What kinds of people join the Course?
- In short, a mixed bunch — in every way you can
think of!
- Some have been lifelong members of the same community;
others are those whose work has moved them around the country.
Some have very demanding secular jobs in industry, commerce,
teaching, health and social services; some are under- or
un-employed and seeking new directions; some enjoy being
homemakers
- Some are already experienced Christian leaders —
Readers/Local Preachers, wardens, elders; for others, the
first sermon is a major hurdle yet to come.
- A few Course members hold church posts during their
training — for instance, as paid Lay Workers,
diocesan officers or Methodist probationer ministers.
- Some are still young in faith and commitment, others have
long experience, increasingly, in more than one denomination
or tradition.
- Most kinds of church tradition are represented:
conservative, liberal, radical; high church, low church;
charismatic, contemplative, sacramentalist.
These and other differences ensure that the Course is never
monochrome, or a partisan experience; all its members bring a
depth and variety of experience to share with others. Drawing on
this is enriching, though it can also be painful!
Some people change their view as a result of it. Others come
to understand their own tradition more, and to set it in the
context of the whole Christian church.
For me NOC was a milestone in a long journey of vocation.
My first suspicion that I was called to ordained ministry was
at the age of 15, so here I am at 33 in my first year of
training and the selection process seems a long time ago. I
am married, with a young daughter. My wife is a full-time
student and I work as a Charge Nurse in Intensive Care.
Settling into the course over these last few months has been
a time of great transition. My family have had to get used to
me being away for residential weekends, not to mention the
evenings I spend in the spare room studying. I have had to
change focus in my life, get used to the language of
theological study and at least ask the right questions?
So why non-residential training? It is certainly no easy
option, but it has some great advantages. The NOC community
is broad and allows me to explore my own faith and church
tradition openly, affirmed in a supportive environment. I am
enabled to reflect theologically on issues I encounter in my
daily life as a nurse, a father and a husband. I also have to
balance time for study, prayer, family, relaxation and work.
This is going to be one of the most vital skills I can learn
for full time ministry in the future.
I thank God continually for the pilgrimage I am on, and as
I climb the steep and twisting path I look forward with
eagerness to the view around the next corner.
Eddie from Pontefract
Bizarrely all sorts of people join NOC! Some after
incredibly long journeys, others after a very short period of
discussion with their church hierarchy. All of us come with a
certain fear — will the others be ‘holier’
than me? Will the others know more about theology than me?
Will they all come from nice organised lives, where things
don’t seem to go wrong, everything gets done, including
the reading, and they even manage to throw select little dinner
parties in their spare time? Will other people have lots of
qualifications, know how to write essays and not worry about
academic work? If those are some of your worries, then worry
no longer. People who do NOC are all quite normal and have a
variety of skills which they are willing to share. I worried,
as a Methodist, that I might feel on my own amongst a majority
of Anglicans. But I should not have worried! All of us were
exploring a sense of call, and the Course helps you to do that,
through taught modules and through conversations with tutors
and other students. It is good to learn that others have the
same sense of shock and astonishment at being on an ordination
course. We share a journey and the NOC community encourages
you to share difficulties as well as joys. Perhaps the one
thing that all NOC students share, aside from a vocation to
serve God in ordained ministry, is a strong sense of humour,
which helps you to cope with the academic work, the pressures
of home life and all the other little joys which go to make
up the life of a NOC student.
Gillian from Lytham