This usually involves initial conversations at your local level with your parish clergy or chaplain, followed by engagement with your diocesan process. Your Diocese will have someone who oversees the discernment process, often referred to as the DDO (Diocesan Director of Ordinands), and your Diocesan website will have their contact details. When your Diocese has explored your sense of calling with you, they will then invite you to join others from across the Church of England in a national process of discernment.
The national element of this process is held across two Stages, the first being Carousel Conversations that primarily takes place online via Zoom within a day, and the second a Stage 2 Panel that is face to face over two days.
Throughout the two Stages of discernment your DDO will be wanting to work alongside you in relation to the nationally agreed Qualities for Discernment as shown within the two Grids below (one shows the Qualities for a Priest, and the other for a Distinctive Deacon.) These Qualities will be carefully explored with you and your DDO team long before you come to the Two Stage Shared Discernment Process. So, please don’t worry if there are things in them that you don’t understand at this point.
|
Priest |
Christ |
Church |
World |
Self |
|
Love for God The candidate… |
Is reliant on God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - and lives out an infectious, life-transforming faith |
Is rooted in Scripture, the worship of the Church and the living traditions of faith |
Whole-heartedly, generously and attractively engages with God’s world |
Is prayerful and studies the Bible |
|
Call to Ministry The candidate… |
Responds to the call of Christ to be a disciple |
Understands the distinctive nature of ordained priestly ministry |
Is committed to being a public and representative person |
Articulates an inner sense of call grounded in priestly service |
|
Love for People The candidate… |
Welcomes Christ in others, listens, values and respects; cares for those in poverty and the marginalised |
Builds relationships which are collaborative and enabling
Keeps pastoral and professional boundaries |
Shows God’s compassion for the world
|
Has empathy and is aware of how others receive them
Keeps personal boundaries |
|
Wisdom The candidate… |
Is inquisitive, curious and open to new learning
Can learn and reflect |
Shows leadership that enables thriving and healthy churches, handles conflict, and can lead in mission Understands safeguarding / safety in church communities |
Is robust and courageous and prepared to take risks
Recognises the need to assess risk |
Is a mature and integrated person of stability and integrity
Is personally self-aware |
|
Fruitfulness The candidate… |
Embraces the different and enables others to be witnesses and servants |
Shows the capacity to exercise sacramental, liturgical and an effective and enabling teaching ministry |
Shares faith in Christ and can accompany others in their faith |
Has resilience and stamina |
|
Potential The candidate has potential to… |
Grow in faith and be open to navigating the future in the company of Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit |
Manage change, and see the big picture |
See where God is working in the world and respond with missionary imagination |
Be adaptable and agile |
|
Distinctive Deacon |
Christ |
Church |
World |
Self |
|
Love for God The candidate… |
Is reliant on God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - and lives out an infectious, life-transforming world-focussed faith |
Is rooted in scripture, the worship of the Church and the living traditions of faith
|
Whole heartedly, generously and attractively engages with God’s world |
Is prayerful and studies the Bible
|
|
Call to Ministry The candidate… |
Responds to the call of Christ to be a disciple
|
Understands the distinctive nature of ordained diaconal ministry |
Is committed to being a public and representative person of the Church in the forgotten corners of the world |
Articulates an inner sense of call grounded in diaconal service |
|
Love for People The candidate… |
Welcomes Christ in others, listens, values and respects and has a special care for those in poverty and the marginalised
|
Builds relationships which are collaborative and enabling |
Shows God’s compassion and care in the world in multifaceted contexts and with social agencies
|
Has empathy and is aware of how others receive them
|
|
Wisdom The candidate… |
Is inquisitive, curious and open to new learning that connects church and world
Can learn and reflect |
Shows instinctively collaborative leadership that enables healthy churches to be bridge-builders in their communities Understands safeguarding / safety in church communities |
Is robust and courageous in reflecting the world to the Church and the Church to the world Recognises the need to assess risk |
Is a mature and integrated person of stability and integrity
Is personally self-aware |
|
Fruitfulness The candidate… |
Embraces the different and animates others to be witnesses and servants |
Shows the capacity to exercise diaconal sacramental and liturgical ministry and effective and enabling teaching ministry
|
Is a storyteller of God’s love and agent of God’s kingdom of justice
|
Has resilience and stamina
|
|
Potential The candidate has potential to… |
Grow in faith and to be open to navigating the future in the company of Christ and guided by the Holy Spirit |
See the big picture in their context and, within it, enable a Christian community to serve |
See where God is working in the world and to read the signs of the times |
Be adaptable and agile |
The journey of discerning your vocation is part of an ongoing two-way conversation and formational process, that is agreed between yourself and the DDO team, and is only assessed nationally once your DDO and Bishop consider it the right time to put you forward into the two Stages of discernment, which is briefly outlined below.
Stage 1 – Carousel Conversations
Your diocese will invite you to attend a Stage 1 Carousel Conversations when you and your DDO agree you’re ready. These primarily focus on what you know and what you can do. This Stage is held primarily online and takes the form of six 15–20-minute Conversations with Bishops’ Advisers. The Conversations take place over either a morning/afternoon or afternoon/evening, and are framed in the context of shared worship and prayer. Between them, they touch upon the topics shown in the graphic below, and will use a number of different ways to help start those Conversations, including the use of images, objects, videos, recent news stories, and hymns/music. At no time within Stage 1 Conversations will you be asked to produce anything written, though your DDO will no doubt invite you to complete a range of preparational work beforehand.
At the end of Stage 1, feedback will be given to your bishop and DDO team that indicates how ready you might be to proceed to Stage 2 of the Shared Discernment Process.
Stage 2 – Face–to–Face Discernment Panel (Residential or non-residential)
Stage 2 Discernment Panels are held in a variety of venues in different parts of the country. They take place over two days and will be either residential or, non-residential. You will need to have completed a Stage 1 before you can come to a Stage 2 Panel.
Stage 2 consists of two in-depth Interviews, each with a pair of Bishops’ Advisers and a Group Exercise where Candidates work together on a solution for a typical situation that occurs in ministry; a short written reflection forms part of the Group Exercise. Stage 2 is framed in the context of shared worship and prayer. At Stage 2, aspects of the Qualities Grid (shown earlier) that relate to elements of who you are as a person and your capacity for growth will be explored with you. The Stage 2 Panel will begin at 12 noon on Day 1 and finish late afternoon on Day 2, with all meals provided during that time.
Your diocesan team will further explain the details of these two days with you.
At the end of the Stage 2 Panel, a report will go to your bishop and diocesan team that offers them advice on your readiness to proceed to ordination training.
- Ordained Ministry
-
General term to describe deacons, priests and bishops
- Vicar
-
A clergy person responsible for a parish and the cure of souls there.
- Calling
-
A person's sense that a specific role or course of action is being asked of them.
- Vocation
-
A person's sense that a specific role or course of action is being asked of them.
- Discipleship
-
A commitment to following Jesus day by day
- Mission
-
Action to help the world become more like the place God intended it to be, and share the good news of Jesus
- Communion
-
a) the sacramental sharing of bread and wine by the faithful, following the example given in the Last Supper of Christ with his disciples; b) a service in which Holy Communion is received.