Discerning what God has called you to do
Ordained ministers are those who have responded to God's call, had that call tested, and have been trained and ordained by a bishop. As ordained ministers, they have promised to serve the church faithfully and have authority from the church for their ministry.
Getting started
If you believe God is calling you to ordained ministry, then the best place to start is to take a listen to the radio interview (click the play button) and then talk to your vicar or chaplain.
The next step would be for us to put you in touch with a Vocations Advisor. Please contact us to arrange to speak to a Vocations Advisor or with any further questions.
In the Church of England we look for certain qualities. You will need to demonstrate your love for God and others, your call to ministry and your potential to be fruitful and wise. You will be asked to show this in your attitude to the Church, Christ, the world and yourself.
FAQs
- Distinctive deacon or priest
- Incumbent (lead a congregation, church or team) or assistant (part of a team) focus
- Full-time or part-time ministry
- Stipendiary (paid) or self-supporting ministry (unpaid)
Ordination can lead to a wide range of job roles beside being a parish priest.
Being a priest is a prerequisite for the senior roles in the church listed below, but ordained people go onto all sorts of roles, such as missionary work, diocesan advisory jobs and chaplaincy.
- Area dean (leading a team of incumbents and often done in parallel with being an incumbent);
- Many cathedral posts (i.e. the dean);
- Many diocesan posts;
- Archdeacon (a senior position within a diocese);
- Bishop (the leading minister of a diocese).
The process discernment process is unlikely to take less than 12 months, 18 months to two years is reasonably usual. Formation and training at a college or course usually takes 2 or 3 years. Theological college terms all start in September.
Your own situation may require additional time (e.g. if you or your spouse have been divorced and remarried); each candidate is different and all are considered individually.
The process of discernment can be lengthy and there is a fair amount of paperwork, necessary background checks and safeguarding training to complete. Support is available for candidates who might need it, so if you have any anxiety about this do get in touch.
The process
- Speak to your incumbent or chaplain, then contact us and we will put you in touch with a vocations advisor.
- You will meet with a vocations advisor for a handful of sessions. They will write a report a brief report to reflect your meetings together and help you fill out an Ordination Candidate Registration Form.
- Once your Vocations Adviser has submitted your Ordination Candidate Registration Form, and VA Report, we will contact your initial references, and invite you to undertake safeguarding training a DBS check and provide additional ID documents as required
- Once all of these have been returned, a director of ordinands will be in touch to arrange your first meeting. The typical time for a candidate to work with a DDO is around 18 months.
- Initial work with your director of ordinands will be assessed nationally at a Stage 1 Carousel Conversation Panel, an series of six short conversations over Zoom focused on your knoweldge and experience.
- You will continue working with a director of ordinands moving more deeply into the qualities for discernment, and you may be given opportunities to address any gaps in knoweldge or experience found at Stage 1.
- You will attend a two day (overnight) residential Stage 2 Panel. The bishop's advisors then write a report to your sponsoring bishop.
- If you are recommended for training and the bishop accepts this, you will be invited to enter training for ministry for two or three years at a college or course agreed with your director of ordinands.
- After completing the first part of training at a college or course, you will complete your training by undertaking a curacy (title post) for three to four years.
If you are under 32 it is likely that the training will be full-time and will take three years. Two years full-time training is usual for those between 32-39. Those aged 40 and over will usually train parttime. Your director of ordinands will consider options with you in more depth.
Your director of ordinands will let you know when it is time to start considering which course option might be right for you.
- You will normally be over 23 when you are ordained;
- Candidates intending to serve in a fulltime stipendiary curacy will normally be under 52 when they start training;
- It is not currently possible for poeple over 70 to begin training for ordained ministry.
Ministers who are paid are expected to be willing to relocate for both training and future ministry. Those offering for self-supporting ministry and intending to remain in their own home, will usually be offered a self-supporting role in reasonable commuiting distance from their own home.
Unfortunately, we cannot promise you a paid curacy in the Diocese of Oxford.
If you are an unpaid local minister, your curacy and ongoing ministry will be at your local church. If you are an unpaid assistant minister, your curacy will normally be near to where you live (although not usually at the church you attended before or during your training).
For full-time, paid ministers, the Diocese of Oxford usually has 14 curate posts, and many, but not all, of these go to candidates within the diocese. We work hard to pair the right post with the right curate, but if we are not able to do this in the Diocese of Oxford, we will let you know early in your final year of training so you can find a curacy in another diocese.
The Church of England understands marriage to be a significant and important relationship and recognises that ideally a marriage should last “till death us do part”.
The Canons of the Church of England state: “No person shall be admitted into holy orders who has re-married and, the other party to that marriage being alive, has a former spouse still living; or who is married to a person who has been previously married and whose former spouse is still living.”
However, in certain circumstances, it is possible for the diocesan bishop to apply to the archbishop for a faculty allowing this clause to be set aside. If you are in this situation and believe God is calling you to ordained ministry, we will evaluate your calling on the same basis as anyone else and, if appropriate, apply for the faculty.
In the Diocese of Oxford the DDO works with a team of area and assistant DDOs. The Oxford Area is shared between the Diocesan Director of Ordinands and the Area Directors for Berkshire and Dorchester.
Directors of Ordinands
Quentin Chandler
Head of Vocations and Diocesan Director of Ordinands
Area Director of Ordinands - Buckingham
Nicholas Cheeseman
Area Director of Ordinands - Berkshire & Oxford
Jane Hemmings
Area Director of Ordinands - Dorchester & Oxford
Berkshire
Helen Charlton
Assistant Director of Ordinands - Berkshire
Amy Cavender
Assistant Director of Ordinands - Berkshire
Dorchester
Sue Spankie
Assistant Director of Ordinands - Dorchester
Debbie Webb
Assistant Director of Ordinands - Dorchester
Buckinghamshire
Paul Moring
Assistant Director of Ordinands - Buckinghamshire
Ian Fishwick
Assistant Director of Ordinands - Buckinghamshire
Administrative staff
Mandi Bowden
Administrator to Vocations and DDO Team