Challenges and Opportunities of the Newly Launched Joint Theological Education Partnership

A new theological education system will be launched in England over the next two years, according to the “Final Report on the Regions”. Under the new system, nine new Regional Training Partnerships (RTPs) will be established. The mission of each partnership is to provide theology training and ministers’ education programmes or resources for its respective region. Certainly, ordinands within each region would not necessarily have to train within it, and could go elsewhere with their diocesan bishop’s approval.

“The Final Report on the Regions” proposes nine new RTPs in the Canterbury province (South-West, West Midlands, East Midlands, South Central, Eastern, South East and Thames North), and two in the York province (North West and North East). The proposed new partnerships between the Church of England, Methodist, and United Reformed Churches, and a number of dioceses, will use existing colleges, courses, and diocesan resources.

In each region there will be only one provider of part-time courses, which would succeed current schemes. It is expected to lead to the amalgamation of courses and the possible relocation of colleges. Obviously, the new system will bring pros or cons to different parties involved depending on their positions.

Some of the colleges and courses will be forced to give up their existing partnerships. One of the examples is after the creation of two RTPs in the York province, namely North West and North East, the existing Northern Ordination Course will have to split between two RTPs.

The Principal of the course, the Revd Dr Christopher Burdon, said, "This is splitting partnerships that have existed for many years. Our feeling on the course is that there should be one RTP with a number of sub-regions for practical issues; but the report argues against this."

Similar splitting within a course is also observed in the South West and part of the West of England Ministry Training Courses, as well as the St Albans and Oxford Ministry Course in the East.

The Principal of the St Albans and Oxford course, Canon Dr Michael Butterworth, though optimistic about the continuity of the course, however, he is uncertain about the impact of this new system for the benefit of students and staff.

"What exactly will happen to future students and staff? No one can give an absolute guarantee - but we are used to that," he said.

Moreover, as the new system is critically dependant on the number of theological colleges, it is worrying that a lot of the smaller scale theological colleges may not survive. Five theological colleges currently have fewer than 50 ordinands, and are at high risk of merging with other training institutions and relocating.

Sir Philip Mawer, Parliamentary Standards Commissioner and former Secretary General of the General Synod, who chairs “Final Report on the Regions” task group and has approved the proposal, explained, “a number of theological colleges are operating at well below their optimum level, raising both educational/formational and financial concerns.”

Principal of Mirfield, one of these five high-risk theological colleges, Father Peter Allan CR agreed that the college needs to concern itself with economic viability, but they also need to consider what will work best for the community.

He pointed out, “Just looking at numbers is nonsensical, and in this issue there needs to be a lot more care and communication...you cannot impose one model that suits all.”

Another college, St Stephen’s House, Oxford, is believed to be in crisis. The Principal of the Revd Dr Jeremy Sheehy, responded to the proposed possibility of relocation, “We have been on this site for only 20 years, but at the moment, given the advantages of Oxford for library resources, and the fact that we are based in an ethnically diverse area of Oxford, moving would seem an odd move.”

Anyway, stated by “Final Report on the Regions” task group, the proposal is "very largely based on the views expressed by the diocese and by our ecumenical partners". Further discussion is expected.

Despite all of the hidden worries, the chairman of the Church of England’s Ministry Division, the Rt Rev John Gladwin, Bishop of Chelmsford, welcomed the plan as ‘a moment of great potential creativity for our churches’ in providing high-quality training for both lay and ordained which will meet the needs of the mission of the Church, both within the regions and in the country as a whole.

Sir Philip Mawer has shared the same vision, regarding the new system as both a challenge and an opportunity. He called for mutual respect and accountability within the involving partners, with a view to demonstrating both the variety and inclusiveness of God’s church.

“All regions will have to work with a range of churchmanship and styles of education and formation and with partners with whom there have previously been limited contact,” says Sir Philip. “It will be one of the tasks of RTPs to draw on the strengths of all, to develop the distinctive contributions of the various partners while doing this in partnership with others and cutting down on wasteful duplication.”

The chairman of the Church of England’s Ministry Division, the Rt Rev John Gladwin promised that the work of implementation will be a step-by-step process. The first stage will ensure a secure determination of regions. Considerable help and guidance for the practical task of forming the RTPs lies ahead in the second stage.

As one of the partners, the Methodist Conference is being asked to accept and commit to the proposed new regions and the implications of these ecumenical developments for Methodism's own training strategies.

Methodist Ministry team leader the Rev Ken Howcroft said, "This is a huge ecumenical success story. Methodism should feel proud that our ideas and strategies have been so influential in the final proposals. The Church of England has welcomed us ecumenically and the plan is a huge step forward."

The report is published by the General Synod of the Church of England. The “Final Report on the Regions” is the first stage of implementing last year’s Hind Report. The Hind Report is drawn up by the Council of Archbishop of the Church of England based on the discussion of “Formation for Ministry within a Learning Church: The Structure and Funding of Ordination Training” in July 2003.