuscripts for Jewish scholars. Other days we help a local church secretary sort out a query about where a local church was situated in the nineteenth century. We make a modest charge to those seeking help with family history, to cover our costs. We are grateful for the continued work of Richard and Jean Potts in sorting and classifying archives of the Presbyterian Church of England. Even after local archives were dispersed to local record offices there remains a formidable collection of central records.

6. Pastoral Studies

Another problem associated with “theme-park Cambridge” is the perception of outsiders that we can only prepare people for university and rural ministry. Quite apart from the opportunities Cambridge provides for students to work in night shelters, visit hospitals or counsel the bereaved our pastoral placements and internship programmes embrace a diversity of urban and metropolitan settings. Together with overseas visits these opportunities have a transformational effect as students come to consider their future ministry. We owe a great deal to Lance Stone who has shaped this part of our work in recent years. Lance concludes his service with the college in August 2005. Not only have the present college community benefited from Lance’s teaching and company but also many now serving in ministry. In defiance of the maxim that “those who can’t do teach” Lance leaves us to go up the road as minister of Emmanuel and Cherry Hinton Road churches in Cambridge.  We wish him, Sally and their family all blessings. Assembly appoints staff to Westminster and we trust they will wish to thank Lance, who has also served them as a leader of Bible Study, for the rich service he has given in their name.  We welcome as Lance’s successor the Revd Neil Thorogood, whose most recent pastorate is at the Free Church, Welwyn Garden City.

7. Celebration

7.1 At our Commemoration of Benefactors in 2004 our preacher was the Revd Dr Susan Durber and the lecture was given by Dr Janet Soskice of Cambridge University, who is writing a new book on Agnes Lewis and Margaret Gibson, the college’s great benefactors. At a service in November we remembered with thanks-giving the life of Buick Knox, who taught Church History in the college from 1968 to 1985 to the benefit of so many students.

7.2 We also give thanks for the gifts of our leavers, who were:

John Bradbury (Earle Road and Liverpool City Centre Ecumenical Team), Elaine and Gordon Brown (both to the Gateshead Group), Heather Kent (Harwich Road and Christ Church, Colchester and Walton-on-the-Naze), Sarah Moore (Darwen Ecumenical Partnership), Barry Welch (Ashington and Widdrington), Ernest Yu (Wimbledon, Trinity), and Jennifer Yule (Sinfin Moor, Derby).  Janet Llewellyn, who left in 2002, was ordained and inducted to ministry at Clapton Park, London.

Scottish United Reformed & Congregational College

1. The College

1.1. The theological education scene is a constantly changing one and providing institutions have to be responsive to the shifting priorities and demands of our church partners. For us, it has been equally important to develop our own sense as educators of where theological education, in its broadest sense, ought to be going and to be developing our pattern of life and practice in the light of our growing understanding.

1.2. Perhaps the first major change for us, around two decades ago, was to move from being a provider of the core theological curriculum.  We shifted to concentrating our teaching and learning work on the provision of what we might loosely term professional studies and developing awareness in students of our church traditions. Beyond this, the role of the college became and remains managing the ordinand’s whole curriculum on behalf of the church, giving guidance and support to their university studies and facilitating a coherence across the different learning experiences of university, college and placement.

1.3. The second area of development was in seeing ministry as being not the preserve of those called to the ordained ministry of Word and Sacraments but as being of the whole people of God. This perspective was of course entirely consistent with – and even required by! – our ecclesiological values. This has meant a number of things: Under a reciprocal agreement, we work in partnership with the synod of Scotland on its educational provision. We have moved the emphasis in staffing towards employing academic staff who are both ministers and qualified educators. We are working towards achieving a more integrated pattern of teaching and learning that brings together people from different sectors of ministry and service in the church’s life.

2. People

2.1  At the annual meeting, the Revd John R Smith, minister at Morningside United Church, Edinburgh was appointed chairperson of the College in the place of Mrs Helen M Mee. The synod of Scotland had approved the candidature of Helen for training for the ministry of Word and Sacraments  and she has resumed her theological education. We should like to pay tribute to her dedication and understanding that she brought to the life of the College in a period of transition, both in a widening of the work of the college and following the unification of the Congregational Union of Scotland and the United Reformed Church in the UK. We wish her well as she moves forward in her formation for ministry. We welcome John to the office of chairperson. He brings a wealth of experience in ecumenical relationships, in education and in world mission to this work.

