Increasing The Number Of Candidates for Ordained Ministry Is 'Necessary' - Church of England
Attracting more people to the priesthood is a top priority for the Church of England
The Church of England is working hard to increase by 50 percent the number of candidates for ordained ministry by 2020.
The ambitious target is part of a general strategy for growth to ensure the Church's survival as it struggles with an ageing clergy and falling attendance in an increasingly secular Britain.
In February 2015, the Church's governing body, General Synod, agreed that the number of people training to become ministers needed to grow from 500 to 750 over the next five years.
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In addition, it said the Church would need to be able to sustain those figures for a decade if it was to make up the current shortfall.
The Church of England has re-committed to this vision following a statistical review in August which found that the current pool of clergy is not enough to meet demand.
The Church said that asking its current pool of ministers to delay retirement by a year would only slow the rate of decline "but cannot prevent it" and that the target set in 2015 was still "necessary" to "stabilize" the numbers available to minister in parishes, chaplaincies and new forms of church.
On top of increasing numbers, the Church also wants to increase the diversity of those coming forward for ordination, saying that the target increase of 50 percent is an "aspiration and not a limit" if more people can be recruited.
It said greater diversity among the candidates for ordination would "better reflect the communities where the Church is working, in terms of age, gender and ethnic and social background."
The results of a recent statistical review found that women tended to answer the call to ordained ministry at a later age and retire earlier, something the church is hoping to change.
It also said it wants to see more members of the black and minority ethnic community consider a vocation in the Church of England.
The Bishop of Guildford, the Rt Rev Andrew Watson, chair of the Ordained Vocations Working Group said, "The aspiration to increase the number of new clergy by 50 percent is part of a wider vision to release and develop the gifts of the whole people of God.
"It's encouraging to see most of the dioceses really rising to this challenge, as they reshape their vocations teams and put new and more proactive vocations strategies in place. We are picking up a fresh commitment to 'pray to the Lord of the Harvest', along with early reports of an increase in the number of enquiries from potential candidates."
