The Ordination Process

As I mentioned in our last post, we decided after about six months of living in England that we needed to commit to worshiping and serving in the Church of England and the best way to do that long term was for  Zac to pursue ordination within the CoE.

I spoke to Steve the Priest-in-Charge (A title I love, theologically speaking--perhaps I'll elaborate in a further post) at All Saints' about ordination and he encouraged me to check it out, but warned me that my age and possibly my nationality might be factors going against me.

At the beginning of November I met with the Diocesan Director of Ordinands (Get ready for long (occasionally pompous) titles to start showing up in my blog posts) of the Canterbury diocese as a very first step in the process. He was a nice gentleman by the name of Clive (I mentioned that I named my son after him, I figured it might help) and after praying about it for a few days gave me the go ahead to start the process.

If all goes to plan, here is how the process will play out.

For a period of nine months to a year I will meet with an Assistant Diocesan Director of Ordinands to pray, read, and discuss ordination. There are nine criteria which the CoE uses to help consider a candidate for ordination. They are:

Vocation: basically, you should feel called to the ministry and be able to articulate that calling.

Ministry within the CoE: You should be able to explain why ministering in the CoE is different from other denominations.

Spirituality: You should have an active prayer life, be studying scripture, and attending church regularly.

Personality and Character: You should be self-aware of your strengths and weaknesses and be a person of integrity.

Relationships: You should be able to build and maintain healthy relationships with others.

Leadership and Collaboration: You should be able to offer leadership within and without the church, and be able to identify and nurture the gifts of others.

Faith: Similar to Spirituality, but more related to living out the spiritual disciplines.

Mission and Evangelism: You should be able to articulate Christ's message in various contexts, and in an attractive way.

Quality of Mind: You should have the necessary intellectual capacity to cope with the intellectual demands of ministry and have a commitment to lifelong learning.

Once my ADDO feels that I have a good grasp on these criteria, I will face two examinations. The first will be a one-day local panel who will question me about these criteria and other matters. If approved I would move onto a Bishops' Advisory Panel which is a three-day national panel that will ask the same types of questions but to a much greater level of depth.

Ideally I will have sucessfully completed all of this by the spring/summer of 2013, will be ordained as a deacon, and can start to apply for university programs. Because I will be under the age of thirty, the CoE will pay for three years of further education. The UK has a bunch of great theological colleges and I would love to end up one of them whether it be Wycliffe Hall, Cranmer Hall, Ridley Hall, or Oakhill.

Following further theological training I would appoint to a curacy (basically a position as an assistant minister) for four years.

Following my curacy I would then be then be ordained as a priest and would then be able to take on a role as head of a local church.

The downside to all of this is that at any point in the process, it can be decided that I am not currently suited for ordination and the process stops. If this happens, I would be required to wait two years before restarting the process.

Even though the process is long I am enjoying it. I have met with my Assistant DDO twice now and am doing my best to not get bogged down with the process and to press myself to get the work done.

So that's where I am at, and that's the direction we're heading, (until told otherwise).