The Ministry Division of the Church of England revealed encouraging news in the latest Church Times newspaper. It reported that the number of candidates for full-time ministry has increased significantly and reached record levels.

There was a “sudden surge”, and a high number of candidates suddenly emerged earlier in the year, said the Director of Ministry for the Archbishops’ Council, the Ven. Gordon Kuhrt.

To cope with it, two mega selection conferences have been organised this summer with 48 candidates at each. A selection conference usually has a maximum of 16 candidates that means now three times the usual number of candidates will meet under one roof.

Church Times commented, “This is the first time in the history of the selection process that a conference has been run on this scale.”

This sudden inflow of candidates requires a longer and more complicated selection process such that the successful ones can start training in the autumn. However, Ven. Gordon Kuhrt honestly said that the department was not currently managing the extensive work well enough.

The Senior Selection Secretary, Margaret Sentamu, commented earlier this week that some of the lessons that had been learnt from the first conference in June were also to be incorporated into the second in July. Therefore, overall the large-scale conferences had gone well. In addition, the atmosphere of the conference had improved a great deal due to the increased number of attendees, especially during the prayer and worship sessions.

The selection of candidates for full-time ministry in the Church of England is quite demanding. Usually, the selection conference will run for three days with full time residence. The whole aim of the conference is to search the God’s will for the future of the candidates, the times set aside for worship and meditation are going to be central to the whole conference programme. The rest of the time will include a personal inventory, two cognitive exercises, individual interviews with selectors, a group discussion and a written exercise.

In groups with a maximum size of 8 candidates, the selector will be able to get closer in touch with each candidate to choose the best ones. The selection criteria includes the understanding towards the practices and traditions of the Church of England, the sense of vocation, individual spiritual discipline, leadership skills, personality, family status, health status and so on.

The increased candidates for full-time ministry has finally brought a small beacon of light to the future ministry of the Church of England, particularly during this difficult period where the current Anglican communion is threatened by the schism on gay ordination, and the problems of many clergy leaving the Church.