Formation for Ministry within a Learning Church - Summary

Ministerial training and enabling lay discipleship have become key strategic issues as the Church seeks to respond to new challenges in its mission and ministry. This major report was commissioned and endorsed by the Archbishops' Council and produced by a working party chaired by Bishop John Hind. It reviews the training needs of the clergy in the context of the learning needs of the Church as a whole. Proceeding from the conviction of the diversity of God's gifts to the Church, it seeks to: raise the standard of the initial training of the clergy; promote the patterns of lifelong learning; strengthen lay theological education; co-ordinate the work and resources of our existing ministerial training institutions and other potential partners; promote ecumenical partnership in the training enterprise; and secure the best value for the Church s expenditure in training. With these aims the review offers a broad strategy for the development of training to be implemented regionally and locally in the coming years.