2.2  The Revd Susan Kirkbride has been appointed to join the Revd George Sykes as a part-time college tutor. Sue is a stipendiary minister of the United Reformed Church in Edinburgh, working particularly in ministry with the frail elderly. Formerly, she taught business studies with the University of Gloucestershire before moving to Scotland and undertaking a Master of Theology at Edinburgh University. Sue’s joining the college team will strengthen particularly our work in church organisational studies and in ministry with older people. She has recently published an article on a hymn project in Edinburgh, Restoring the Soul, in the Journal of Dementia Care.

2.3 The Principal has been awarded the status of Chartered Fellow in the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (formerly the Institute of Personnel Management and the Institute of Training), having previously qualified as a chartered member. We congratulate the Treasurer too who also has been appointed to be a Fellow, this time in the Chartered Institute of Bankers.

3. Learning for the whole people of God

3.1  It is a central goal of the college to foster and enable the ministry of the whole people of God. The formation of ministers of Word and Sacrament remains a core activity but we do not see it as an aspect isolated from our commitment to the learning of a wider community.   

3.2  In part, this work is undertaken through the offering of an educational opportunities programme in collaboration with the synod of Scotland under a reciprocal agreement. This encompasses adult education courses, lay training events and retreats.

3.3 We are endeavouring more and more to encourage the learning together of ordinands, students for lay service, ministers on continuing education and adult education participants. Our belief is that learning should not take place apart that can be done together, wherever possible. If learning is to have a major experiential dimension, then the bringing together of different experiences and perspectives and wisdom enhances the learning of all. We recognise that there has to be some space for specifically focused learning opportunities for particular client groups and we know well the organisational and administrative challenges in trying to achieve our goal. Nonetheless, we are glad to be able to record increasing success in developing mixed learning groups.

3.4  A growing number of synod ministers using EM3 funding and indeed others are now pursuing higher degrees at the universities in Scotland.  The college’s research network is part of a framework of both support and enabling the learning to be shared more widely.

4. A dispersed college

4.1 The college is a dispersed community in a number of ways.  Ordinands are frequently co-matriculated at one of the Scottish Universities and so also belong to that community of learners both in the divinity school and in the wider university. There is a need to train part-time students who can be some 300 miles from the College base in Glasgow. The open nature of college provision means that different learner cohorts form around particular courses and events. The possibilities of collaboration with other colleges and institutions opens up more distance learning opportunities.  

4.2  In all these respects, we have to work to develop and maintain a sense of being a learning community and not simply a series of disparate learning groups.In this, of course, the core group of ordinands plays a vital role. Building and sustaining that community while ensuring that programmes are tailored as far as possible to the needs of each learner can be challenging.  

5. The ecumenical scene

5.1  The theological education scene in Scotland is distinct from the pattern in the other nations. The whole ecumenical context post-SCIFU and the loss of Scottish Churches’ Open College have not been encouraging signs in recent times. We are glad to see however that there are the first signs of some recovery in ecumenical commitment.   In particular, a number of churches are now meeting together to share thinking and planning in initial theological education, where previously there had been only limited collaboration in immediate post-initial education for ministers. The Scottish Episcopal Church is seeking to share with others in its exploration of education for lay ministries and service and the Iona Community has been supporting consultation amongst church adult learning providers. We discern in these signs of hope and encouragement for a renewed ecumenical collaboration in Scotland.

5.2 The college is aware of the ecumenical developments in England arising from the “Hind” report. Though it does not formally extend into Wales and Scotland, we are conscious that inevitably its influence will not fail to have significance, albeit largely indirectly. We are grateful that the Training committee has been conscious of the situations outside of Scotland and keen to nurture developments in each of the national synods and indeed between them.

6. Publications

A more recent development for us has been in the publishing of learning materials. Both are available through the URC Bookshop or directly from the College.

6.1  Once upon a Time: 2005 is the centenary of Hans Christian Andersen, the writer. The College has published a resource pack of materials for working with children, young people and adults around 10 of Andersen’s stories, familiar and less so.There are also sections on storytelling and doing Asking Questions, Sharing Ideas with children and other background material.  

6.2  Managing to Change: This set of training materials is targeted principally at elders and others in leadership in the church. 

7. Spirituality and formation

7.1  We are ever aware that the formation of ministers is more than simply a matter of developing intellectual ability, knowledge and a range of skills.All have to be rooted in a developing faith and in the practice of prayer and reflection. Students are encouraged to participate in the silence and retreats work of the United Reformed Church synod: this year on the themes of Bread, Gardens, St Cecilia and Weaving the Threads. The College’s own retreat on Friendship brings together officers, ordinands, staff and College Friends.

8. College service

8.1 The college annual service will this year be held on Friday 17 June 2005 at Augustine United Reformed Church in Edinburgh, when the preacher will be the Revd Roy Lowes BEd MTh, Secretary for Training of the United Reformed Church.

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