TWELVE grants value greater than £1.3 million have been awarded towards funding innovation in theological education, with the aim of widening the pool of individuals training for ministry within the Church of England.
The awards, Resourcing Ministerial Formation innovation grants, are made by the Ministry Finance Panel under delegated authority from the Archbishops’ Council. The funding comes from surplus funds for ministry training accrued over recent years and Vote 1 funding (from the Church Commissioners) put aside for innovation in lay-ministry training.
The Queen’s Foundation, Birmingham, has been granted £118,756 for research and development of excellent practice within the formation of neurodivergent ministers, in a project to be run jointly with St Mellitus College. The work will probably be led by the Anglican admissions tutor on the Foundation, the Revd Dr Allison Fenton, and the director of Innovation at St Mellitus, the Revd Ed Olsworth-Peter. The research findings will probably be published.
Mr Olsworth-Peter was diagnosed with dyslexia and dyspraxia in his early twenties. There had been “limited understanding” of the impact when he was an ordinand, he said. “I might have valued support within the challenges this may usher in ministry, in addition to the popularity of the gift that this may be to the Church.
“Over the last two years at St Mellitus, we have now been exploring what the formational support of neurodivergent leaders in training might appear like, and the way this needs a special approach.” He said that he welcomed the prospect to “take this work deeper”.
Other TEIs to receive grants include Trinity College, Bristol, which has been awarded £230,000 to establish programmes to enable a younger and more diverse group of individuals to be formed for ministry.
The Tutor in Missiology and Lead Tutor for Academic Inclusion at Trinity College, the Revd Dr Howard Worsley, said: “We want students to remember that they don’t need to depart their backgrounds behind — in truth, the other: their experiences and the wealthy cultural diversity that they convey to their studies, and eventually their work in ministry, is crucial to lifetime of the Church.”
Ripon College, Cuddesdon, has been awarded £277,723 to ascertain a centre of excellence within the training and formation of youngsters’s, youth, and families’ staff.
The diocese of Ely and Ridley Hall, Cambridge, have been awarded £45,208 to coach between 15 and 20 lay chaplains in parishes in Cambridge to work with homeless people.
Other beneficiaries include Emmanuel College, within the north-west of England, granted £258,204 to support vocations in children and youth ministry, and the training of individuals from working-class backgrounds; the Eastern Region Ministry Course, granted £14,880 for a web based study skills course to assist people prepare for Reader and Licensed Lay Minister training; and the diocese of Guildford, granted £148,973 to fund a second 12 months of its Foundations in Ministry programme.
Also, the diocese of Sheffield is granted £48,091 to coach a more diverse group of “spiritual accompaniers” to support ordained and lay leaders; the diocese of Bristol receives £40,700 to develop lay training materials geared toward young people and folks who usually are not from middle-class backgrounds; the Church Mission Society receives £50,000 to fund a part-time lecturer and student bursaries for a latest MA specializing in Asian Christianity; and St Augustine’s College of Theology, London, receives £50,000 to develop a latest MA in Discipleship for a Planet in Crisis.
