Exploring Formation for Ministry in a Learning Church

This research project aims to better understand how we form ministers for Christian service in the church in the South West of England.

An article arising from this research project has been published: Michael Delashmutt, "Exploring Formation for Ministry in a Learning Church: Mixed Expectations and Missed Opportunites", Discourse 9.1 (2009) 211-236.

Introduction

The nature of Christian ministry today is in constant change.  At the turn of the previous century, ministry was conceived of as the principal job of a white, single, middle-class male who trained for professional ministry in the semi-monastic setting of a residential college.  Today the work of ministry is increasingly egalitarian and increasingly lay focussed or volunteer-led. 

Though the minister’s job still includes educational, sacramental and societal functions, increasingly ministers are expected to take on complex administrative roles, oversee sensitive pastoral and legal issues, and engage in Christian service in a world that is increasingly unaccustomed to the shape of the Christian narrative.  Moreover, the training for Christian ministry today is no longer exclusively pursued in a cloistered setting.  Those candidating for ministry are no longer required to leave family and work behind in order to pursue theological education.  Increasingly, through part-time or full-time courses, students are able to situate their studies and their formational activities within their busy lives. 

Given the changes to ministry and ministers which the last century has witnessed, it is timely and necessary for the process by which we form individuals for Christian service to be itself critically examined. This research project hopes to better understand how it is that we form ministers for Christian service in the church in the South West of England.  By listening to the stories of those who are actively engaged in their formation journey, and by hearing the hopes and disappointments of those ecclesial and academic figures who have invested themselves into shaping this formation process, this project will develop a deeply local portrait of ministry formation.  As such, the project hopes to foster open and productive partnerships between the University of Exeter’s Department of Theology and the various Church bodies in the region who convey a vested interest in ministry formation.  Out from such partnerships, it is hoped that together we can develop theologies of ministry and practices of ministry formation that can invigorate the Christian Church’s commitment to service in a changing cultural and societal context.

Research direction

The project examines the relationship between formation for ministry and the practices of ministry within the South West of England (Cornwall, Devon and parts of Somerset).  We believe the complex process by which ministers are formed for their service both precedes and extends beyond their time in formal educational settings.  By attending to the stories of those who are at various stages in their formational journey and by consulting with the ecclesiastical figures and theological educators who are involved in developing formation curricula, it is our hope that we will both better understand the processes by which ministers are prepared and formed for their vocations, and ascertain areas wherein these processes may be improved upon. 

In sum, the Exploring Formation for Ministry project is a form of action research which seeks to understand and transform its subject matter, bringing together a commitment to rigorous social scientific study of religious beliefs and practices and critical theological reflection upon how these beliefs and practices can better serve the work of the Church in the region.

Towards an ideographic ecclesiology

A textbook ecclesiology will often reflect upon the nature of the church, her offices, sacraments, and polity.  Yet more likely than not we fail to discuss in theological terms the means by which individual members of the church grapple with their identity as ministers (paid or unpaid, lay or ordained) or the ways in which one’s sense of call to ministry is developed and realized. 

This project seeks to address this abeyance in contemporary ecclesiology and to readdress ministry formation from an ecclesiological perspective. Yet instead of addressing the theology of ministry from an exclusively academic perspective; this project seeks to express its ecclesiological concern by leveraging the resources afforded to it by ideographic qualitative research methodologies. By engaging with the narratives of ministers in the region (narratives which extend from calling to curacy and beyond) we hope to see how training institutions and ecclesiastical institutions have contributed to the development of a minister’s sense of identity, mission, and ministry.  Moreover, it is our hope that the ideographic ecclesiological methodology that is being deployed by this project will allow the doctrine of the church to become more readily informed by a thoroughgoing knowledge of the church and her various ministries in the world.

Transformational opportunities

As action research which seeks to produce results that offer transformation to the studied subject matter, this project would hope to serve as a resource to the institutions and individuals who contribute to the formation of ministers for the Christian Church. In sum, we would hope that the outputs of this project would be able to conform to the two following aims:

  • to enable church-based and academic bodies in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset to provide more appropriate and effective opportunities and resources for formation for Christian ministry in a changing environment and culture; and
  • to allow collaboration between church-based and academic bodies in Devon and Cornwall in formation for Christian ministry and in reflection upon that formation to become a model of good practice, nationally, and internationally. 

Areas for reflection

Through the interviews with ministry practitioners, the literature review, and consultations with ecclesiastical and institutional partners, the following three broad themes will be addressed:

The nature of ministry

  • How does the church operate in a declining Christian context?
  • What creative understandings of ministry are in operation within the region?

The nature of ministry identity

  • What is a ‘healthy’ ministry?
  • What is the nature of ‘calling’ and how does this impact one’s sense of vocation?
  • What is it like to be a non-paid clerical Christian minister today?

The nature of ministry formation

  • How does one make ministry formation a habit of life-long learning?
  • How is theological education translating into parish ministry?
  • How can partnerships be formed between diocese and training institutions to support continuing ministry education? 

Project staff

The following member of academic staff are involved in the project: