Faith in Research

Young Vocations

The Problem

Research and statistics have shown us a variety issues that needed addressing:

Proportion of men to women aged 20-29 selected for ministry 2000-2012

• Between 2000 and 2012 the percentage of men to women selected across the full age range i.e. 20-60 plus fluctuated between 49% in 2001 and 56% in 2008

• But the percentage of men to women in the 20-29 age range fluctuated 72% in 2000 and 84% in 2008

• This meant that in 2012 for every 7 men under the age of 30 selected there were only 2 young women selected

Und

er 2

2 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80O

ver 8

0

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

2002 stipendiary male 2012 stipendiary male 2022 stipendiary male2002 stipendiary female 2012 stipendiary female 2022 stipendiary female

Age in years (December)

FTE

stipe

ndia

ry c

lerg

yAge profiles of full-time equivalent stipendiary clergy 2002, 2012 and projected for 2022

Cranmer

Mirfield

St John's N

ott

Oak Hill

Queen's

RiponRidley

St Stephen's

Trinity

Westcott

Wycliffe

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

MaleFemale

Under 30s in training, 2012-13 – by college

Marital Status of Under 30s in training, 2008-12

Key lessons to draw from Diocesan figures on young vocations 2008-2010

On average, 1 in 5 ordinands under 30 were women in 2008-2012

Great range across dioceses 20 dioceses had 5 or less under 30s over 5 years i.e.

average of 1 a year or less (male or female)o Of these:

- 4 had 1 woman in 5 years

- 3 had 2 women

- 13 had no women under 30 accepted

• Another 14 dioceses had 6-10 young ordinands (male and female) i.e. average of 1-2 a year

o The number of women varied here from Rochester which had none out of 9 young ordinands to Bristol where a majority (4 out of 7) were female.o Most in this group were predominantly male although Guildford and Bath & Wells split 50:50• In the remaining 11 dioceses the number of young ordinands over 5 years ranged from 12 to 73o Only 1 of these had over 1/3 of young ordinands being women (St Albans – 6 of 17)o Chester had only 1 young female ordinand out of 20 totalo The highest number of women ordinands over 10 years were in Oxford (10 out of 41) and London (10 out of 73)

One creative response:

• Market research• Blog: youngwomenandthechurch.wordpress.com • Facebook page: – c. 150-200 people a week looking at the page, and 10

people "talking" about it on their page. • Call Waiting website• Diocesan links – eg London Young Vocations; DDO’s etc

• Writing to church leaders and student workers directly

How did we publicise?

How did you hear about the conference?

Friend

Family

MInistry website

Social media (twitter, facebook, internet)

Church

Clergy (vicar, church leader)

DDO

Diocesan offices

Vocations Advisor

Student pastor

Other (please specify)

Birmingh

amBris

tol

Cambrid

ge

Canter

bury

Chelmsfo

rd

Chichest

er

Guildford

Leeds

Lichfield

London

Manch

ester

Nottingham

Oxford

Peterborough

Portsmouth

Southwark

St Alban

sWale

s

Winchest

er0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

32

4

12 2 2

3

1

16

12

5

12

1 1 1

10

Diocese

Num

ber o

f att

ende

es

Conference attendees by diocese

Who Came?• Average age 26.82• Youngest - 15• Oldest - 47 (youth leader)• BME – 2 • Overall numbers 66 • ¼ were students• 84% had experience of some kind of Christian

work

Programme

WelcomeKeynote address on biblical materialWorkshops:

- How young is too young?- Ministry, marriage & motherhood. Can I have it

all?- Ministry and the messiness of life- Consider your Call – Praying the Word of God- How on earth do I become a vicar (the process of

selection)

Less than one

month

1-6 months

7-12 months

1-3 years 4-6 years 7-9 years 10-12 years

13-15 years

16-20 years

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

How long have you been considering ordination?

35.3%

49.0%

15.7%

YesNoNo answer

Have you already started the vocations process to ordained or lay ministry within the CofE?

Clergy

, incl.

college c

haplain

Missioner

DDO

Church

Frien

ds

Spouse

Parents

Other family

Others in tr

aining (frien

ds/family

etc)

Colleagu

es

Prayer p

artner/m

entor/youth le

ader

Vocations A

dvisor

Other (please

specif

y)0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

4541

1

73

19

5

11

2 2 1

14

35

48 respondents114 responses in total

Who would you be most likely to go to for support in helping you explore a vocation to ministry?

51.0%

13.7%

3.9%

31.4%

Single

In a relationship

Engaged

Married

In a Civil Partnership (0%)

Other/Prefer not to say (0%)

Relationship Status of conference attendees

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

Perc

enta

ge o

f res

pond

ents

Question for single women only: would you feel differently about considering ordination if you had a partner?

No

Yes -

wouldn't have

to co

nsider

someone e

lse

Yes -

less s

upport avai

lable

Yes -

other (gi

ve deta

ils)0%4%8%

12%16%20%

Perc

enta

ge o

f res

pond

ents

Question for women in a relationship only: would you feel differently about considering ordination if you were single?

Learning Points

• Churches are important₋ Leaders need to be encouraged and trained to identify

vocations₋ Urgent need to find ‘alternative routes’

• Pro-active dioceses make a difference• Importance of role models• Importance of mentoring • Need to address assumptions

⁻ Theological and practical• Lack of confidence

What Next?• More Young Vocations day

- Specifically ones for young women• 2 further questionnaires:

⁻ Young Vocations https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/C879KYV

⁻ Young Vocation Events https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/C8CVNC2

• Collecting data from young women and men across the country to help us to enable young female vocations.