MORE than 120 young adults have joined a year-long placement scheme to experience ministry within the Church of England, its largest intake up to now, Church House announced on Thursday.
The Ministry Experience Scheme (MES), arrange in 2013, allows 18- to 29-year-olds to realize a variety of practical experience, including preaching, chaplaincy, social-justice ministry, digital media, pastoral visiting, event organisation, evangelism, and kids’s and youth work.
This yr, 121 young adults are collaborating within the scheme. It is the third consecutive yr through which greater than 100 participants have joined.
A conference focused on the MES was held on 15 January at St Mark’s, Regent Park, in London, attended by greater than 150 people. Speakers included the Bishop of Barking, the Rt Revd Lynne Cullens, and the Work and Pensions Minister, the Labour MP for East Ham, Sir Stephen Timms.
The newly nominated Bishop of Ely, the Rt Revd Sarah Clark, who’s the Acting Bishop of Durham and Suffragan Bishop of Jarrow, chairs the MES. It was a joy to see so many young people gathered on the conference, she said.
“I thank all those collaborating, and those that support and pray for them in our dioceses and parishes. May we proceed to wish for many who take part in the scheme, and for its continued success.”
Since 2013, greater than 1000 young people have participated within the scheme. One, Helen, is completing her ministry experience this yr at St Mary’s, Ambleside, in Carlisle diocese.
She said that a specific highlight had been helping to create a prayer room within the church, which is “now getting used for all forms of things corresponding to worship nights, prayer times, and by the local schools”.
Another memorable moment had been helping to organise a “family fun day” on the church, where she dressed up as a penguin. “It was great fun and a extremely great way of with the ability to hook up with the local people. We had just over 900 people walk through the church doors for the event,” she said.
Twenty-eight of this yr’s MES intake are collaborating in Future Youth, a specialist children’s- and youth-ministry scheme launched in 2023. One participant from Derby, Joe, said that he along with his church he had launched a youth drop-in session, attended by 50 people in its first week.
The interim head of vocations for the ministry development team, the Revd Charlotte Cook, said: “There is an actual sense of energy and enthusiasm amongst young individuals who need to serve the Lord through this ministry. I pray that their call transforms their lives and people they serve this yr and within the years to come back.”
The youth-engagement and intergenerational-communities enabler in Leicester diocese, Matt Long, said that the MES “provides young adults with fertile ground to go deeper with God . . . discern vocation”.
It had led to a growth within the variety of young people entering training for each lay and ordained ministry within the diocese, he said. “Over and again, we’ve got seen young adults flourish as they grow in confidence and competence, through serving their local people and immersing themselves within the richness of Christian community.”
