A review of Robert Reiss's book on our process for choosing vicars.

The Testing of Vocation – 100 years of ministry selection in the Church of England by Robert Reiss.

by Gordon Kuhrt

If anyone has among their family, friends or fellow church members someone who has applied, but not been selected for training for ordination, they may have a degree of suspicion, even cynicism or hostility, towards the selection processes in the CofE. It is a very human reaction. But can you imagine a time (only 100 years ago), when there was no national system? Each bishop did what was right in his own eyes. Furthermore, there was little organised theological college training, except for some maligned non-graduates.

This history of selection marks the centenary of the national bodies (variously known as CACTM, ACCM, ABM and MinDiv) which have been commissioned by the national church to bring some coherence and thoughtful rigour to the process. Though explicitly concerned with selection, there is also considerable history of the closely related developments of training.

Amongst the complex detail of the story, certain issues recur –

the relation of a candidate’s sense of internal call to the external call of the Church (both Reiss and the CofE have generally backed the latter)

the substantial effects of the two world wars of the 20thC and the associated social upheavals

the pressures to broaden the pool of candidates beyond primarily young, male, public school graduates (a long and hard-fought campaign)

the appropriateness of pro-active encouragement by the church (and especially its clergy) to encourage Christians to consider the vocation to authorised ministry

the early suspicion of bishops about a national process and the new theological training courses

the considerable support (often led by lay people) of the growing need to provide substantial finance for selection and training

the debates about numbers of clergy that are needed and/or affordable

the debates about and developments of new kinds of ministry – chaplaincies in schools, universities, the Forces, hospitals and prisons, and various types of non-stipendiary (or self-supporting) and local, and lay

the development of theological colleges (and decline and closure of many), and of “non-residential” courses available across the country

the development of a set of criteria and of residential selection conferences to facilitate the advice from bishops’ selectors to the sponsoring bishop

strategic proposals of a broader character (involving patronage and freehold etc) – including Paul, Fenton Morley, Tiller and Sheffield Reports

the role of women – both in ministry and in the selection processes

Change and development may seem slow and contested, but now seems very considerable since the 2^nd world war. The story is told against the background of significant changes in the governance of the CofE – with the National Assembly (following the 1919 Enabling Act) giving way in 1970 to Synodical Government, and then the development of the Archbishops’ Council at the end of the 20thC. The nature of episcopate has also changed significantly, but one of its enduring characteristics has been the concern to retain the final word in selection. Thus, the word advisory has been prominent in the title and/or terms of reference of the national bodies.

The book essentially works to the close of the century, and there have been significant developments since then. There are numerous appendices with detail of key documents and statistics. Also a bibliography and index. The author is now a Canon of Westminster Abbey, but was a member of the ABM selection staff. Your reviewer has been a bishops’ selector, inspector of Colleges/Courses, and was Chief Secretary/Director of ABM/Ministry Division 1996-2006.

Apart from minor errors, there is a strange omission in the list of chairmen on p304. The omission is Michael Turnbull, bishop of Rochester and then Durham who was chairman 1998-2001. Then the date for his successor must be amended. Some of the statistics in the main text would be easier to appreciate through a graph or chart. With these relatively small caveats, there will be a welcome for this solid work. It will be of real interest to those involved in selection, training and financing today, and to historians of the period.

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Ven Dr Gordon W Kuhrt formerly Archdeacon of Lewisham, and then Director of Ministry for the Archbishops’ Council 1996-2006