CofE campaign targets young people for ordained ministry

Young people who think they may be being called into ordained ministry are at the centre of a national campaign being launched by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, at General Synod in York this weekend. The Call Waiting... campaign features a new website, an A4 magazine full of essential information for prospective ordinands, and eye-catching posters.

Audio interviews with real-life young ordinands, curates and priests on the Call Waiting website chronicle the journey from initial sense of calling through discernment to training and ministry. They share the joys, thoughts and worries encountered along the route to ordained ministry.

These interviews are accompanied by articles outlining the stages between the first meeting with a parish priest to explore a calling to ministry, and the final stage, a Bishops' Advisory Panel, a glossary of Church jargon, helpful prayers, a feature on people with callings in the Bible, and an introduction by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Dr Williams said of the Call Waiting initiative: "If we fail to attract and to nourish younger Christians in thinking about their calling to ordained ministry - indeed any kind of long-term ministry - we are going to lose a hugely precious resource of enthusiasm and hopefulness in our life together.

"A new focus on encouraging younger people to consider their calling will make us ask quite difficult questions at some points about habits and styles we take for granted in our life of witness and worship - and we may be surprised when what we older believers think works for younger Christians turns out to be wildly off the mark. But it will also open doors for all of us into new insights, new inspiration.

"So I hope and pray that this Call Waiting initiative will enrich the whole of our Church and allow more people, old and young, to grow into the fullness of the gifts God has given them."

The Call Waiting magazine, which contains all the details, will be handed out via stalls, seminars and workshops at events such as the Greenbelt Christian Festival this summer in Cheltenham. Its cover features 25-year-old Jennifer Mayo, who is currently training at Cranmer Hall in Durham.

The Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Rev Graham James, said: "Young clergy are a sign of hope. We're glad the number of young people experiencing a call to ministry is growing. We need to encourage them. This initiative does just that."

Posters feature priests performing some of the many ministries within the Church of England, including a nightclub chaplain and DJ leading an evening service, an army chaplain in uniform, and an ordained pioneer minister leading an under-30s Bible study in a pub.

All of the posters are linked by the slogan: "There's more to ordained ministry than you might think."

Ven Christopher Lowson, Director of Ministry Division, Church of England, said: "I am one of those who first felt called to be a priest at 13. Lots of young people also have a sense of call today. Call Waiting is a great way of helping them to explore that vocation: to discover what God may be calling them to be and to do."



On the web: www.callwaiting.org.uk