The Vocations Course
For anyone with a sense that God might be calling them to licensed lay or ordained ministry, we recommend joining our Vocations Course. It’s a great opportunity to spend an evening for each of six weeks sharing in exploring together what it means to be a Christian minister in the Church of England and deepen your sense of what your place might be in that. Participants particularly value the sense of journeying with others as you reflect on how within your own experience, the life of the local and national Church, your spiritual life, the wide range of ministry possibilities and the mission of God, God might be shaping you for leadership and service.
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Course Code | VC1001 |
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Open Access Course | You can book yourself onto this course |
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Gateway Course | Completing this course opens up other training |
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Remote Learning | This course is currently delivered on Zoom |
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In the Vocations Course, we hear from Scripture, experienced ministers of all sorts and each other’s experience to help focus our sense of where God might be leading us.
Course structure
The course is made up of six sessions each lasting 1½ hours.
Click on the session title to read more details. (And again to hide the details.)
In this session, we are introduced to the course, looking at the sessions that will come in future weeks and take a deep dive into our own identity and history and what has brought us to this point in our discernment journey, sharing our stories with one another. We spend some time exploring the story of the calling of Samuel from the Hebrew scriptures and Jesus calling his first disciples from the New Testament.
This time around we consider how we are formed as Christian disciples and ministers by our participation in the local church and most especially its sacraments.
In the third session in the Vocations Course, we explore the importance of our spiritual life and the different ways we can pursue a life of prayer, essential as it is to our Christian discipleship and for any ministry in Christ’s Church.
In this session, we consider the distinct character of the Church of England and how it is organised and governed locally and nationally and how this shapes and informs our life and Anglican Christians and ministers in this expression of Christ’s Church.
In the fifth session of the Vocations Course, we consider the range of different types and contexts for ministry and calling in the Church of England, exploring dimensions such as parish, pioneer and chaplaincy and the different forms such as licensed lay (Reader) ministry, stipenidairy and self-supporting priestly ministry, the distinctive diaconate and the religious life.
In the final session, we explore the mission of God in the world and the Church’s calling to join with God at work and play among and around us. We see how Christian ministry is given to enable the whole people of God to play its part in the ‘missio Dei’ and where we might fit in that.
What is expected of participants?
There is preparatory work for each session which you’ll need to complete to make the most of the sessions on Zoom. If for any reason you are unable to make a session, it is possible to attend what you’ve missed the next time the course runs.
Location and time
This course is delivered entirely on Zoom on weekday evenings (Tuesdays and Wednesdays), usually between 7:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.
For up-to-date information on courses currently being planned contact the Mission and Ministry Team by email at missionandministry@elydiocese.org