Reader training must be more flexible to attract younger candidates, says Bishop of Leicester
by Madeleine Davies, Church Times.
THE recruitment of a younger and more diverse body of Readers is among the aims of a new strategy agreed by the Central Readers’ Council of the Church of England, the Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Revd Martyn Snow, said last week.
More lifelong, flexible learning was being recommended, he said, because the current pattern of training was a “primary blocker” for younger candidates.
“It has been very demanding, doing a three-year training course on top of a full-time job and family life,” he said. “There is a lot of anecdotal evidence to say that lots of people are put off.
Our long-term hope is that we can work with dioceses to enable training to be much more flexible, with a much greater emphasis on lifelong learning rather than front-loaded. You start doing your training, you’re then licensed, and you carry on training as you exercise ministry.”
The council has recently completed a national consultation on the future of Readers: meetings were held in six regions, at which every diocese was represented.
The plans, voted for by an “overwhelming majority” at last month’s AGM, propose that training should concentrate on forming Readers as “teachers of the faith, enablers of mission, and leaders in Church and society”.
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
